Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Thursday, 20 March
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With the match at Redcar, where the Bears were due to meet Stoke in a Premier Trophy match, being postponed till Monday because of a waterlogged track, tonight’s sole action was at Sheffield where the Tigers raced against Scunthorpe who were making their first appearance in a Premier Trophy match.
Premier Trophy: Sheffield 57, Scunthorpe 36.
Sheffield were at full strength although the team was rearranged with Ricky Ashworth moving to number 1 and Andre Compton to number 3. Ben Wilson took over the third heatleader spot at Number 5 with Paul Cooper at number 4 Scunthorpe lined up with Andrew Moore and Carl Wilkinson at 1 and 2; Magnus Karlsson and Viktor Bergstrom at 3 and 4; while Richard Hall plus the two reserves, Byron Bekker and Benji Compton, formed the third pairing.
The Scorpions might have wished for a less formidable trip for their first match in Premier League circles than a visit to Owlerton stadium but, if Sheffield thought they were in for an easy time of it, they were mistaken. It wasn’t until the second half of the match that Sheffield pulled well clear of the newcomers.
When Andrew Moore touched the tapes and had to go from 15 metres back in the first heat, Sheffield cashed in with a 5-1 then added a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Lee Smethills. Magnus Karlsson beat Andre Compton in the third race for a shared heat then the visitors hit back in heat 4 with a 2-4 after Richard hall had come through the field to win the race from Ben Wilson taking the score to 14-10.
An Andre Compton win in heat 5 led to a 4-2 for the Tigers then they pulled away further with a 5-1 from the Ashworth/Parsons combine to stretch the lead to 10 points. The Scorpions might have given the impressive Karlsson a TR in heat 7 but they didn’t. Karlsson won the heat from Ben Wilson while Victor Bergstrom got on the score chart with third producing a 2-4 cutting the lead to eight points. However Sheffield regained their ten point lead with a 4-2 in heat 8 won by Joel Parsons from Benji Compton. Disappointingly for the Scorpions, Carl Wilkinson ran a third consecutive last as the score moved to 29-19.
It was hard to understand the Scorpions’ logic when they handed the TR to Richard Hall in heat 9 when he was up against Andre Compton but they clearly knew what they were doing as Hall obliged with the full six points from Cooper and Compton for a 3-6 cutting the home side’s lead to seven points. The Ashworth/Parsons pairing was proving a real thorn in the visitors’ side as another 5-1 went Sheffield’s way in heat 10 when they both passed the unbeaten Magnus Karlsson relegating him to third place to register their third 5-1 on the trot and increase the Tigers’ lead to 11 points. Ben Wilson won heat 11 for a share of the points but Sheffield added another two points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 12 as Andre Compton reversed his heat 3 defeat by Magnus Karlsson by beating the Swede with Smethills taking third for a 4-2. The score was now 44-31.
Heat 13 provided an excellent race between Ashworth Wilson and Moore. It was won by Wilson from Moore and Ashworth. Sheffield continued to pull further away with this 4-2 and even more so with a 5-1 from heat 14 from Smethills and Cooper. The last heat had to be rerun after Richard Hall fell and was excluded. Ricky Ashworth won the rerun from Magnus Karlsson for a final 4-2 for a 21 point victory.
Scorers: For Sheffield – Ricky Ashworth 12+1 (5), Joel Parsons 11+2 (5), Lee Smethills 10 (5), Andre Compton 9+1 (4), Ben Wilson 8 (4), Paul Cooper 6+2 (4), Sam Martin 1 (3).
For Scunthorpe – Magnus Karlsson 11 (5), Richard Hall 10 (5) (with 6 point TR), Andrew Moore 7 (4), Benji Compton 6+1 (6), Viktor Bergstrom 2 (4), Carl Wilkinson 0 (3), Byron Bekker 0 (3).
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Wednesday, 19 March
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Tonight’s match was at King’s Lynn where the Stars raced against Mildenhall in a Premier Trophy match.
Premier Trophy: King’s Lynn 66, Mildenhall 24.
King’s Lynn were at full strength while Mildenhall were without Robbie Kessler who suffered concussion in a crash at Peterborough last week. They used Rider Replacement instead.
Having got their Elite League challenge matches against Ipswich and Peterborough out of their systems it was time for the two teams to open their Premier Trophy campaigns. There was little joy for Mildenhall from this match, however, as they were blown away from the start and were effectively out of it after the opening four heats in which they managed just six points.
