Around the Premier League Tracks 2008

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Tuesday, 8 April

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Tonight’s match was on the Isle of Wight where Somerset were the visitors in a Premier Trophy match.

Premier Trophy: Isle of Wight 58, Somerset 34.

The Isle of Wight were missing Krzysztof Stojanowski and used Rider Replacement at number 1. Somerset were at full strength.

With away wins in their Premier Trophy section at Newport and Reading the Rebels were going for a clean sweep but they met their match tonight on the Island where the Islanders ran out comfortable winners.

Three race wins in the first five heats by Jason Bunyan helped the home side to an early ten point lead by which time Somerset had used their TR and were struggling. Bunyan (R/R) beat Jason Doyle in the opening heat while Cory Gathercole finished third for a 4-2 then a 5-1 in the reserves race from James Holder and Andrew Bargh under pressure from Jordan Frampton added four more points to the lead. Bunyan won again in heat 3 from Emil Kramer and Simon Walker for a shared heat then the Islanders scored another 5-1 in heat 4 when Glen Phillips and James Holder gated and left Brent Werner to bring up the rear. The score now stood at 17-7

Somerset immediately played their TR card but Jason Doyle finished second again to Jason Bunyan. With Paul Fry third, Doyle’s four points were only enough to share the race. Three more consecutive 5-1s in the next three heats put the Islanders in easy street. Gathercole and Fry were first up in heat 6 to win from Werner, Then Andrew Bargh gated in heat 7 to win the race from his partner, Glen Phillips while Emil Kramer pulled up with mechanical trouble on the last lap in third place. Gathercole and Holder added the third maximum in a rerun heat 8 after Henning Loof had been excluded for bringing Gathercole down on the first bend. The score now stood at 36-14.

Jason Bunyan came from the back to win heat 9 after his partner, Paul Fry, shed a chain while leading on the third lap. This resulted in a shared race but the Islanders moved a further two points ahead in heat 10 when Cory Gathercole passed Emil Kramer to win the race. Simon Walker had an engine failure so the result was a 4-2. In heat 11 Somerset managed a race advantage when Jason Doyle beat Glen Phillips with Jordan Frampton finishing third ahead of Andrew Bargh for a 2-4. However the Isle of Wight replied with a 4-2 when Jason Bunyan won for the fourth time in heat 12 beating Stephan Katt while James Holder was third. The score was now 49-25.

Glen Phillips won heat 13 but this time Brent Werner and Jason Doyle relegated Cory Gathercole to the back for a 3-3, the same result as heat 14 won by Frampton from Bargh and Holder. Finally Jason Bunyan’s maximum went down the tubes when he forgot to turn his fuel on and pulled up. Glen Phillips won the race while Jason Doyle and Jordan Frampton followed him home for a shared race.

Scorers: For the Isle of Wight – Jason Bunyan 15 (6), Glen Phillips 14+1 6), Cory Gathercole 10 (5), James Holder 9+3 (5), Andrew Bargh 7+1 (4), Paul Fry 3+1 (4).

For Somerset – Jason Doyle 12+1 (5) (with 4 point TR), Jordan Frampton 7+1 (6), Brent Werner 5+1 (4), Emil Kramer 4 (4), Stephan Katt 4 (4), Simon Walker 2+1 (4), Henning Loof 0 (4).