AWAY 2007
1 |
24th March |
Lost |
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2 |
25th March |
Lost |
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3
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10th April |
Lost |
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4 |
15th April |
Lost |
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5 |
22nd April |
Won |
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6 |
6th May |
Lost |
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7 |
19th May |
Won |
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8 |
25th May |
Lost |
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10 |
26th May |
Won |
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11 |
25/26 May |
Goto |
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12 |
16th June |
WORKINGTON - RAINED OFF |
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13 |
17th June |
Won |
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11 |
27th June |
BIRMINGHAM PREMIER LEAGUE |
Lost |
12 |
8th July |
2nd |
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13 |
12th July |
Lost |
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14 |
17th July |
Lost |
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15 |
19th July |
Lost |
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16 |
25th July |
Lost |
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17 |
11th Aug |
Lost |
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19 |
10th Sept |
Lost |
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20 |
21st Sept |
Lost |
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21 |
22nd Sept |
Lost |
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22 |
6th Oct |
Lost |
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23 |
7th Oct |
Lost |
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| 24 | 24th Oct |
Lost |
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Reports courtesy of Dave Thompson or SPEEDWAY UPDATES unless otherwise stated |
Premier League Knock Out Cup Final, 2nd Leg KING’S LYNN 59 SOMERSET 34 (Aggregate; King’s Lynn 105 Somerset 78) KING’S LYNN - 59 1. T Topinka – 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 15 2. P Lee - 2*, 0, 2*, 2* = 6+3 3. D Nermark – exl, 2*, 3, 3, 2* = 10+2 4. T Harding – 3, 3, 2*, 2* = 10+2 5. C Mills – fl, fl, (Withdrawn) = 0 6. A Allott - 1*, 3, 3, 0, 0 = 7+1 7. S Lambert – 2, 2, 2*, 2, 0, 3 = 11+1 Team Manager: Rob Lyon SOMERSET - 34 1. R Ashworth (guest) – 1, 1, 6^, 2, 1 = 11 2. S Walker – rider replacement 3. E Kramer – 2, 1, 0, 2 = 5 4. J Frampton - 1*, exl, exl (Withdrawn) = 1+1 5. R Hawkins – 3, 1*, 0, exl (2mins), 1*, 0 = 5+2 6. S Katt – 0, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1* = 1 9+1 7. D Warwick – 0, 1, 1, 1, ret = 3 Team Manager: Garry May SCB Referee: Barbara Horley HEAT DETAILS
Heat 01: Topinka, Lee, Ashworth, Katt, 59.81 (5-1)(5-1) Heat 02: Katt, Lambert, Allott, Warwick, 60.93 (3-3) (8-4) Heat 03: Harding, Kramer, Frampton, Nermark (f.exc), 59.65 (3-3) (11-7) Heat 04: Hawkins, Lambert, Warwick, Mills (fell), 60.36 (2-4) (13-11) Heat 05: Harding, Nermark, Ashworth, Frampton (exc), 59.75 (5-1) (18-12) Heat 06: Topinka, Katt, Hawkins, Lee, 60.28 (3-3) (21-15) Heat 07: Allott, Lambert, Kramer, Frampton (f.exc), Mills (f.ns), 59.96 (5-1) (26-16) Heat 08: Allott, Lee, Katt, Hawkins, 59.92 (5-1) (31-17) Heat 09: Nermark, Harding, Warwick, Hawkins (exc 2 min), 59.96 (5-1) (36-18) Heat 10: Topinka, Lee, Warwick, Kramer, 59.32 (5-1) (41-19) Heat 11: Ashworth^, Lambert, Katt, Allott, 60.22 (6-2) (43-26) Heat 12: Nermark, Kramer, Katt, Lambert, 59.76 (3-3) (46-29) Heat 13: Topinka, Ashworth, Hawkins, Allott, 59.86 (3-3) (49-32) Heat 14: Lambert, Harding, Katt, Warwick (ret), 61.64 (5-1) (54-33) Heat 15: Topinka, Nermark, Ashworth, Hawkins, 60.00 (5-1) (59-34) The Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels arrived at the Norfolk Arena needing to do what no other team has done this season and beat King’s Lynn on their own track in order to pull back the two point loss they suffered at home last Friday if they were to win the Premier League Knock Out Cup. Even before the first wheel was turned, the Rebels suffered a blow to their hopes when their captain, Simon Walker, was forced to pull out of the meeting due to illness, Somerset utilising the rider replacement facility in his absence. Heat 1 saw Stephan Katt come out in place of Walker, but it was the home duo of Topinka, who was untouchable all night, and Paul Lee who sped from the tapes to leave Katt and Somerset’s guest, Ricky Ashworth, in their wake to take a maximum heat win. Katt, however, made no mistake in the next race, making a lightening start to win comfortably ahead of the home reserves, Lambert and Allott, but unfortunately for the Rebels Katt’s fellow reserve, Danny Warwick looked out of sorts as he trailed in last. The shared heat gave Somerset hope that an upset could be on the cards, hope that was further enhanced in heat 3. Captain for the night, Emil Kramer made a level break from the tapes with the Star’s Daniel Nermark forcing his fellow Swede wide as the riders took to the first bend. With Nermark fast running out of track he came to grief with the obvious conclusion of his exclusion by referee Barbara Horley. With the main threat to Somerset out of the re-run, Somerset were hoping to claw back some of the deficit, but Trevor Harding made up for the loss of his partner by taking advantage of a small error by Kramer on the third lap to nip through into the lead and take the chequered flag, the shared heat ensuring King’s Lynn maintained their four point lead on the night. More luck fell the way of the Rebels as King’s Lynn number 5 Chris Mill virtually repeated Nermark’s feat of the previous heat by taking the first turns too wide with the inevitable consequence of him falling. With Mills clearing the track, however, the race continued with Ritchie Hawkins posting a second race win of the night for Somerset, and with Danny Warwick picking up the point for third, it gave the Rebels their first heat advantage of the night, and cut King’s Lynn’s lead to just two points. Somerset’s joy was short-lived as King’s Lynn then proceeded to pile in five maximum heat wins in the next six heats that turned the match in favour of the home side and virtually assured them a third consecutive KO Cup success. Heat 7 saw an incident that led to a rider from both sides having to withdraw from the meeting due to injury as Chris Mills and Somerset’s Jordan Frampton tangled as the pair entered the third bend on the opening lap. Mills, finding himself at the back, sped down the outside of the Somerset number 4 as the pair raced down the back straight. As the pair took to the turn, Frampton seemed to clip the Mill’s back wheel sending both riders hurtling towards the safety fence. Although Frampton was soon on his feet, Mills was not so lucky, and was forced to take an ambulance ride back to the pits. The resultant rib injury for Mills led to his withdrawal from the rest of the match, and although ‘merely’ shaken, Frampton was also unable to complete the meeting. The only bright light for Somerset in the remainder of the meeting was a tactical race win for their guest Ricky Ashworth in heat 11, and with Katt picking up third place ahead of Allott, it gave the Rebels their second race advantage of the night, but it was a case of far too little, far too late. King’s Lynn made sure of the overall victory a heat later, and emphasised their superiority over the gallant visitors by posting maximum heat wins in each of the final two heats, to run out winners by 25 points on the night. So, whilst King’s Lynn celebrated the fact that the Premier League Knock Out Cup will reside at the Norfolk Arena for a third year in a row, the Rebels were left to reflect on the bad luck that hit them in their home leg few days earlier which saw them face an almost impossible task if they were to bring the trophy back to the Somerset for the first time.
