Around the Premier League Tracks 2008

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Monday, 21 April

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With Newcastle switching from a Sunday to a Monday night there were two matches raced tonight. One was a Premier League match at Reading where the Racers faced Workington and the other the Premier Trophy match at Newcastle between the Diamonds and Scunthorpe.


Premier League: Reading 54, Workington 39

Both teams were at full strength.

Both teams have been tipped as potential top four qualifiers this season so this match provided an opportunity to weigh up their claims. For Workington this was the first of a two match southern tour which would take them to the Isle of Wight tomorrow night. They would be disappointed if they had to return home empty handed.

With Carl Stonehewer providing only 6 points and the Workington tail scoring the same in total between the four of them the Comets’ big two had too much to do. Reading had only two last places all match and that statistic almost guaranteed them victory.

Workington almost got off to a winning start. Daniel Nermark won the opening race by some distance while Scott Smith held third behind Lemon until the second lap when a mistake allowed Chris Mills home for third place and a shared race. Jaimie Smith won the reserves race for the home side while Daniel Warwick had a fight on his hands to hold on to second against the Workington reserves. He succeeded though so the Racers stormed into a four point lead with the 5-1. Ulrich Ostergaard won heat 3 from Kauko Nieminen while Tomas Suchanek’s third place provided a 4-2 which increased Reading’s lead to six points. The home side threatened another 5-1 in heat 4 when Tom P Madsen and Danny Warwick led the race. Carl Stonehewer passed Warwick then Warwick got into trouble on the last bend which let Jon Branney through for third and a 3-3 taking the score to 15-9.

Reading pulled further ahead in heat 5 after a titanic battle between Ostergaard and Nermark won by the home man. Suchanek backed him up by passing Scott Smith for third and a 4-2 put the Racers eight points ahead. Workington hit back in style in heat 6 though. Carl Stonehewer and young reserve, Joe Haines, led home Mark Lemon for a 1-5 which cut the gap to four points. Kauko Nieminen then won heat 7 from Jaimie Smith and Madsen to keep it that way but another 4-2 went the Racers’ way in heat 8 won by Chris Mills from Joe Haines and Jaimie Smith in an exciting race which took the score to 27-21.

When Ostergaard and Suchanek took a 5-1 from Stonehewer in heat 9 Workington fell ten points behind and Nieminen’s win for a share of the points in heat 10 kept it that way. In heat 11 Daniel Nermark took the expected Tactical Ride and won from Jaimie Smith and Madsen by a mile. The 3-6 cut the gap to seven points then Kauko Nieminen became one the few riders to beat Ulrich Ostergaard round Smallmead this season in heat 12. Again though he had no support so the heat was shared and the score now stood at 41-34.

Another 4-2 in heat 13 left the Comets struggling. Carl Stonehewer suffered an engine failure on the first bend while Mark Lemon came to life by beating Daniel Nermark. Madsen also suffered an engine failure but since it was on the last lap he was able to push home for the point which put the Racers within touching distance of victory. Workington gave Kauko Nieminen a Tactical Substitute ride in heat 14 in place of Jon Branney but he couldn’t prevent Suchanek and Jaimie Smith from scoring the 5-1 which sealed a win for the home side. Ostergaard beat Nermark again in heat 15 while Suchanek finished third for a 4-2 which stretched the winning margin to 15 points.

Scorers: For Reading – Ulrich Ostergaard 14 (5), Jaimie Smith 10+1 (5), Tomas Suchanek 8+1 (5), Mark Lemon 7+1 (4), Tom P Madsen 6+2 (4), Chris Mills 6+1 (4), Danny Warwick 3+1 (3).

For Workington – Daniel Nermark 15 (5) (with 6 point TR), Kauko Nieminen 12 (6), Carl Stonehewer 6 (4), Joe Haines 4+1 (6), John Branney 2+1 (3), Scott Smith 0 (3), Charles Wright 0 (3).



Premier Trophy: Newcastle 43, Scunthorpe 47.


Newcastle again had to operate Rider Replacement for the injured George Stancl at number 2 while Scunthorpe ere at full strength.

There was little at stake in this match but with former Diamonds Carl Wilkinson and Byron Bekker in the Scorpions’ side there was plenty of interest. Again Newcastle looked vulnerable in George Stancl’s absence and Scun.thorpe took full advantage by romping to a four point win. Every Scorpions’ rider won at least one race apart from Benji Compton who nevertheless had two paid wins.

Newcastle scored a 5-1 in the opening race. Carl Wilkinson was the early race leader but slipped to the back as Josef Franc and Ben Powell (R/R) provided the maximum but after Sean Stoddart retired at the start of the reserves race Byron Bekker and Benji Compton scored a 1-5 for the visitors to level the scores. Christian Henry passed Magnus Karlsson to win heat 3 while an interesting battle between Ben Powell and Viktor Bergstrom ended in success for the Diamond. The 4-2 put the home side two points ahead again. Jason King touched the tapes in heat 4 so went from 15 metres back. Richard Hall won the race for the visitors while Jason King passed Benji Compton for a shared race which took the score to 13-11.

Ben Powell won heat 5 from Andrew Moore but with Christian Henry finishing last the race was shared but the Diamonds took a 4-2 from heat 6 won by Josef Franc to move four points in front. The Scorpions were unlucky in heat 7. Sitting on a 1-5 Magnus Karlsson suffered an engine failure on the third lap leaving Viktor Bergstrom to race home on his own for a 3-3 but the maximum was only delayed by one race. In heat 8 Carl Wilkinson and Benji Compton headed Sean Stoddart home after Josef Franc (R/R) had fallen on the last bend after being passed by Wilkinson. This levelled the scores again at 24-24.

Newcastle started again in heat 9 by producing a 4-2 with Christian Henry winning from Byron Bekker while Ben Powell kept Richard Hall at the back. Josef Franc won heat 10 but Karlsson and Bergstrom shared the points then in heat 11 the Diamonds lost another 1-5 when Wilkinson and Moore scored an easy maximum ahead of Jason King to put the visitors two points ahead. Magnus Karlsson then beat Christian Henry in heat 12 for a shared heat which took the score to 35-37.

It looked as if the visitors might take another 1-5 in heat 13 when Andrew Moore and Richard Hall led the race but Josef Franc passed Hall to limit the damage to a 2-4 so Newcastle now trailed by four points. They pulled two points back in heat 14. Ben Powell passed Viktor Bergstrom to win the race while Jaimie Robertson took third. This set up a last heat decider with the Diamonds trailing by two points. There was to be no happy ending for them though as Carl Wilkinson won the race from Christian Henry while Andrew Moore’s third place ahead of Josef Franc was the icing on the cake as the Scorpions won by two points.

Scorers: For Newcastle – Ben Powell 11 (5), Josef Franc 10+1 (6), Christian Henry 10 (5), Jaimie Robertson 5+1 (5), Jason King 4+1 (5), Sean Stoddart 3+1 (4)

For Scunthorpe – Carl Wilkinson 10+1 (5), Andrew Moore 9+1 (5), Magnus Karlsson 7 (4), Viktor Bergstrom 6+1 (4), Richard Hall 6 (4), Byron Bekker 5 (4), Benji Compton 4+2 (4).