Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Saturday, 13 October

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As the season reaches a climax with so many important meetings coming hard on the heels of each other it was disappointing that the match at Workington where the Comets were due to race their first leg, semi-final match in the Young Shield against Redcar was postponed due to a waterlogged track. The other match due to be raced did take place. At Stoke the Potters took on Birmingham in a second leg, semi-final Young Shield tie.


Young Shield, semi-final, second leg: Stoke 46, Birmingham 43 Birmingham qualified for the final on aggregate by 97-84.

Stoke were again without Rusty Harrison and Glenn Cunningham so used Rider Replacement at number 4 for Harrison and Tony Atkin as a guest at number 3 for Cunningham. Birmingham were without Henning Bager, Manuel Hauzinger, Henrik Moller and Ben Powell. To patch up their team they had Rider Replacement for Manuel Hauzinger at number 1 as a result of Hauzinger’s average now taking him to number 2 in the Birmingham averages. They also had three guests – Shaun Tacey for Henrik Moller at number 4, Chris Schramm at number 5 for Henning Bager and Paul Clews at number 6 for Ben Powell.

Birmingham had an 18 point lead from the first leg at Perry Barr on Wednesday night but that would not have bothered Stoke too much after pulling back a 24 point deficit against Somerset in the previous round.

There are not many details available about this match. The scores were tied after the opening two heats but Stoke opened up a four point lead after heat 5. However Birmingham pulled that back and after eight heats the scores were tied again at 24-24 leaving the Potters still 16 points adrift on aggregate.

Tony Atkin fell in heat 9 and was excluded then in heat 10 Lee Complin was given the verdict on the line for the race win over Jason Lyons, a decision which did not meet universal agreement. By heat 14 Stoke were in front by two points at 43-41 then, in the last race, the Potters scored a 3-2 when Lyons had been excluded after falling and Lee Complin had been excluded after bringing down Phil Morris to give them a three point win on the night. Birmingham’s passage into the final never looked in any danger though.

Scorers: For Stoke – Lee Complin 12+2, Claus Vissing 11, Barrie Evans 10+2, Ben Barker 8, Tony Atkin 5, Jaimie Smith 0.

For Birmingham – Phil Morris 13, Jason Lyons 11, Paul Clews 8+1, Chris Schramm 5+2, Lee Smart 5+2, Shaun Tacey 1.

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Friday, 12 October

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There were two matches raced tonight. At Somerset the Rebels raced Newport in the second leg of their Knockout Cup semi-final tie while at King’s Lynn the Stars took on the Isle of Wight in a Premier League match.


Knockout Cup, semi-final, second leg: Somerset 61, Newport 32 Somerset qualified for the final on aggregate by 103-82.


Somerset had Chris Neath as a guest in place of Chris Neath. Newport were again without Tom Hedley so used Rider Replacement at number 2.

Somerset, with eight points to pull back from the first leg at Queensway Meadows, were keen to eradicate the memory of their collapse at Stoke last Saturday when they exited the Young Shield. That they surely did as they blew the Wasps away from the start having pulled the arrears back by heat 2 after recording back-to-back 5-1s in the opening heats. Tony Atkin stemmed the tide by winning heat 3 for a shared race but his ‘King Canute’ act was in vain as Danny Warwick and Ritchie Hawkins added another 5-1 in heat 4 taking the score to 18-6.

Emil Kramer won heat 5 from Michal Rajkowski while Jordan Frampton was brought down by Barry Burchatt and awarded third place for a 4-2. Simon Walker and Chris Neath repeated their heat 1 performance with another 5-1 before Ritchie Hawkins won heat 7 from Truminski and Katt for a 4-2. Another 4-2 from heat 8 won by Simon Walker who was still unbeaten propelled the Rebels into a 22 point lead with the score at 35-13 and the home side 14 points ahead on aggregate.