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Knock Out Cup Semi-Final (1st leg) Newport Wasps v Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels Newport Wasps - 50
Michal Rajkowski – 0, 2, 0, 0 = 2 Tom Hedley R/R Sebastian Truminski - 2*, 3, 1, 3, 2* = 11 +2 Tony Atkin – 3, 2*, 3, 3, 2 = 13+1 Chris Schramm – 3, 1*, 3, 2, 3 = 12+1 Nick Simmons – 2, 3, 2, 1, 0, 1* = 9+1 Barry Burchatt – 1, 1, 0, 1, 0 = 3 Somerset Rebels - 42
Lee Complin (G) – 1, 1, 1*,1 = 4 + 1 Simon Walker – 3, flx, 0 = 3 Emil Kramer – 0, 3, 3, 2, 1 = 9 Jordan Frampton – 1, 0, 2*, 3 = 6+1 Ritchie Hawkins – 2, 3, 4^, 3, flx = 12 Stephan Katt – 2, 1, 2, 0, 2, 1* = 8 + 1 Danny Warwick – fl, 0, 0 = 0 SCB Referee: Graham Reeve Heat Details Heat 01 - Simon Walker ; Nick Simmons ; Lee Complin ; Michal Rajkowski ; 62.00 (2-4) (2-4) Heat 02 - Nick Simmons ; Stephan Katt ; Barry Burchatt ; Danny Warwick(fell) ; 62.47 (4-2) (6-6) Heat 03 - Tony Atkin ; Sebastian Truminski ; Jordan Frampton ; Emil Kramer ; 62.82 (5-1) (11-7) Heat 04 - Chris Schramm ; Ritchie Hawkins ; Barry Burchatt ; Danny Warwick ; 62.50 (4-2) (15-9) Heat 05 - Sebastian Truminski ; Tony Atkin ; Lee Complin ; Simon Walker(flx) ; Awd (5-1) (20-10) Heat 06 - Ritchie Hawkins ; Michal Rajkowski ; Stephan Katt ; Barry Burchatt ; 61.00 (2-4) (22-14) Heat 07 - Emil Kramer ; Nick Simmons ; Chris Schramm ; Jordan Frampton ; 61.52 (3-3) (25-17) Heat 08 - Tony Atkin ; Stephan Katt ; Barry Burchatt ; Simon Walker ; 61.71 (4-2) (29-19) Heat 09 - Tony Atkin ; Ritchie Hawkins (tactical) ; Sebastian Truminski ; Stephan Katt ; 61.00 (4-4) (33-23) Heat 10 - Emil Kramer ; Jordan Frampton ; Nick Simmons ; Michal Rajkowski ; 60.81 (1-5) (34-28) Heat 11 - Chris Schramm ; Stephan Katt ; Lee Complin ; Nick Simmons ; 61.00 (3-3) (37-31) Heat 12 - Sebastian Truminski ; Emil Kramer ; Stephan Katt ; Barry Burchatt ; 60.69 (3-3) (40-34) Heat 13 - Ritchie Hawkins ; Chris Schramm ; Lee Complin ; Michal Rajkowski ; 61.34 (2-4) (42-38) Heat 14 - Jordan Frampton ; Tony Atkin ; Nick Simmons ; Danny Warwick ; 61.84 (3-3) (45-41) Heat 15 - Chris Schramm ; Sebastian Truminski ; Emil Kramer ; Ritchie Hawkins(flx) ; 61.56 (5-1) (50-42) After losing a 24-point lead, and going out of the Young Shield, at Loomer Road on Saturday night, the Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels arrived at Queensway Meadows looking for a decent result to lift their spirits, and give themselves the best possible chance of progressing to the KO Cup final. With intended guest Jason Doyle unavailable following Saturday nights fall, The Rebels turned to one of their Stoke tormentors to fill the void left by the Poole man. Lee Complin has a fantastic record at the ’Meadows’ this season, so the Rebels management wasted no time in booking him to cover Doyle’s absence. The Rebels started well when skipper Simon Walker took the opening heat on a wet track. The two Wasps, Rajkowski and Simmons made a slick start, only for Walker to come under them on the opening turn. Lee Complin followed him past Rajkowski, but could not collar Simmons, who chased Walker hard on the slippery surface. Walker held on to take a good opening heat advantage for the Rebels. The Wasps struck back immediately, taking Heat 2 by the same margin to tie up the scores. Nick Simmons back in his more familiar reserve berth made a good start alongside the Rebels Danny Warwick. Stephan Katt took second from Warwick on the second bend, and the order stayed the same until Warwick lost control on the first bend of Lap 3. Barry Burchatt took advantage to grab third spot as Warwick faltered. Katt chased down Simmons, coming with a big run off the final turn, but could not get up. Over the next three heats the Wasps pulled out a 10-point lead, courtesy of two 5-1’s from three races. The first came in Heat 3 after Emil Kramer had lost control on the damp track as he challenged for the lead on the opening turn, sending him back to third spot. Tony Atkin took advantage by first passing Kramer on the second bend, and then chasing and passing Jordan Frampton on the third turn. He joined his teammate in the lead before easing to the front before the chequered flag. A 4-2 followed in Heat 4, but for a while it looked as though the Rebels would be taking the points. Danny Warwick made a terrific start to lead Chris Schramm, who challenged on the second bend. Warwick held off Schramm, until he made a mistake, running wide on the second bend on Lap 2. Schramm made a very hard move up Warwick’s inside leaving him nowhere to go. Ritchie Hawkins was close by, and followed Schramm through, giving chase to the Wasps man. Hawkins came with a big run of the last turn, getting alongside Schramm, but could not pass. Burchatt passed Warwick late in Lap 3, to give the Wasps the advantage. Heat 5 saw Sebastian Truminski get an untroubled run round the first bend after his partner, Tony Atkin, held a wide line to leave Lee Complin with nowhere to go on the opening turn. Simon Walker cut back under Atkin, but could not make the move stick. He chased Atkin hard, and was close up when he slid off on the first bend of lap 2. He looked in some discomfort as he was attended by the medical staff, and sat on the ground taking some time to rise, and when he did, he did it gingerly. He walked back to the ambulance before returning to the pits. He was excluded and the race awarded to the Wasps 5-1. Heat 6 took three attempts to get under way. The initial start was pulled back after Michal Rajkowski made a ‘flyer’ at the tapes. The second try got no further than the first bend either. Rajkowski was the cause again as he ran wide and into his teammate, bringing Burchatt down. Rajkowski was lucky not to be excluded, as he clearly looked to have taken Burchatt off, but the referee ruled it to be an ‘unsatisfactory start’, putting all four riders back in. In the final running, Ritchie Hawkins led off the first bend from Rajkowski, with Burchatt in third. Stephan Katt caught and passed Burchatt on the fourth bend, and set off after Rajkowski, but could not get to him before the flag fall. A shared heat followed as Emil Kramer made a good start to lead all the way in Heat 7. Jordan Frampton fell on the first bend when close up, and remounted to complete the race at the back. Kramer won the heat with ease, and was never challenged after the second turn. The Wasps threw in skipper Tony Atkin as the ‘rider replacement’ in Heat 8, and it paid off with a fine win with Stephan Katt in second. Katt made the best start, but had no answer to Atkins’ wide run onto the home straight. Simon Walker got the worst of the start, and chased, but could not catch Burchatt for third place. Heat 9 saw Rebels Team Manager, Steve Bishop; send out Ritchie Hawkins in ‘Black and White’ in an attempt to reduce the 10-point deficit. As the tapes rose the Wasps duo of Atkin and Truminski were quickly away from Stephan Katt. Katt ran out into the dirt, and around Truminski on the first bend, whilst at the same time Hawkins cut back underneath, passing both men in the process, and slipping into second place. Truminski kept on the throttle, and regained a place, passing Katt in the home straight. Hawkins put in a determined chase on Atkin, but could not run him down as the laps ran out, and he had to be content with a 4-4 shared heat. The Rebels finally did what they had threatened to do all afternoon, by completing a 5-1 advantage in Heat 10. Emil Kramer and Jordan Frampton made the best starts to lead on the first bend. From there on it was virtually over as a contest, as Kramer won easily, and Frampton was comfortable in holding off Nick Simmons charge. With the gap down to 6-points, two shared heats followed. In Heat 11 Stephan Katt replaced Simon Walker, and made a good start alongside home man Chris Schramm. He powered off the second bend to relegate Schramm to second place, but the Wasps man was not done, coming back with a powerful outside run to reclaim his place on the opening turn of the next lap. From there the race settled in until the line, with Lee Complin third for the Rebels. Katt continued his busy afternoon by coming straight back out for Heat 12, partnering Emil Kramer. He again made a good start, this time challenging Sebastian Truminski in the early stages. The ex-Berwick ride just had enough in hand to ease out Katt on the opening turns. Emil Kramer recovered from a slow start to pass his partner on Bend 1 of the next lap. Truminski was gone beyond recall at this stage, and Kramer chased, but made not impression, making do with a share of the points. Heat 13 brought the impressive Ritchie Hawkins back to the tapes, and he made no mistake