Around the Premier League Tracks 2008

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Friday, 4 April

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With Redcar joining the two Friday tracks by arranging a meeting for tonight three matches were due to be raced. Unfortunately the weather decided otherwise and heavy rain early in the evening wiped out the Redcar versus Sheffield match. The other two matches went ahead though. At Edinburgh the Monarchs faced Glasgow while at Somerset the Rebels took on the Isle of Wight, both matches in the Premier Trophy.



Premier Trophy: Edinburgh 57, Glasgow 36


Edinburgh were without Thomas Jonasson so used Rider Replacement at number 3. Glasgow were at full strength.

Edinburgh continued their unbeaten run with a comfortable win against Glasgow despite a magnificent 17 point return from Shane Parker who seems to be scoring better away from home than at Ashfield so far this season. There were only four points between the teams after the opening five heats but the Monarchs then had a five heat spell in which they outscored the Tigers by 22-8 to end the visitors’ hopes.

In heat 1 all four riders reached the first bend almost together. Ross Brady failed to turn hard enough and crashed straight into the fence causing Ryan Fisher to fall too. The unfortunate Brady looked to have recovered OK as he walked back to the pits but he took no further match in the meeting having apparently damaged his collarbone again. Shane Parker stormed from the gate to win the rerun leaving Ryan Fisher and Derek Sneddon to follow him home to share the points. In heat 2 the Glasgow riders made the start but an excellent cutback on the second bend by Aaron Summers took him past them both into the lead. Andrew Tully then passed Josh Grajczonek to take up the chase on Lee Dicken. However he slid off on the second lap so the race points were shared again. Edinburgh took the lead in heat 3 as Derek Sneddon (R/R) and William Lawson made the gate for a comfortable 5-1 but heat 4 was shared. Matthew Wethers rode an excellent first two bends to head off down the back straight and win the race. Aaron Summers spun off on the first bend however so the result was another 3-3 taking the score to 14-10.

The imperious Parker blitzed from the tapes again to win heat 5 by a distance as Lawson and Fisher followed him round for another 3-3 but the Monarchs doubled their lead with an easy 5-1 from Derek Sneddon and Ryan Fisher in heat 6 ahead of a struggling Robert Ksiezak. Matthew Wethers raced into the lead in heat 7 while Andrew Tully passed Trent Leverington coming off bend two on the second lap. However Tully slid off again, this time on the third bend so the race was shared but another 5-1 in heat 8 put the home side 12 ahead. Derek Sneddon made the gate from Lee Dicken but Aaron Summers again cut back on the second bend to pass Dicken much to the Glasgow rider’s annoyance as he felt that Summers had cut across him. The score was now 30-18.

Robert Ksiezak made the gate in heat 9 but William Lawson rode round the outside then cut back on him on the first two bends while Matthew Wethers was all over him going into the third bend. Ksiezak fell trying to keep Wethers at bay leaving the Edinburgh riders to race off for another 5-1. Josh Grajczonek fell on the last bend but remounted to take the third place point. Trent Leverington gated in heat 10 to lead the race for three laps but Ryan Fisher who had made another poor gate chased him down and passed him on the last lap. Derek Sneddon finished third so the Monarchs took a 4-2. Shane Parker re-entered the fray in heat 11 and took a TR into the bargain. He was out of the gate like a bolt of lightning and never challenged while Lee Dicken slotted into third place. However Andrew Tully passed Dicken on the third lap to cut the Glasgow heat advantage to 3-6. Trent Leverington again made a good start in heat 12 but William Lawson was soon passed him and away. Lee Dicken took third place holding off the challenge from Aaron Summers all race for a shared heat which took the score to 45-30.

Another fast start from Shane Parker produced another three points for the Glasgow captain. Things looked bright for the Tigers when Robert Ksiezak also made a good start to slot in behind him but he couldn’t hold Matthew Wethers who made an outside swoop on the fourth bend despite being taken very wide by Ksiezak. Ryan Fisher recovering from an awful start slipped up the inside so the heat was shared. William Lawson won heat 14 comfortably but Lee Dicken held second place until Andrew Tully passed him on lap 2 to join Lawson for the 5-1 which brought us to the best race of the night – heat 15. Shane Parker made the gate but didn’t have quite the advantage he had enjoyed in previous races. William Lawson took up the chase for the whole of the race but with Parker on the outside line there didn’t seem to be much chance of him getting past. The Glasgow fans were already celebrating the Parker maximum when Shane went just a fraction too wide on the last bend no doubt to protect an outside run challenge and Lawson was quick to switch inside and pass him on the run-in. Matthew Wethers finished third so Edinburgh signed off with a 4-2 and 21 point win.