In heat 9 Nick Simmons fell on the third lap causing the race to be rerun without him. Chris Schramm passed Emil Kramer in the rerun for a shared race but Chris Neath and Simon Walker completed the perfect partnership with their third consecutive 5-1 in heat 10 with Walker completing a paid four ride maximum in the process by rounding Sebastian Truminski on the last lap to join his partner for the full house. In heat 11, Michal Rajkowski became the third Newport rider to win a race when he beat Ritchie Hawkins and Stephan Katt for a shared race but Daniel Warwick and Emil Kramer returned the Rebels to 5-1 mode in heat 12 taking the score to 51-21.

Newport gave Chris Schramm a Tactical Ride in heat 13 and he won it ruining Chris Neath’s maximum in the process. Ritchie Hawkins passed Rajkowski on the last lap for third so the Wasps took a 3-6. Stephan Katt rounded the field on the first two bends to win heat 14 from Tony Atkin. Jordan Frampton was third for a home 4-2. In the last race Hawkins passed Rajkowski on the third lap while Rajkowski passed Warwick simultaneously.

Scorers: For Somerset – Ritchie Hawkins 11+2 (5), Simon Walker 11+1 (4)(paid maximum), Daniel Warwick 10 (5), Chris Neath 9+2 (4), Emil Kramer 9+1 (4), Stephan Katt 7+2 (4), Jordan Frampton 4+2 (4).

For Newport – Chris Schramm 13 (5)(with 6 point TR), Michal Rajkowski 6+1 (5), Tony Atkin 5 (5), Barry Burchatt 4 (7), Sebastian Truminski 3 (4), Nick Simmons 1 (4).



Premier League: King’s Lynn 61, Isle of Wight 26 King’s Lynn won the aggregate bonus point by 108-68. The match was curtailed to 14 heats after an accident in the penultimate race.


Both King’s Lynn and the Isle of Wight were at full strength.

There were few who would have backed the Isle of Wight to win this match but few would have expected the demolition job the Stars produced either. The Stars were no doubt itching to take Wednesday night’s disappointment out on somebody and the Islanders were the ones who copped it.

With eight 5-1s in the opening ten heats, the Isle of Wight were reduced to fighting for scraps. In the opening four heats only a second place for Chris Holder behind Tomas Topinka prevented a Stars’ clean sweep as the score stood at 19-5.

The Islanders decided to play their Tactical Ride card at the earliest possible moment in an attempt at recovery so Chris Holder took the TR in heat 5. He beat Daniel Nermark for the full six points and was supported by Cory Gathercole in third place for a 2-7 cutting five points off the Stars’ lead. Another three 5-1s though continued King’s Lynn’s relentless pursuit of the points and the score then stood at 36-15.

Wins for Nermark and Topinka in heats 9 and 10 produced another couple of 5-1s before the Islanders managed another race advantage in heat 11. Chris Holder won from Chris Mills while Cory Gathercole took third for a 2-4. It was only a minor blip though as Nermark and Simon Lambert completed the home side’s ninth 5-1 in heat 12 taking the score to 53-22 with half the visitors’ points having come from heats 5 and 11!

It had really turned out to be a King’s Lynn versus Chris Holder match and Holder won again in heat 13 beating Topinka and Mills for a shared race. Heat 14 was awarded to Adam Allott and Trevor Harding after Glen Phillips had crashed with Chris Johnson and been excluded. Although Phillips was able to get to his feet the County ambulance was called for Chris Johnson. In view of the fact that there was a Conference League Play Off match due immediately to be raced after this match, it was agreed not to run heat 15 so the result stood as it was after heat 14.

Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Tomas Topinka 11 (4), Daniel Nermark 11 (4), Chris Mills 9+1 (4), Simon Lambert 8+4 (4)(paid maximum), Paul Lee 8+2 (4), Adam Allott 8+1 (4), Trevor Harding 6+3 (4).

For the Isle of Wight – Chris Holder 14 (4)(with 6 point TR), Chris Johnson 5 (5), Jason Bunyan 2 (3), Krzysztof Stojanowski 2 (4), Cory Gathercole 2 (4), Glen Phillips 1 (4), Andrew Bargh 0 (4).