with a good start from the outside gate. He matched Michal Rajkowski to the bend, but had too much pace for the young Pole. Lee Complin made his best start of the day, cutting under Chris Schramm on the opening bend. Schramm never let him get too far in front, and repaid the compliment in the same spot on Lap 2. Rajkowski had been swallowed up by the battle, and was now out of the back door, leaving the Rebels to take a 4-2 advantage, to cut the gap to just 4-points. Another shared heat followed, but in the early stages it looked as though the Rebels would bring the scores level as they held a 5-1 advantage on the first lap. Frampton was fast away inside Danny Warwick, with Atkin challenging Warwick on the second bend. Warwick repelled the challenge, holding his place over the opening lap. Atkin redoubled his efforts, and came with a storming run on the outside of bend 4 of Lap 2, and grabbed second spot. Frampton had too much in hand by this time, and Atkin could not close him down. A late mistake by Warwick gave Nick Simmons a chance to slip by, and take a share of the points. At four points down the Rebels were still in with a chance of tying the match if they could take a maximum advantage in the last heat. The start of the nominated heat resembled something from a Whitehall farce, with the Wasps riders, Schramm and Truminski, being sent away from the gate by the Start Marshall, who mistakenly told them that they were wearing the wrong helmet colours. Chaos reigned with mechanics and assorted bodies running all over the place as the home riders swapped and the re-swapped their colours. As this was going on, amid loud jeers from the crowd, the 2-minute warning had run out and the red lights came on. When it had all been sorted out at least 4-minutes had expired, and surprisingly to many watching no one was excluded. When the race eventually got underway Schramm and Emil Kramer made the better start, Kramer challenged at the opening turn, only to be held out wide by Schramm, allowing Truminski a free run inside. On the next lap Ritchie Hawkins was hard on the Wasps pairs heels, but slid off as they entered the turn. The race was stopped, and Hawkins excluded. In the re-run Schramm once more ran Kramer wide at the first turn, and the Wasps pair were clear on the next bend. Kramer harried them for the whole four laps, and was close on their heels waiting to pounce on any mistake, but they made none, team riding him out of the race. So the final score line ended 50-42 in the Wasps favour, giving them an 8-point cushion to take to the Oak Tree Arena next Friday. For the Wasps, rejuvenated skipper, Tony Atkin top scored with an impressive 13+1, backed up by a great 12-point performance by Chris Schramm. Sebastian Truminski also looked useful with his 11+1 haul. In the Rebels camp, Ritchie Hawkins took top honours, with his second best away score of the season, 12-points. He had good back up from the reliable Emil Kramer, with 9-points, and Stephan Katt, with his best away performance of the season by far, bagging 8+1. In their two meetings at the Highbridge circuit this year the Rebels have defeated Newport by a combined total of 72-points. Since then there has been a personnel change in the Wasps ranks, and they will hope to field a full squad, with the return of the injured Tom Hedley, so no one at Somerset will be counting any chickens, before the final flag fall on Friday. |
'Young Shield' Quarter Final (2nd leg)
Stoke Potters - 59 Heat Results Heat 02: Katt, Evans, Smith, Warwick (flrmnt) (3-3) (6-6) 65.5 Heat 03: Kramer, Complin, Atkin, Frampton. (3-3) (9-9) 64.0 Heat 04: Vissing, Hawkins, Smith, Warwick (ef). (4-2) (13-11) 64.7 Heat 05: Doyle, Atkin, Evans, Walker. (3-3) (16-14) 64.8 Heat 06: Complin, Hawkins, Barker, Katt. (4-2) (20-16) 64.1 Heat 07: Evans, Vissing, Kramer, Frampton. (5-1) (25-17) 64.6 The Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels held a comfortable 24-point lead from Fridays’ home leg, coming into this Quarter-final second leg, and looked to have a great chance of progressing to the Semi-final. For their part the Stoke ‘Easy Rider’ Potters having lost Rusty Harrison for the remainder of the season, were further depleted after the unfortunate injury to Glenn Cunningham, on the previous evening. The Potters drafted in the vastly experienced ex-Potter, Tony Atkin for this match, and the Rebels tracked their guest of the previous evening, Jason Doyle, in place of the suspended Magnus Zetterstrom. All seemed well for the visiting side in the early exchanges, with the score after 6 heats being 20-16 to the Potters. The Rebels had held the home sides scoring in check, by sharing the points in the first three races, with victory going to a Rebels rider on each occasion. Jason Doyle got the ball rolling in Heat 1 with an all the way win, in what turned out to be the fastest time of the night by far, 63.2 sec. The Potters pair of Complin and Barker filled the places. Heat 2 saw Stephan Katt make a fast start to repeat the dose, leading off the opening turn to win easily from Evans and Smith. Danny Warwick was close up until falling, and remounting on the third turn. The Rebels might have had a heat advantage in Heat 3, after a quick start saw Emil Kramer lead from the start. The remaining three riders broke level, and Jordan Frampton just got blocked out on the first turn, leaving Tony Atkin, and the rider replacement man, Lee Complin to fill the places. The Potters pulled a couple of points in Heat 4, when as fast break saw them take a 5-1 advantage around the first bend, with Ritchie Hawkins close up third. Hawkins came with a good run up the inside of bend 4 to grab second place from Jamie Smith, but he could not get on terms with the flying Claus Vissing. Danny Warwick retired on the third turn. It was more shared points in Heat 5, but at one point it looked as though the Potters might take a maximum advantage. Tony Atkin broke quickly on the inside of Jason Doyle, and with Evans on his outside, Doyle looked short of room going into the first turn, but he powered into the tightest of gaps, and rode a superb bend to emerge from the second bend in the lead, It was a stunning and brave move of the highest quality. Simon Walker pulled onto the back wheel of Evans, and was all over him for the whole race, but could not find a clear passage around him. He did get upsides going into the first bend for the final time, but Evans held a wide line, and Walker clipped the fence, and was forced back. Over the next 6 heats the Potters turned on the power, banging home 4 maximum advantages in the process. Heat 6 saw Lee Complin and Ritchie Hawkins break together, with Complin just getting the better of a tight battle out of the second turn. Stephan Katt had made a reasonable start on the outside, but was forced very wide in the opening bend, ending his hopes of points. Hawkins chased Complin hard, but could not get back on terms. Heat 7 saw the Potters take their first 5-1 of the night, after Barrie Evans made a fast start alongside the Rebels Emil Kramer. He got the better run around the opening turn to just ease in front, and then off the second bend, Claus Vissing came flying by, as Kramer struggled to find any drive on the inside of the turn. From there on in it was all Potters to the line. Heat 8 proved to be one of the races of the night, after a level break saw ex-Rebel, Ben Barker, and current Rebels skipper Simon Walker contest a tight opening bend, with walker just getting the run out of the second bend to lead narrowly. What followed were four of the most pulsating laps of speedway you would wish to see, as the pair raced virtually side by side, and Barker probing inside and outside line to find an opening. Just as it seemed Walker had done enough, Barker conjured up a run up the inside off the final turn to just get up right on the line, it was breathtaking stuff. Jamie Smith was a spectator in all this, after Danny Warwick fell and remounted on the opening bend. The next three heats put the Rebels under real pressure, after being in a relative comfort zone. The Potters took all three by the full margin, but the Rebels suffered some tough luck in the process. Heat 9 saw Ritchie Hawkins make a good start in the inside gate, only to be clamped to the kerb by the fast starting Claus Vissing, leaving the way clear for Tony Atkin around the outside. Once more, Stephan Katt found himself pushed wide on the opening turn, and could not get in a blow. Once clear the Potters pair team rode there way to the full points tally. In Heat 10 the Rebels held some of the points before it went wrong, with Emil Kramer making a