The Fen Tigers might have produced the first race winner but Kai Laukkanen, who made the gate, found Tomas Topinka too hot to handle and was passed on the third lap. This race produced a 4-2, the first of four consecutive heat wins for the Stars. Although James Cockle raced to the front in the reserves race he slipped to the back then fell as the home side banged in a 5-1. Jan Gravesen split the home pair in heat 3, which was awarded after R/R Shane Colvin fell, for a second 4-2 then another 5-1 for the Stars took the score to 18-6.
Mildenhall briefly put the brakes on the Stars’ runaway express by sharing heat 5 when Laukkanen and Baseby followed Doolan home but another 5-1 in heat 6 from Topinka and Tacey continued the rout. In heat 7 Jan Gravesen took a TR but, when he caused Rusty Harrison to fall, he was excluded from the rerun rendering the TR worthless. The rerun resulted in another 5-1 putting the Stars 20 points to the good and the Stars’ fifth 5-1 in the match took the score to 36-12.
The maximum heat wins just kept on coming. There were three more in the next four heats with only heat 11 providing some respite for the visitors. Kai Laukkanen passed Rusty Harrison in that heat to head home John Oliver and Harrison for a 3-3 but by heat 12 the score had gone to 54-18 with the Fens Tigers looking highly unlikely to top the 30 point mark.
Kai Laukkanen passed Rusty Harrison in heat 13 and pushed Tomas Topinka before having to settle for second place as King’s Lynn took another 4-2. The Stars’ ninth 5-1 arrived in heat 14 but Mildenhall had the satisfaction of watching Kai Laukkanen ending the maximum hopes of both Tomas Topinka and Kevin Doolan when he passed Tomas Topinka on the second lap to win heat 15 for a shared race.
Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Kevin Doolan 14 (5), Tomas Topinka 13+1 (5), Simon Lambert 10+2 (4) (paid maximum), John Oliver 8+3 (4), Shaun Tacey 8+2 (4), Rusty Harrison 7+2 (4), Kozza Smith 6+1 (4).
For Mildenhall – Kai Laukkanen 12 (5), Jan Gravesen 4 (5), Casper Wortmann 4 (5), Mark Baseby 2+1 (7), James Cockle 2 (6), Shane Colvin 0 (2).
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Wednesday, 19 March
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Tonight’s match was at King’s Lynn where the Stars raced against Mildenhall in a Premier Trophy match.
Premier Trophy: King’s Lynn 66, Mildenhall 24.
King’s Lynn were at full strength while Mildenhall were without Robbie Kessler who suffered concussion in a crash at Peterborough last week. They used Rider Replacement instead.
Having got their Elite League challenge matches against Ipswich and Peterborough out of their systems it was time for the two teams to open their Premier Trophy campaigns. There was little joy for Mildenhall from this match, however, as they were blown away from the start and were effectively out of it after the opening four heats in which they managed just six points.
The Fen Tigers might have produced the first race winner but Kai Laukkanen, who made the gate, found Tomas Topinka too hot to handle and was passed on the third lap. This race produced a 4-2, the first of four consecutive heat wins for the Stars. Although James Cockle raced to the front in the reserves race he slipped to the back then fell as the home side banged in a 5-1. Jan Gravesen split the home pair in heat 3, which was awarded after R/R Shane Colvin fell, for a second 4-2 then another 5-1 for the Stars took the score to 18-6.
Mildenhall briefly put the brakes on the Stars’ runaway express by sharing heat 5 when Laukkanen and Baseby followed Doolan home but another 5-1 in heat 6 from Topinka and Tacey continued the rout. In heat 7 Jan Gravesen took a TR but, when he caused Rusty Harrison to fall, he was excluded from the rerun rendering the TR worthless. The rerun resulted in another 5-1 putting the Stars 20 points to the good and the Stars’ fifth 5-1 in the match took the score to 36-12.
The maximum heat wins just kept on coming. There were three more in the next four heats with only heat 11 providing some respite for the visitors. Kai Laukkanen passed Rusty Harrison in that heat to head home John Oliver and Harrison for a 3-3 but by heat 12 the score had gone to 54-18 with the Fens Tigers looking highly unlikely to top the 30 point mark.