Scorers: For Edinburgh – William Lawson 16+1 (6), Matthew Wethers 13+1 (6), Derek Sneddon 11+1 (5), Ryan Fisher 9+3 (5), Aaron Summers 5+1 (4), Andrew Tully 3+2 (4).

For Glasgow – Shane Parker 17 (5) (with 6 point TR), Lee Dicken 7+1 (7), Trent Leverington 7 (5), Robert Ksiezak 2+1 (4), Josh Grajczonek 2+1 (5), Mitchell Davey 1+1 (4), Ross Brady - Withdrawn.



Premier Trophy: Somerset 54, Isle of Wight 39


Both teams were at full strength.

A comfortable win for the Rebels maintained the stranglehold they have in their Premier Trophy section. The Islanders kept the Rebels’ lead down to six points over the opening six heats but when Krzysztof Stojanowski had to withdraw from the meeting after his heat three fall they were unable to prevent their hosts building up a 15 point winning margin.

Jason Doyle won the opening race although Cory Gathercole stopped him having an easy time of it. Jason Bunyan took third so the match opened with a 3-3. The Rebels took the lead in heat 2 when Jordan Frampton won from James Holder for a 4-2 but the visitors lost Krzysztof Stojanowski after he fell when the tapes rose in heat 3. Paul Fry rode a good race in the rerun to beat Emil Kramer for a shared race. In heat 4 the Rebels took a 5-1 when Brent Werner won the race with Stephan Katt holding off a late surge by Glen Phillips to take the score to 15-9.

Jason Doyle won heat 6 for a shared race then another 5-1 went the Rebels’ way in heat 7 with another win by Brent Werner. This time he was supported in second place by Jordan Frampton who came from the back to join his partner and put the Rebels ten points in front. The Islanders immediately played their TR card giving the ride to Cory Gathercole and he duly obliged by passing Stephan Katt and winning the race. Katt and Jordan Frampton followed him home resulting in a 3-6 advantage to the visitors and taking the score to 29-22.

It looked as though the Rebels might score a 5-1 in heat 9 until Simon Walker suffered mechanical problems on the last bend allowing Glen Phillips to catch him in the run in turning the score to a 4-2. Jason Doyle won heat 10 for a shared race then the Isle of Wight enjoyed another heat advantage in heat 11 when Jason Bunyan won from Jordan Frampton. Cory Gathercole took third after Brent Werner made a hash of the first bend giving the Islanders a 2-4 and cutting their deficit to seven points again. Back came the Rebels with a 5-1 in heat 12 as the visitors, in the absence of Stojanowski, had to field their two reserves. Emil Kramer and Stephan Katt cashed in taking the score to 43-32 and all but seal victory.

Jason Doyle won again in heat 13 but again Brent Werner finished last so the heat was shared. Paul Fry suffered an engine failure at the tapes in heat 14 leaving Simon Walker and Jordan Frampton to score another 5-1 as Andrew Bargh picked up the odd point. Cory Gathercole fell in heat 15 at the back as Jason Bunyan won the race ruining Jason Doyle’s maximum in the process for a shared heat leaving the Rebels to celebrate a 15 point victory.

Scorers: For Somerset – Jason Doyle 14 (5), Emil Kramer 12+1 (5), Jordan Frampton 10+3 (5), Stephan Katt 7+2 (4), Brent Werner 6 (4), Simon Walker 5+1 (4), Henning Loof 0 (3).

For the Isle of Wight – Jason Bunyan 10+2 (5), Cory Gathercole 10 (5) (with 6 point TR), Glen Phillips 7 (4), Paul Fry 5 (4), James Holder 4+2 (5), Andrew Bargh 3 (6), Krzysztof Stojanowski 0 (1).