good start alongside Lee Complin. The young Yorkshireman just eased in front off the second turn with Ben Barker in third place. Kramer was close up and challenging when his engine spluttered to a halt of the second bend on lap two, leaving the Potters with a full house. The problem was later traced to the HT lead coming adrift. Heat 11 probably proved the decisive race, as the Rebels looked to Jason Doyle to wear the ‘Black and White’ in a quest to claw back some points. As it transpired he made his worst start of the night, and raced the opening lap in close company with Simon Walker, and Claus Vissing, behind the fast starting Barrie Evans. As they went onto the second lap, Walker and Doyle were challenging Vissing. Doyle got up the inside of Vissing coming out of the last bend, with Walker close by on the outside, and as they approached the first turn for this time around, Doyle once more challenged up the inside of the young Dane. As he ran into the gap, Doyle’s bike picked up big time, throwing the front wheel high into the air, and coming round on him at the same time. He was spit out of the saddle, and into the path of the close up Simon Walker. Walker did well to lay down the bike, but could not avoid hitting Doyle, as they both ended up in the air fence. Walker was up quickly, and helped to pull his machine off Doyle, who was stuck under the fence. Doyle eventually emerged after quite a time, and walked back to the ambulance, which had been brought out. It would appear that Jason Doyle was badly shaken up, and had hurt his shoulder, and had to withdraw from the remainder of the meeting. In the re-run, the Potters took the lead from the gate, and took the full house to go with it. The Rebels now firmly on the back foot, needed to get to 35-points to progress, or 34 to tie on aggregate. They stemmed the flow with a shared heat in the next race. Emil Kramer made a great start to lead off the first turn, but his partner, Stephan Katt, could not match him, and was never able to get in the hunt. Kramer pulled away to win with ease from the Stoke pair of Atkin and Evans. Heat 13 should have been Jason Doyle’s last programmed ride, but with him on the sidelines the Rebels had to track Stephan Katt in his place. Katt flew from the gates to lead at the opening turn, to raise the Rebels hope of saving the tie. Claus Vissing was close up and got the better run off the second turn to lead out down the back straight. Lee Complin came charging round the final turn, but could not find a way round Katt. He made no mistake on the next, with a superb run out tight to the fence to grab the second place, and with it another 5-1. Ritchie Hawkins never got in the race after being run out of a tight first bend. In Heat 14, Rebels team manager, Steve Bishop, sent Emil Kramer out as a tactical Substitute off a 15-meter handicap, and it looked as though it may pay dividends as Jordan Frampton made his best start of the night to get in amongst the Potters, with Kramer closing down fast. With Frampton battling for the lead, disaster struck, as he fell when in a close battle with Barrie Evans on the third bend. He got stuck under the fence for a moment, and the race was stopped before he could regain his feet. He was excluded from the re-start. In the re-run Kramer was quickly into his stride, and was soon on the tail of Evans in second place. By the first bend on Lap 2 he was in a challenging position, and completed the pass down the back straight. Although he chased hard, Kramer was not able to get on terms with Ben Barker, who had made a good start. Barker was too far gone for Kramer, despite him closing the gap over the last couple of laps. However the resulting 4-4 score line had given the Rebels hope of rescuing the tie. In Heat 15 the Rebels tracked Kramer and Hawkins against the expected line up of Vissing and Complin. The final destination of the whole tie was in doubt right up to the final wheel turns of the heat, with Kramer making a great start to win the heat from Vissing, but with the real drama was going on behind them. Complin had made the best break between himself and Hawkins, but the Somerset man had passed him on the back straight. From there on in a titanic battle ensued between the two, with never more that a few inches separating the pair. Complin harried Hawkins for the whole four laps, and for his part Hawkins ride a superb race to hold him off. Just when it looked as though the Rebels would take the heat advantage that would share the tie, Complin summoned up a stunning run off the final turn, and cut to the inside. On the run to the line they were neck and neck, but as the line approached Complin just edged in front, by just about a wheel, and crossed the line amid delirious cheers from the home fans. The final score line of 59-33 gave the Potters the win by 2-points on aggregate. For the Rebels it was a galling way to lose, after holding all the aces coming into the match. The bits of bad luck they suffered didn’t help, but it was a match that should have seen the Rebels progress to the next round; instead it’s the Potters who will be taking that place in Semi-finals. For the Rebels Emil Kramer was magnificent, and had Jason Doyle been able to continue there is no doubt he would have piled on the points. Over the two matches he was superb, winning every race he completed, and barring his falls he has proved a very able deputy for Zorro. The Potters were a completely different proposition on their home track, and were really up for the fight. In Claus Vissing they have a young Dane who will only get better, and a man who knows how to score points. Lee Complin was as magnificent on the night as he was poor and disappointing on the previous night, but it was a whole team performance that won the Potters this match. On the night the better team won. The Rebels must now put this defeat behind them, and concentrate on beating the Newport Wasps over the two legs of the Knock Out Cup semi-final, starting with the away leg on this Sunday. |
Rye House Rockets – 56
1. Stefan Ekberg - 0, 2*, 3, 2 = 7+1 SCD Referee: Daniel Holt
Heat 01: Neath, Zetterstrom, Frampton (for Walker), Ekberg. (3-3) (3-3) 57.1 Hoddesdon is never an easy place to come when you are looking for points. On the back of a long overnight trip from the opposite end of the country, following the previous nights outing at Edinburgh, and one man down, it must be doubly difficult. Simon Walker missed this tie after breaking a rib the previous evening, but the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels were boosted by the return of Emil Kramer, following his outing in Friday evenings Swedish League 'Play Off' final. Just 9-points up from the seasons earlier encounter the Rebels would need to be right at the top of their game, and some more, to gather the points necessary to keep them in the play off picture. The match did not get off the a good start for the visitors as the Rye House 'Silver Ski' Rockets opened up a 6-point lead after the first three heats. Heat 1 saw the points shared after skipper Magnus Zetterstrom made a good start alongside his Rockets counterpart, Chris Neath. Zorro slightly locked up in the opening turn, handing Neath the advantage. Frampton, in for Walker, made a neat pass on Ekberg on the second bend to take third. Zorro set of after Neath, but despite trying every line possible, and coming with a big run off the final bend, could not find a way round on the tight Hoddesdon circuit. Stefan Ekberg fell on the opening bend of Lap 3. The reserves heat saw the home pair of Roynon and Bowen take a maximum win, with a quick start giving them better position on the first bend. Once in front they never allowed Jordan Frampton and Danny Warwick to get in a blow. The Rockets turned up the wick by taking Heat 3 4-2, when Tai Woffinden came from behind a fast starting Emil Kramer. Kramer led the first lap, with Woffinden challenging him, before finding a way up his inside going out onto the second lap, and then pulling clear. Stephan Katt had made a good start, but was hung out to dry on the outside of the first bend as Tommy Allen kept him wide. Adam Roynon took the next, just getting the better of Ritchie Hawkins on the second bend. Steve Boxall was to suffer a similar fate to that of Stephan Katt in the previous heat, when he was caught on the outside, allowing Danny Warwick to take third place. Warwick then held off a rampant Boxall for the next four laps. The Rockets powered away again, hammering in two 5-1's on the trot. The first came courtesy of Woffinden and Allen. Stephan Katt made a terrific start to lead off the first turn, with Tommy Allen