Around the Premier League Tracks 2008

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Saturday, 17 May

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With the Premier League match at Rye House between the Rockets and Somerset being postponed as a result of the weather forecast for the area, there were just two Premier League matches raced tonight. These were the matches at Stoke where the Potters took on Mildenhall and at Workington where the Comets raced against Scunthorpe.


Premier League: Stoke 54, Mildenhall 39

Stoke had Luke Priest at number 6 presumably in place of Klaus Jacobsen while Mildenhall had Jack Roberts (Birmingham) at number 6 as a guest for Mark Baseby.

Although Mildenhall were virtually out of this match when they trailed by 14 points after heat 4 they held their own for the rest of the match during which Stoke could only add one point to their lead.

The Potters started with three 5-1s and a 4-2. The opening heat went to Lee Complin and Mark Burrows from the gate and they sat on another 5-1 in heat 2 when Jesper Kristiansen and Luke Priest led from the off. Jack Roberts passed Priest however for a 4-2. Barrie Evans made the gate for the Potters in heat 3 but Ben Barker came from the back to pass the other three riders for the win and another 5-1 before Emiliano Sanchez and Jesper Kristiansen gated for a repeat performance taking the score to 19-5.

Kai Laukkanen raised the visitors’ spirits by winning heat 5 from an ever-pressing Ben Barker and Henning Loof’s third place gave the Fen Tigers a 2-4 heat advantage. This was followed by a shared heat, after Lee Complin had gated to head Robbie Kessler and Jack Roberts home, but the Fen Tigers pulled two more points back in heat 7 when Jan Graversen and Michal Rajkowski gated only for Emiliano Sanchez to pass Rajkowski for second place and a 2-4. The Potters lead was now down to 10 points but they added two more with a 4-2 in heat 8 won by Kristiansen from Loof and Burrows taking the score to 30-18.

Stoke hit home another 5-1 in heat 9. Robbie Kessler gated but he was swallowed up by Barker and Evans off the second bend to increase the Potters lead to 16 points. Lee Complin won again in heat 10 for a shared heat then Mildenhall gave Kai Laukkanen a TR in heat 11 which he duly won from Sanchez while Loof tried hard but in vain to pass Priest. This gave the visitors a 3-6 advantage cutting the lead to 13 but another 5-1 in heat 12 from Barker and Kristiansen, the latter completing a paid maximum, finally ended all hope for the Fen Tigers as the score now stood at 46-29.

Robbie Kessler and Kai Laukkanen gated in heat 13 for the visitors but Lee Complin passed Laukkanen on the second lap for a 2-4. However the visitors’ were not to be denied and finally got their 1-5 in heat 14 when Jan Graversen and Jack Roberts saw off Barrie Evans for their maximum. However Stoke replied in kind in heat 15 when Lee Complin and Ben Barker both fought their way past early race leader, Kai Laukkanen, for a home 5-1 and 15 point win.

Scorers: For Stoke – Lee Complin 14 (5), Ben Barker 13+1 (5), Jesper Kristiansen 10+2 (4) (paid maximum), Emiliano Sanchez 7 (4), Barrie Evans 5+2 (4), Mark Burrows 3+1 (4), Luke Priest 2+1 (4).

For Mildenhall – Kai Laukkanen 12 (5) (with 6 point TR), Jan Graversen 7+1 (5), Robbie Kessler 6 (4), Jack Roberts 6+2 (5), Michal Rajkowski 4 (4), Henning Loof 3 (4), Jari Makinen 1 (3)..



Premier League: Workington 54, Scunthorpe 39


Workington were without the injured Barry Burchatt so used Rider Replacement at number 2. They nominated Gary Irving as their number 8. Scunthorpe were without Richard Hall and had Joel Parsons at number 5 as a guest although under what rule this was allowed is beyond me.

Unusually both tonight’s matches ended with the same score. In this match Workington did the main damage with 5-1s in heats 5, 6 and 7 which put the Comets into an eighteen point lead. Although the Scorpions got three points back over the rest of the meeting they never looked like taking anything from the match.

Daniel Nermark and Charles Wright got things underway with a 4-2 with Carl Wilkinson in second then Joe Haines won heat 2 for the home side but Byron Bekker and Viktor Bergstrom filled the minor places for a 3-3. Workington scored the first of their five 5-1s in heat 3 with Kauko Nieminen and Charles Wright leaving Magnus Karlsson behind in third. Carl Stonehewer left the Scorpions still looking for a race winner in heat 4 but Joel Parsons and Byron Bekker kept John Branney at the back again for another 3-3 which took the score to 15-9.

Then came three more 5-1s for the Comets. Nieminen and Wright produced the first against the top opposition pairing of Moore and Wilkinson then John Branney burst into life to follow Daniel Nermark home in the second ahead of Joel Parsons. The third came via Stonehewer and Haines with Karlsson in third place in heat 7 but the visitors stopped the rot in heat 8. Carl Wilkinson was given a TR and won the race and, when Joe Haines suffered an engine failure short of the line, John Branney finished second with Byron Bekker picking up the gift third place for a 2-7 which took the score to 32-19.

Kauko Nieminen won heat 9 but Parsons and Bergstrom shared the race points behind him then the Comets added two points to their lead in heat 10 with a 4-2 from Daniel Nermark who beat Magnus Karlsson and Joe Haines. Scunthorpe took their second race advantage in heat 11 when Andrew Moore beat Carl Stonehewer with Carl Wilkinson third for a 2-4. They did even better in heat 12 when Magnus Karlsson and Viktor Bergstrom rocketed from the gate for a tapes-to-flag 1-5 ahead of Nieminen which took the score to 42-33.

Daniel Nermark and Carl Stonehewer righted the home ship again with a 5-1 from Joel Parsons and Andrew Moore then Joe Haines won heat 14 for a 3-3 before Daniel Nermark completed his maximum in heat 15 but he had his work cut out as Joel Parsons got involved in an exciting passing and repassing bout with the Workington number 1 which ended with Nermark just winning it on the line. Stonehewer finished third from Karlsson for a 4-2 giving the Comets a 15 point win.

Scorers: For Workington – Daniel Nermark 15 (5), Carl Stonehewer 11+1 (5), Kauko Nieminen 10 (4), Joe Haines 9+1 (6), Charles Wright 5+2 (5), John Branney 4+1 (5).

For Scunthorpe – Carl Wilkinson 9 (4) (with 6 point TR), Joel Parsons 8 (5), Magnus Karlsson 7 (5), Byron Bekker 6+1 (4), Viktor Bergstrom 5+4 (5), Andrew Moore 4 (4), Benji Compton 0 (3).