Around the Premier League Tracks 2007

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Thursday, 11 October

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The sole action tonight was at Redcar where the Bears took on Workington in a first leg semi-final Young Shield match.



Young Shield (semi-final, first leg): Redcar 50, Workington 40.


Redcar used Rider Replacement for Mathieu Tressarieu while Workington used Rider Replacement for Mattia Carpanese.

Gary Havelock won the first race for Redcar from Kauko Nieminen and Charles Wright (R/R) resulting in a 3-3 but it was Workington who provided the next 5 race winners. John Branney just pipped Daniel Giffard in heat 2 for a shared race then James Wright won from James Grieves and Josh Auty again for a 3-3. However when Chris Kerr had an engine failure in heat 4, Ulrich Ostergaard and John Branney took full advantage to take a 1-5 from Jack Hargreaves. This put the Comets four points ahead with the score at 10-14.

Kauko Nieminen won heat 5 for another shared race to keep the visitors four points in front as the fast gating Comets continued to cause the home side some problems. Gary Havelock made the gate in heat 6 but was passed by both Ulrich Ostergaard and Charles Wright on the first lap. On the last lap Havelock re-passed Wright to take second place but the heat still finished as a 2-4 to the Comets increasing their lead to six points. Finally, Redcar produced another race winner in heat 7 in the shape of Chris Kerr but James Wright and Craig Branney shared the points behind him. James Grieves (R/R) produced another race win for the Bears in heat 8 but again Workington shared the heat through the Branney brothers who finished behind him taking the score to 21-27.

Redcar scored their first heat advantage in heat 9. Josh Auty forced his way to the front and together with James Grieves looked like taking a 5-1. However Ulrich Ostergaard forced his way past Grieves to limit the Bears to a 4-2 which cut the gap to four points. The Comets’ lead was down to two points after heat 10. Gary Havelock won from James Wright while Chris Kerr had to settle for third place for a 4-2. Workington pulled away again with a 2-4 in heat 11. Kauko Nieminen passed Chris Kerr on the fourth bend of the third lap while John Branney took advantage of a mistake by Daniel Giffard to pull away for third place increasing the Comets’ lead to four points. Redcar had a huge slice of luck in heat 12 to square the match. James Wright suffered an engine failure on the second lap while leading the race and James Grieves and Jack Hargreaves took full advantage by heading home Charles Wright for a 5-1 which levelled the scores at 36-36.

Spurred on by that success the Bears soared into the lead with a crucial 5-1 in heat 13. Gary Havelock and Chris Kerr team rode to full points against Ulrich Ostergaard and Kauko Nieminen both of whom had dropped only one point each from their first three races! This gave Redcar a four point lead with just two races to go. The Bears then made it a hat trick of 5-1s with another in heat 14. Josh Auty won it comfortably enough but there was a great race behind him for second place. Jack Hargreaves was second from the tapes behind Auty but Craig Branney passed Hargreaves at the start of the third lap. Jack Hargreaves chased him and re-passed on the next bend but the chase was then on for the line with Hargreaves getting the referee’s verdict in a blanket finish. Redcar’s stunning burst had rocketed them into an eight point lead and the question was could they repeat their success of heat 13 in heat 15 which had the same contestants. Well the answer was not quite but they did take a 4-2 when Gary Havelock beat Kauko Nieminen with Chris Kerr taking third place from Ulrich Ostergaard for a ten point lead, two more than they had for the second leg at Glasgow on Sunday. Workington were left wondering what had happened!

Scorers: For Redcar – Gary Havelock 14 (5), James Grieves 10+1 (5), Chris Kerr 9+1 (5), Chris Kerr 9+1 (5), Jack Hargreaves 6+3 (5), Daniel Giffard 2 (4).

For Workington – Kauko Nieminen 10 (5), Ulrich Ostergaard 9 (5), John Branney 8+2 (6), James Wright 7 (4), Craig Branney 3+1 (5), Charles Branney 3+1 (5).