repeating his Heat 3 manoeuvre of not turning left at the first turn until the last possible moment. This time the recipient was none other than Zorro. Meanwhile Woffinden had roared down the back straight to collar and pass Katt. Allen and Zorro also took Katt on the next lap, but despite chasing hard the damage was done, and Zorro could not catch Allen to get in a blow. Heat 6 saw Neath and Ekberg take the points after breaking just in front of the Rebels pair. Ritchie Hawkins gave chase, and was challenging when he spun out on the opening turn of the next lap, taking his second heavy fall in two days. He was down for a while but regained his feet to walk back to the pits, excluded from the re-run. In the re-start the home pair were not troubled after leading Jordan Frampton at the first bend. Now 14-points down at 25-11, the Rebels threw in Emil Kramer in the 'Black & White' in an attempt to claw back some valuable points. He did a terrific job, giving a start and a beating to Steve Boxall. Boxall had lead from the tapes, but Kramer came storming round the outside of the second bend to lead onto the back straight. Boxall did not give up easily, and was all over the back of Kramer for all four laps. The cool Swede stuck to his task, and held of the young Kent born rider to the line. Showing just how difficult it was, even for the home riders, to pass on the tricky circuit. Luke Bowen took third place to hold the Rebels advantage to 3-6. Stefan Ekberg's recent elevation to the Rockets 'Number 1' spot has not hindered their scoring potential in Heat 8; as it has seen Chris Neath replace Ekberg in that position. Neath made no mistake with a fast start in front of Ritchie Hawkins, in for Walker, who took a wide line on the opening turn. The Rockets second man, Adam Roynon, fell whilst trying to make ground on the second bend, leaving Danny Warwick to take third and a share of the points. Tai Woffinden took his third win on the spin, with a wide swoop off the second bend to pass a fast starting Ritchie Hawkins on the back straight. Jordan Frampton chased Tommy Allen for third, getting in a challenge on the opening bend of Lap 3, but could not stop the Rockets from taking the heat advantage. The Rockets extended their lead even further in Heat 10 with a from the gates 5-1 from Ekberg and Neath, over Emil Kramer and Stephan Katt. Heat 11 took three attempts to complete as the original running was stopped after Steve Boxall had careered down the inside of bend three, in an attempt to gain second place, and taken out Danny Warwick in the process. It was an ill judged move, as he would probably have completed a pass on Warwick if he had waited until the home straight. The referee called the re-start back, and he warned Zorro for moving at the tapes. However when the second re-run occurred he completely failed to take any action against a blatant jump-start by Luke Bowen as the tapes rose. The anticipated start didn't do Bowen any good though, as Zorro led him to the turn. Danny Warwick was the one who suffered from it, having to make do with third spot. Tai Woffinden has impressed all this season, and is clearly destined for great things. A measure of his talent was on display in Heat 12 as he came from third to first after being led by Jordan Frampton, and then passed by Emil Kramer on the first turn. Woffinden roared down the back straight and swooped passed Kramer before the third turn. He then set out after Frampton, and collared him, executing a superb pass on the second bend of Lap 2. From then on there was only one winner as the young Lincolnshire born rider pulled clear. Adam Roynon took another fall, trying to make ground at the start of Lap 4. Magnus Zetterstrom was now back on the winning trail, and followed up his Heat 11 victory with a win in Heat 13, but once again it took more than one attempt to run. This time it was Ritchie Hawkins who was too eager, as he made a huge jump at the tapes. On the re-start Zorro made no mistake leading from the first bend, with a hard charging Steve Boxall in second spot. Boxall was lucky not to repeat his earlier indiscretion when he made a similar lunge under Zorro at the same spot. Zorro was well aware of what was coming, and held a strong line as Boxall locked up, and dropped to the rear of the field. He gathered himself and came storming back, and took third spot with another hard move under Ritchie Hawkins on the opening turn of Lap 2. Luckily no one came to grief. In the meantime Zorro made his way home in front of Ekberg. Luke Bowen, who got way with a rolling start earlier, did it again in Heat 14 outrageously jumping the start by moving at least half a yard before the tapes rose. Once again the referee didn't spot it, and allowed the race to continue, with both Rockets leading from the gate. Neither Jordan Frampton, nor Danny Warwick could get in a blow. Magnus Zetterstrom rounded off his nights work with a superb win, and spoiled Tai Woffinden's maximum in the process. With the notable exception of Woffinden there had been little or no genuine passing all evening, but Zorro found a way in the final race. Chris Neath was fast up, and led early. Zorro was next away, and put in a strong challenge on the back straight. Neath shut the door, but undeterred Zorro came storming back, and made a super swoop off the last bend of the opening lap, squeezing by on the home straight. It was a move he had tried in Heat 1, but that time Neath blocked it, this time the Worcester man had no answer, and Zorro went on to win comfortably. Woffinden took third spot as the points were shared. On a night when even the home side found it difficult to execute a genuine racing pass, the Rebels had fought hard, but to no avail. All too often they had found themselves either out gated, or hung out to dry on the opening turn. Even when conditions are not at their best the Rockets are a handful on their own turf, and so it proved with the home side running out 56-37 winners, and taking all three points on offer. The outcome is that the Rockets will progress to the 'Play Offs', and the Rebels will be contesting the 'Young Shield', but who their first opponents will be is yet to be decided. On the night it was Zorro, Emil Kramer, Ritchie Hawkins, and Jordan Frampton who were the main points providers. |
Edinburgh Monarchs - 48 1. George Stancl - 2, 3, 3, 2, 2 = 12 SCB Referee: Stewart Wilson Heat Details Heat 01:Zetterstrom, Stancl, Sneddon, Walker (flx) (3-3) (3-3) 56.9 Heat 02:Frampton, Clews, Warwick, Katajisto (ret) (2-4) (5-7) 59.0 The Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels ended their league season with a marathon road trip taking in venues at opposite ends of the country. On Friday (21st September) they visited Aramadale stadium to oppose the Edinburgh 'Scotwaste' Monarchs, taking with them a 22-point lead in the quest for the bonus point. In fact the ideal scenario would have be to take all three points on offer, in order to stay in contention for a play off place. On Saturday they were to visit Hoddesdon to take on a Rye House 'Sliver Ski' Rockets side that had held them to only a 9-point margin in their early season clash at the Oak Tree Arena. Armadale can be a tricky little circuit for any visiting team, so things would have to be right for the Rebels to go home with the points. The omens were looking good with the team spirit in the Rebels camp high, and with dry fine weather being the order of the day. Then a couple of hours before the start time disaster struck, with a 15 minute spell of 'monsoon' rain falling on the circuit, after the predicted showery weather had earlier failed to materialise. The extremely heavy rain left the track in a very slippery, greasy state, but both teams needed this match to take place, and the lack of any further downpours saw the match start on time. Both teams tracked only 6 riders, with the home side running ' Rider Replacement' for the injured Andrew Tully, and the Rebels using the same facility for Emil Kramer, who was engaged in the 2nd leg of the Swedish League 'Play Off' final. The Monarchs also included Paul Clews a reserve guest, in place of Daniele Tessari, who is out with cruciate damage. The opening heat started with Simon Walker suffering a very harsh exclusion after a first bend melee ended with both him and Derek Sneddon on the floor. With Magnus Zetterstrom having led on the outside of George Stancl, the problem appeared to have started with Stancl running slightly wide, and Simon having similar difficulties. Sneddon had moved from inside Walker at the gate, to his outside on the first bend, with the everyone tightening up before Walker and