Kai Laukkanen passed Rusty Harrison in heat 13 and pushed Tomas Topinka before having to settle for second place as King’s Lynn took another 4-2. The Stars’ ninth 5-1 arrived in heat 14 but Mildenhall had the satisfaction of watching Kai Laukkanen ending the maximum hopes of both Tomas Topinka and Kevin Doolan when he passed Tomas Topinka on the second lap to win heat 15 for a shared race.
Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Kevin Doolan 14 (5), Tomas Topinka 13+1 (5), Simon Lambert 10+2 (4) (paid maximum), John Oliver 8+3 (4), Shaun Tacey 8+2 (4), Rusty Harrison 7+2 (4), Kozza Smith 6+1 (4).
For Mildenhall – Kai Laukkanen 12 (5), Jan Gravesen 4 (5), Casper Wortmann 4 (5), Mark Baseby 2+1 (7), James Cockle 2 (6), Shane Colvin 0 (2).
Monday, 17 March 2008
Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Monday, 17 March
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Tonight’s match was at Reading where the Racers opened their home season with a Challenge Match against Somerset. Reading, who dropped down from the Elite League, have only Mark Lemon from last year’s side. Ulrich Ostergaard and Tom P Madsen join Lemon as heatleaders while Tomas Suchanek and Chris Mills fill the second string berths. Their reserves are Danny Warwick and Jaimie Smith. Somerset, having shed Magnus Zetterstrom from last year’s side, introduced Jason Doyle as Zetterstrom’s replacement while other newcomers to the side are Henning Loof and Brent Werner.
Challenge Match (first leg): Reading 54, Somerset 37.
Both teams were at full strength.
The two teams had mixed fortunes in the opening heats. Jason Doyle suffered an engine failure in heat 1 leaving Suchanek and Lemon to score a 5-1 but, after three reruns, Katt and Frampton replied with a 1-5 for the Rebels after Danny Warwick had fallen on the second bend. Warwick was subsequently withdrawn from the meeting leading to a busy night for his reserve partner, Jaimie Smith. There was another 5-1 in heat 3 this time to the Racers from Mills and Ostergaard, the latter executing a fine pass on Kramer, with Loof suffering machine failure. Then Reading added another two points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 4 won by Jaimie Smith from Brent Werner to take the score to 15-9.
Jason Doyle was excluded from heat 5 for moving at the gate. He was replaced by Stephan Katt who finished second to Ostergaard. The racers took a 4-2 from the heat but the next two heats, won by Mark Lemon and Emil Kramer, were shared. Then Reading went further ahead in heat 8 with another 5-1 this time from Tomas Suchanek and Jaimie Smith stretching their lead to 30-18.
Chris Mills passed Stephan Katt and Brent Werner to join his partner, Ulrich Ostergaard, up front in heat 9 for another Reading 5-1 as Somerset slipped further behind, trailing now by 16 points. The Rebels gave Emil Kramer a TR in heat 10 but this was not a success as he trailed in third behind Mark Lemon and Tomas Suchanek who registered their second maximum riding as a pair. Henning Loof pulled up with an engine failure as the visitors fell 20 points behind. It stayed that way after heat 11, won by Tom P Madsen from Simon Walker and Jason Doyle who at last got on the scoresheet. Having finished third to Lemon and Suchanek in his tactical ride, Emil Kramer then came out and won ahead of the unbeaten Ulrich Ostergaard in heat 12. Stephan Katt supported him in third place so the Rebels shaved two points from the lead with the 2-4 taking the score to 45-27.
Jason Doyle finally got his act together winning heat 13 from Lemon and Madsen for a shared race then in heat 14 Brent Werner replaced Henning Loof as a tactical substitute starting from 15 metres back. In the first running of the race Chris Mills and Stephan Katt crashed and ended in the air fence. Mills was excluded while Katt was unable to take his place in the rerun so was replaced by Jordan Frampton. Jaimie Smith, taking his seventh ride won the rerun from Frampton and Werner so the Rebels took a 3-4 from the heat. Mark Lemon rounded off the match by winning heat 15 but Emil Kramer and Jason Doyle kept Ostergaard at the back for a shared race. This meant that Somerset had won 14-17 over the last five heats after falling twenty points behind over the first ten.
