Wednesday 23 April 2008

Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Tuesday, 22 April
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It was Tuesday night on the Isle of Wight where the visitors were Workington in a Premier League match.


Premier League: Isle of Wight 49, Workington 44.


Both teams were at full strength.

After losing at Reading last night Workington made the trip across the Solent to take on the Isle of Wight who were still savouring their win at Mildenhall on Sunday afternoon. There were some tasty looking encounters lined up between Bunyan, Phillips and Stojanowski for the home side and Nermark, Nieminen and Stonehewer for the visitors. By a quirk of the new interim averages Jason Bunyan found himself at number 5 instead of number 1 for the home side.

The opening heat was shared. Daniel Nermark won it for the Comets but it was clear that the track had been overwatered. New shale had been laid on it but apparently it hadn’t bedded in well so there was a delay before the running of the reserves race while the track was regraded. When it eventually was raced all four were called back after Branney had been taken wide and fallen on the first bend. There was more grading before the rerun in which John Branney suffered an engine failure on the first bend. James Holder won from Joe Haines for a 4-2 for the home side and they doubled the lead with another in heat 3. Glen Phillips won the race but the challenge didn’t come from Kauko Nieminen as expected but from Charles Wright who caught and passed Paul Fry on the last bend for second place. Another 4-2 in heat 4 put the Islanders six ahead. Although Carl Stonehewer made a blinder of a gate it took Jason Bunyan till half way down the back straight to pass him and go on to win by a mile. James Holder picked up third taking the score to 15-9.

Daniel Nermark won again in heat 5 but once more he received no backing so the points were shared but the Isle of Wight soared into an eight point lead with their fourth 4-2 in heat 6 when Cory Gathercole won unchallenged from Stonehewer while Stojanowski took third passing Haines off bend 2. Heat 7, won by Jason Bunyan from Nieminen and Wright, was shared but in heat 8 the home side struck a 5-1 from Cory Gathercole and James Holder to increase their lead to twelve points. Joe Haines held second place until the last lap when he was passed by Holder and then fell. The score now read 30-18.

In heat 9 the Comets fell another two points in arrears when they lost a 4-2. Glen Phillips beat Carl Stonehewer while Paul Fry passed John Branney for third so the lead increased to 14 points. Workington pulled two points back in heat 10. Kauko Nieminen won from Cory Gathercole while Charles Wright finished third after Krzysztof Stojanowski had an engine failure on the second lap. The gap was back to twelve and Daniel Nermark took a TR in heat 11 attempting to get Workington even closer. He succeeded too beating the impressive Jason Bunyan. Better still for the Comets Andrew Bargh had an engine failure so Scott Smith finished third giving Workington a 2-7 heat advantage and cutting their arrears to seven points. Nieminen kept the pressure on the Islanders by winning heat 12 but, again, he received no support so the result was a 3-3 taking the score to 41-34.

The Comets made further inroads to their deficit with a 2-4 in heat 13. Daniel Nermark won comfortably from Jason Bunyan while Carl Stonehewer’s third place cut the arrears further to five points but it was all over one race later when the Islanders secured victory with a 5-1 from Paul Fry and James Holder. The Comets finished with a bang though as Nieminen and Nermark scored a last heat 1-5 after Jason Bunyan had fallen on the second bend in the shake out. It was too little too late as the home side won by five points.

Scorers: For the Isle of Wight – Cory Gathercole 11 (5), Jason Bunyan 10 (5), James Holder 9+2 (5), Glen Phillips 9+1 (4), Paul Fry 7 (4), Krzysztof Stojanowski 2+1 (4), Andrew Bargh 1 (3).

For Workington – Daniel Nermark 17+1 (5) (paid maximum), Kauko Nieminen 11 (5), Carl Stonehewer 7 (4), Charles Wright 4+1 (4), Joe Haines 2 (3), John Branney 2 (6), Scott Smith 1 (3).

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