Sneddon fell. It was no more than a bunching incident, which should really have seen all 4 riders back at the tapes. In the re-run Zorro was quickly way again, and moved Stancl wide, before racing clear down the back straight, and pulling away to win unchallenged. Stewart Wilson's decision to exclude Walker from Heat 1, looked even more strange after the first running of Heat 2 had seen three of the four riders hit the deck, after Kalle Katajisto had failed to turn the bike in a tight first bend, carrying all those on his outside, with the exception of Danny Warwick, into the fence. Jordan Frampton made the best of the tricky conditions in the re-run when he got across the fast starting Finn on the first turn to lead off the second. Paul Clews cut back off the second bend to run up the inside of Danny Warwick to grab second spot. Although he chased hard, Clews could not catch Frampton, who took the heat. The pair were out again in the next, with Frampton once more just getting the better of Clews after a terrific 4 lap side by side battle, but neither could contain 'Flying Finn' Kaj Laukkanen, who shot from the gates to lead all the way. Clews, who like Frampton ended up having a very busy night, took his third ride on the trot in Heat 4, when he partnered Matthew Wethers to full house 5-1 for the home side. On Wednesday night at the OTA, Wethers had shown he could handle the wet conditions in the first leg of this encounter, and tonight he showed it again, winning the heat from the second bend. Clews had to come from behind a quick starting Ritchie Hawkins to grab second to take all the points. The Rebels hit back over the next three heats, taking two 2-4 advantages either side of a shared heat. He took Heat 5 in a very fast 56.9 sec, considering the conditions. In the process he blew away Kaj Laukkanen, who never got on a blow after the opening turn. George Stancl took the next, and a share of the points after his partner, Derek Sneddon, had fallen trying a very ambitious blast around the outside of bend four in an attempt to regain second place from Ritchie Hawkins. The busy Jordan Frampton took third place. Zorro once again took the honours in the next when replacing the absent Emil Kramer. He was fast away on the inside of Stephan Katt, who also made a good start. Wethers was third away, but cut back off the second bend to pass Katt on the inside of the back straight. The Monarchs then went on a run of three heat advantages in four heats. The conditions were still proving difficult, as Sneddon fell then remounted on the first turn of Heat 8 then Danny Warwick fell on the third lap, leaving Paul Clews, who had moments earlier passed Jordan Frampton, and the remounted Sneddon to take the points as the race was stopped and awarded. Another shared heat followed, with Laukkanen winning untroubled from Hawkins and Frampton, with conditions once more catching out a rider, this time Paul Clews falling, and remounting. George Stancl took Heat 10 from Ritchie Hawkins, with Stephan Katt all over the back of Sneddon in the closing stages, but unable to pass to stop a Monarchs advantage. Heat 11 proved to be the race of the night, with Matthew Wethers beating Zorro for the second time in a week, and he had to do it twice as the race was re-started after Simon Walker became another victim of the conditions, falling, and being excluded. Walker not only suffered the exclusion, but also broke a rib in the fall, which eventually ruled him out of the following nights action. In the re-run Wethers repeated his second bend cut back, which had seen him lead the original running, to lead down the back straight. What followed were four laps of the most absorbing speedway, with the 'Young Gun' being put under al sorts of pressure from the 'Old Master' as Zorro explored every available line around the Aramadale circuit in an effort to find a way round Wethers. In the end it was the local man that who prevailed, and had the crowd cheering, drawing applause from all in the stadium. The rain returned for the next couple of heats with steady drizzle falling in the latter part of the match. Kaj Laukkanen took his third win of the night in Heat 12, but not before being give a scare by Danny Warwick. Warwick made a blinding start to lead the Finn away, and it took Laukkanen over a lap to get to grips to with the 'Reggae Rocket', passing on the inside on the back straight of Lap 2. Behind them Paul Clews, for the second time, became a victim of the slippery surface, falling and remounting on the first turn. Frampton passed Warwick in the closing stages, as the Rebels shared the points. Zorro got his revenge on Wethers taking Heat 13, with the young Australian only able to muster third spot, but once more two attempts were needed to complete the race. Ritchie Hawkins was excluded after taking a very nasty looking fall, with the bike first losing grip, and then finding some traction, and viciously straightening up, spitting him over the high side, and heavily onto the floor in a painful looking fall. In the re-run George Stancl led Zorro until the Rebels skipper flew around his outside on the second bend to win comfortably, with Wethers in third. If the Rebels could take the last two races 5-1 they would take the tie, and keep themselves in a strong position for a 'play off' spot, and in Heat 14 they looked as though it was on the cards. Frampton and Warwick made blinding starts to lead easily into the back straight. Derek Sneddon fell on the first turn, and was quickly on his feet, but seemingly had great difficulty in wheeling the bike of the track, and the race was stopped and Sneddon excluded. Sneddon's difficulties in getting the bike moving looked even more strange when you consider that a track worker had no problems in getting the machine off the track just seconds latter. The race was re-started, and once more the Rebels pair were out and gone, then disaster struck. With the pair side by side going into the final turn of the lap they appeared to get a little close, and Danny Warwick fell on the wide outside. He was up quickly, but the red lights came on almost immediately and he was excluded. The final re-run saw Paul Clews dispose of Jordan Frampton, who's machine sounded decidedly sick for the closing couple of laps. With that result the chances of the Rebels taking the match disappeared With the nominated heat now an academic exercise in the grand scheme of things it was Zorro that took it for the Rebels with the Monarchs pair filling the minor places, and the final score recorded as 48-41 to the home side. For the Monarchs it was a victory that will see them in with a chance of 'Young Shield' qualification, but for the Rebels it was a major blow that may just see them in the same end of season competition. Zorro, who dropped only one point all night was ably assisted by Jordan Frampton, who returned a superb 14+1 from his seven rides, and kept the Rebels in the hunt right to the end. For the rest of the team it was one of those night, which saw no lack of effort, but conditions played there part, as can bee seen from the fact that there were seven significant falls, and others were riders re-mounted to continue. On another night, who knows the Rebels could now be pondering who there play off opponents might be. |
NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS Details courtesy of : Speedway Updates |
Workington Comets Details courtesy of : Speedway Updates
Over the last couple of seasons Derwent Park has become a favoured track for the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels. Having posted some good recent performances at the Cumbrian circuit. So it was with some confidence of gaining a result that they arrived for this Premier League fixture. On the other side of that coin, Workington had recovered from their recent injury problems, with the return of Mattia Carpanese, and Craig Branney. They had also replaced injured Comets legend Carl Stonehewer, with the recently available Ulrich Ostergaard. For the Rebels, Zorro apart, the Rebels 'Man of the Match' had to be Jordan Frampton, whose Heat 14 win virtually secured the bonus point for the visitors. His paid 9-point return should have been more, but for his exclusion in Heat 8. Ritchie Hawkins efforts were not reflected in his score either, as he too was excluded, possibly unfairly in Heat 6, and his wonderful Heat 13 battle with Ulrich Ostergaard was worth the admission money alone. Every other Rebels put up a sterling effort, and didn't get the return they derseved, but at least they came home with the bonus point, in their quest for a play off place at the end of the season.