Scorers For Reading – Mark Lemon 13+1 (5), Jaimie Smith 10+2 (7), Ulrich Ostergaard 10+1 (5), Tomas Suchanek 8+1 (4), Tom P Madsen 7+1 (4), Chris Mills 6+1 (4), Danny Warwick 0 (1).
For Somerset – Emil Kramer 10 (5), Stephan Katt 8+1 (5), Brent Werner 6+1 (5) (with 2 point TS), Jason Doyle 5+2 (5), Jordan Frampton 4+1 (4), Simon Walker 4 (4), Henning Loof 0 (3).
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Monday, 17 March
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Tonight’s match was at Reading where the Racers opened their home season with a Challenge Match against Somerset. Reading, who dropped down from the Elite League, have only Mark Lemon from last year’s side. Ulrich Ostergaard and Tom P Madsen join Lemon as heatleaders while Tomas Suchanek and Chris Mills fill the second string berths. Their reserves are Danny Warwick and Jaimie Smith. Somerset, having shed Magnus Zetterstrom from last year’s side, introduced Jason Doyle as Zetterstrom’s replacement while other newcomers to the side are Henning Loof and Brent Werner.
Challenge Match (first leg): Reading 54, Somerset 37.
Both teams were at full strength.
The two teams had mixed fortunes in the opening heats. Jason Doyle suffered an engine failure in heat 1 leaving Suchanek and Lemon to score a 5-1 but, after three reruns, Katt and Frampton replied with a 1-5 for the Rebels after Danny Warwick had fallen on the second bend. Warwick was subsequently withdrawn from the meeting leading to a busy night for his reserve partner, Jaimie Smith. There was another 5-1 in heat 3 this time to the Racers from Mills and Ostergaard, the latter executing a fine pass on Kramer, with Loof suffering machine failure. Then Reading added another two points to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 4 won by Jaimie Smith from Brent Werner to take the score to 15-9.
Jason Doyle was excluded from heat 5 for moving at the gate. He was replaced by Stephan Katt who finished second to Ostergaard. The racers took a 4-2 from the heat but the next two heats, won by Mark Lemon and Emil Kramer, were shared. Then Reading went further ahead in heat 8 with another 5-1 this time from Tomas Suchanek and Jaimie Smith stretching their lead to 30-18.
Chris Mills passed Stephan Katt and Brent Werner to join his partner, Ulrich Ostergaard, up front in heat 9 for another Reading 5-1 as Somerset slipped further behind, trailing now by 16 points. The Rebels gave Emil Kramer a TR in heat 10 but this was not a success as he trailed in third behind Mark Lemon and Tomas Suchanek who registered their second maximum riding as a pair. Henning Loof pulled up with an engine failure as the visitors fell 20 points behind. It stayed that way after heat 11, won by Tom P Madsen from Simon Walker and Jason Doyle who at last got on the scoresheet. Having finished third to Lemon and Suchanek in his tactical ride, Emil Kramer then came out and won ahead of the unbeaten Ulrich Ostergaard in heat 12. Stephan Katt supported him in third place so the Rebels shaved two points from the lead with the 2-4 taking the score to 45-27.
Jason Doyle finally got his act together winning heat 13 from Lemon and Madsen for a shared race then in heat 14 Brent Werner replaced Henning Loof as a tactical substitute starting from 15 metres back. In the first running of the race Chris Mills and Stephan Katt crashed and ended in the air fence. Mills was excluded while Katt was unable to take his place in the rerun so was replaced by Jordan Frampton. Jaimie Smith, taking his seventh ride won the rerun from Frampton and Werner so the Rebels took a 3-4 from the heat. Mark Lemon rounded off the match by winning heat 15 but Emil Kramer and Jason Doyle kept Ostergaard at the back for a shared race. This meant that Somerset had won 14-17 over the last five heats after falling twenty points behind over the first ten.
Scorers For Reading – Mark Lemon 13+1 (5), Jaimie Smith 10+2 (7), Ulrich Ostergaard 10+1 (5), Tomas Suchanek 8+1 (4), Tom P Madsen 7+1 (4), Chris Mills 6+1 (4), Danny Warwick 0 (1).
For Somerset – Emil Kramer 10 (5), Stephan Katt 8+1 (5), Brent Werner 6+1 (5) (with 2 point TS), Jason Doyle 5+2 (5), Jordan Frampton 4+1 (4), Simon Walker 4 (4), Henning Loof 0 (3).
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