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Kings Lynn Stars
Details courtesy of : Speedway Updates |
Tigers versus Rebels Details courtesy of : Speedway Updates Somerset win the toss and take gates 1&3 in Heat 1 Thanks Guy & WayneCab for letting me use your report. |
ISLE of WIGHT 'WIGHTLINK' ISLANDERS V
SOMERSET 'SHARP' REBELSIsle of Wight Islanders - 59
1) Leigh Lanham (G) - 1, 2*, 2*, 2 = 7+2 2) Cory Gathercole - 3, 3, 3, 3, 1 = 13 3) Jason Bunyan - 3, 2, 2*, 2*, 2 = 11+2 4) Krzysztof Stojanowski - 1, 1*, 3, 3 = 8+1 5) Glen Phillips - 3, 3, 1, 1* = 8+1 6) Andrew Bargh - 3, 1, 0, 3, 2* = 9+1 7) Chris Johnson - 2*, 1, flx, ex (2min) = 3+1 Somerset Rebels - 34 1) Magnus Zetterstrom - 2, 6^, 2*, 3, 3 = 16+1 2) Stephan Katt - 0, 0, 2, 3, 0 = 5 3) Emil Kramer - 2, 2, 1, 0 = 5 4) Jordan Frampton - flx, 0, 0 = 0 5) Ritchie Hawkins - 2, 0, 0, 0 = 2 6) Simon Walker - 1, 1, 1, 1, 0 = 4 7) Danny Warwick - 0, fl, 1*, 1 = 2+1 SCB Referee: Barbara Horley
Heat Details Heat 01: Gathercole, Zetterstrom, Lanham, Katt. (4-2) (4-2) 69.2 Heat 02: Bargh, Johnson, Walker, Warwick. (5-1) (9-3) 70.0 Heat 03: (re run) Bunyan, Kramer, Stojanowski, Frampton (fell-ex). (4-1) (13-5) 68.3 Heat 04: (re run) Phillips, Hawkins, Johnson, Warwick (fell). (4-2) (17-7) (Awarded). Heat 05: Zetterstrom, Bunyan, Stojanowski, Katt. (3-6) (20-13) 67.1 Heat 06: Gathercole, Lanham, Walker, Hawkins. (5-1) (25-14) 69.2 Heat 07: Phillips, Kramer, Bargh, Frampton. (4-2) (29-16) 69.9 Heat 08: Gathercole, Katt, Warwick, Johnson (fell). (3-3) (32-19) (Awarded). Heat 09: Stojanowski, Bunyan, Walker, Hawkins. (5-1) (37-20) 68.9 Heat 10: Gathercole, Lanham, Kramer, Frampton. (5-1) (42-21) 68.8 Heat 11: Katt, Zetterstrom, Phillips, Bargh. (1-5) (43-26) 70.3 Heat 12: Bargh, Bunyan, Walker, Kramer. (5-1) (48-27) 69.8 Heat 13: Zetterstrom, Lanham, Phillips, Hawkins. (3-3) (51-30) 68.1 Heat 14: Stojanowski, Bargh, Warwick, Walker. (5-1) (56-31) 68.7 Heat 15: Zetterstrom, Bunyan, Gathercole, Katt. (3-3) (59-34) 67.9 Following four victories, and two narrow defeats 'on the road', the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels came to Smallbrook with high hopes of continuing that run. At the end of the night they departed without a point, and with one of their leading lights, Emil Kramer, thought to be suffering from concussion, following a hefty fall in his opening ride. Kramer will miss at least the next two meetings as a result of the fall.
Things didn't go well for the Rebels straight from the start. In the opening heat, Stephan Katt made a quick start, but was quickly passed on the back straight, firstly by Cory Gathercole, and then by Leigh Lanham, who was guesting for Chris Holder who is on World Cup duty. Magnus Zetterstrom missed the start, after there was some movement at the tapes from Lanham. He quickly got into his stride, and was soon passing his team mate, and then set off after Lanham, who he swooped on as they ran onto the back straight for the second time round. He closed on Gathercole, but the young Australian had too much in hand, and held of Zorro to the line.
The reserves heat was all Islanders, as they flew from the gate. Danny Warwick got upsides Chris Johnson on the second bend, but Johnson moved wide blocking the run, and from there it was all over. Heat 3 was proved costly for the Rebels. Jason Bunyan, and Emil Kramer were quickly away, and contesting the first two bends closely when Jordan Frampton, who was close behind, picked up a lot of grip, and was fired straight across the bend. He T-boned Kramer, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Frampton was quickly on his feet, but Kramer took some time to rise, after taking the brunt of the fall on his neck and shoulder. As well as the injury to Kramer, Frampton had damaged his bike, and on preparing his second machine, he discovered a cracked frame on that bike as well. To his credit, Kramer took part in the re-run, from which Frampton was excluded. He gave a good account of himself, and was only just stopped from taking the lead as Bunyan clamped him to the kerb in the second bend. Krzysztof Stojanowski took third to give the home side another advantage.
In Heat 4 the Rebels should have clawed some points back, but for a couple of strange decisions by the referee. The race was started twice, the first running being stopped after Glen Phillips fell on the exit of the second bend, with the Rebels pair holding the advantage. He appeared to fall on his own after getting out of shape, but the referee ordered a re-run with all four riders. In the restart the inevitable happened, and Phillips made the gate, leading from Hawkins and Warwick. Warwick was passed by Johnson on the back straight, with Hawkins in hot pursuit of Phillips. Warwick then fell on the fourth bend of Lap 3. He was quickly up, and making his way off the track, when the referee put on the red lights, with the field at the opposite end of the track, and Ritchie Hawkins pressing hard for the lead.
The Rebels did decrease the gap in Heat 5 with Zorro winning a tactical ride to secure 6-points, and doing it in the fastest time of the night, 67.1sec. He was quickly away and close on the heels of the faster starting Jason Bunyan, moving passed him on the back straight. Stephan Katt had made a flying start in the opening heat, but he could not repeat it here, so was unable to add to Zorro's points. The Islanders took back the points, and more in the next heat, when Leigh Lanham combined with Cory Gathercole to take a 5-1 from Walker and Hawkins. Gathercole took the win, after coming from behind Lanham and Hawkins on the second bend. Walker was slow away, but made up ground, taking third place on the back straight.
Emil Kramer took second spot behind Glen Phillips in Heat 7, but Jordan Frampton was slow away, and could not make ground on third placed Andrew Bargh. Phillips held off the determined challenge of Kramer on the opening turns to take the win. The Rebels, in the shape of Stephan Katt and Danny Warwick, shared the points in the next heat, but the only filled the places, and had no answer to the pace of Cory Gathercole, who took his third straight win. Once again the race was brought to a premature end when Chris Johnson took a heavy looking fall on the second turn of Lap 3.
In the following two Heats, 9 and 10, the Islanders pulled 21-points in front of the Rebels. Firstly Bunyan and Stojanowski took a full advantage over the Hawkins-Walker pairing, but it could have been a different story had Simon Walker made a terrific outside run, around the opening bends, stick. He came high, wide, and handsome, pulling alongside Bunyan on the exit of the second bend. Just as he was about to pass, he ran wide clipping the fence, and losing his momentum. It was all home pair needed, and they shot back in front to take the heat. Gathercole and Lanham took the maximum in Heat 10, but only after Gathercole had saved a huge lift on the opening bend, and then Lanham had come from behind Emil Kramer running on to the home straight at the end of Lap 2. He then dropped on the 'under the weather' Swede, blocking his attempt to re-pass on the inside of the first bend of the next lap.
Zorro shared in only the Rebels second heat advantage of the night, when he rode a superb team race to protect Stephan Katt after the German had made a storming start to Heat 11. Zorro and Katty had made a great start, with Glen Phillips in close attendance, and it all got very tight in the first two turns, before the Rebels pair emerged with the lead. They rode side by side for the next two laps, before Zorro dropped back, and sat on Katt's back wheel to protect his lead.
The last four heats produced two more 5-1's to the home side, and two more shared heats. Once more it may have been a different story in Heat 12. The normally reliable Emil Kramer, probably now starting to feel the effects of his heavy fall, was very slowly away. Simon Walker made a lightening start, and ran wide out in the dirt, right around the outside of Jason Bunyan, and the reserve switch, Andrew Bargh, who was in after Johnson was excluded on the 2 minute time limit. He had more or less completed the move, and would have been clear, but he locked up exiting the bend, which allowed the home pair to run passed him onto the back straight. Once in front they made no mistakes, and did not allow the Rebels back on terms, as they ran out another 5-1, with Bargh taking the win.
Heat 13 was shared, with the win going to Zorro, but not before a ding dong battle with Leigh Lanham over the first couple of laps. They broke together, and Zorro cut inside to lead of the opening turn. Lanham hit back with a neat inside move on the back straight. Zorro was not done though, and he came storming back to run out wide on the first bend of the next lap. Once in the dirt he pulled around Lanham to lead onto the back straight. It was enough to snub out Lanham's challenge, and Zorro went on to pull out a nice lead winning easily. Ritchie Hawkins was having his own battle with Glen Phillips, but could never get in front, despite pressing hard for three laps.
Heat 14 went to the home side, with an all the way 5-1 win for Krzysztof Stojanowski and Andrew Bargh. The nominated heat went to Zorro, but the Rebels could only share the points, after Stephan Katt was edged out on the second turn following a decent start. Jason Bunyan did throw in a challenge on the back straight, but the Rebels skipper had too much in hand, and unusually posted the second fastest time of the night in the final heat.
Over the last few weeks the Islanders have proved to be a very solid team, especially at home, but even they could not have dreamed they would be taking a 25-point lead back to the Oak Tree Arena, later in the year. It wasn't the result the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels, and it is fair to say many of the home supporters, were expecting. The Rebels had their share of ill fortune on the night, and were on the receiving end of a couple of unusual refereeing decisions, but no one associated with the team will want to make excuses, for what was 'one of those nights'. After all the team has made the best ever start to any season since they made the step up to the Premier League, and will just want to put this result behind them, and get on with the job of qualifying for the play offs.
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BEARS v REBELS 1 G Havelock 2 2' 1' 3 3 = 11+2 |
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REBELS RUNNERS UP IN FOURS CHAMPIONSHIP For the second year running, the Somerset Rebels claimed the runners up spot in the prestigious Premier League Fours Championship held today at The team of Magnus Zetterstrom, Emil Kramer, Ritchie Hawkins and Jordan Frampton, plus non riding reserve Simon Walker, came through their semi-final group in second place to take their place in the final. However, in the final itself, which was run over sixteen heats, the Isle of Wight were the runaway winners, leaving Somerset in a tense battle with King’s Lynn and Rye House for the minor placings. Going into the last few heats and with the Isle of Wight in an unassailable lead, there was no more than a couple of points separating the Rebels and King’s Lynn for the second step on the podium, but it was Somerset who held on to claim second place. “This is a great result for the club,” enthused promoter Mike Golding after the meeting, “Given the quality of the field today, second place is something the club can be truly proud of.” “We are planning a big reception for the guys before Wednesday’s Cup meeting with Scores: Semi-final 1 – King’s Lynn 16, Semi-final 2 – Isle of Wight 16, Final – Isle of Wight 38, |
Brummies 49 v Premier League Wednesday 27th June Somerset’s unbeaten away run in the Premier League came to an end with this defeat at
On a track where gating was to be of paramount importance, given the slick and ‘one line’ nature of the track, Somerset skipper, Magnus Zetterstrom got the team off to an excellent start in winning Heat 1 ahead of Birmingham’s Ulrich Ostergaard, but with Stephan Katt finding it difficult to come to terms with the Perry Barr track, the opening heat was shared. In recent weeks, the reserve position has come up trumps for the Rebels, but the difference between the teams was in the returns posted by the respective reserve riders, Birmingham outscoring their Somerset counterparts 20 points to 7 in that department. In saying this, however, after a poor first race, Simon Walker battled back during the rest of the meeting to score valuable points for the Rebels, none more so than in heat 14 when he rode a forceful final bend to snatch a point away from Birmingham’s Ben Powell, a move that was not well received by the Australian who made his feelings known to Walker as the riders returned to the pits. Walker’s achievements were all the more commendable when it transpired after the meeting that he was suffering from a hand injury sustained as a result of team mate Ritchie Hawkins falling in heat 6. Coming off the first bend, Hawkins picked up drive which caused the bike to rear up, throwing the Although the home side held the upper hand throughout the match, it was testament to the confidence in the Rebel camp this year that they continued to pick up valuable points to never allow Leading from the from, Magnus Zetterstrom dropped just one point to the opposition, that coming in the final heat when he just failed to get the better of Brummies skipper Jason Lyons as the riders came off the first turn. So whilst the Rebels tasted defeat for the first time on the road this year in the Premier League, they can look back on it still being a good solid performance, and with a little bit more luck, they may have extended their run of away victories to five. However, such is the measure of the team this season that they will probably look back on this as two possible points dropped in their quest for a top four Premier League play off slot. Scorers: |
Glasgow Tigers: 40 (76) Results courtesy of: : |
'REBELS TAKE TO THE ROAD IN STYLE'
The Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels will return to the Oak Tree Arena, after a highly successful weekend tour of the north. On Friday they visited Armadale for the first leg of their KO Cup Quarter-Final against the Edinburgh 'Scotwaste' Monarchs. Armadale has not been the Rebels most favourite place over the preceding years, as they have suffered a string of comprehensive defeats at the West Lothian circuit.
They arrived minus injury victim Jordan Frampton, and Stephan Katt, who was in Russia, fulfilling a commitment made prior to his return to the Rebels camp. Katt's place was taken by Conference guest, Jay Herne, and Frampton was covered by rider replacement. The Monarchs were also depleted by the loss of Ronnie Correy, with a leg injury. He will also miss the return fixture on Monday. His place was taken by guest Stanislaw Burza, and Ricky Ashworth will stand in on Monday.
The Rebels kept it fairly tight over the first seven heats, with four 3-3's, including wins from Magnus Zetterstrom (2), and Emil Kramer, interspersed by 4-2 advantages for the home side, giving them a 6-point lead. It may have been closer still had Referee Jim McGregor not harshly excluded Simon Walker in Heat 6 for leaning on Derek Sneddon in the first bend. Most of those at the track felt that Walker had been hard done by, as Sneddon was giving as good as he got, and an 'All Four Back' would have been a more appropriate action.
The home side pressed home their advantage in Heat 8 with a 5-1 heat win from Sneddon and Wethers, with Simon Walker spinning off when chasing. Walker was out again in the next, and made amends for that fall with a win, but it could have been even better had Ritchie Hawkins not lost control with the pair on a 5-1. I wasn't long before the Rebels struck back with 5 unanswered points, after the Monarchs pair were both excluded from Heat 10, with Burza having an engine failure, and Sneddon crashing out with a fall.
The final five heats were closely fought, with the home side just edging them 10-points to 9. The Rebels provided three of the winners in these heats, with Zorro taking two wins, and Emil Kramer taking the final heat, followed home by his skipper, restricting the Monarchs lead to just 7-points. The Rebels top two provided the main bulk of the points, but they were ably supported by Danny Warwick (7+1) with another fine performance from the reserve spot.
That must rank as the best ever Rebels performance at Armadale, and one that sees them in a very strong position for the return leg, especially as that match will see the return of Stephan Katt, and Jordan Frampton to the Rebels line up. If the Monarchs previous visits to the Highbridge circuit are anything to go by, the Rebels should be booking their place in the semi-finals on Monday evening.
On Saturday The Rebels travelled to Shielfield Park to continue their Premier League campaign against the Berwick 'Anderson Quality Butchers' Bandits. Clearly buoyed by the previous evenings result the Rebels set about the Bandits straight from the off, and were never headed for the whole match. A measure of the Rebels dominance was the fact that the home side could only muster 4 heat wins in all, and whilst the Rebels regularly returned winning times in the 66 sec range, and even a 65.8 by Zorro in Heat 5, the Bandits only once got under 67 secs in any of their wins.
Zorro was superb again, with his second paid maximum on the trot (14+1), dropping his only point to team-mate Ritchie Hawkins in Heat 13. He topped off his night by completing his maximum with a last gasp win, getting up off the final turn to beat Jacek Rempala in Heat 15. Emil Kramer backed up his fellow Swede with 10+1 with two wins and two seconds in his four rides.
Ritchie Hawkins spent a season at Shielfield in 2004, and obviously still remembers the fastest way round, as he put that experience to good use in returning 13 points. His efforts were rewarded with a spot in the nominated Heat 15. Danny Warwick was another who has previous experience at Shielfield having made the long trip up from Poole as one on last seasons Bandits squad. Last season started in similar fashion to his Rebels career, but he improved so much that he ended as the Bandits 'Rider of the Year'. He seems to be following the same track with the Rebels, and a similar accolade could be winging his way at Highbridge. His performance was nothing short of outstanding with a 10+1, which would have been even better had he not suffered a puncture in Heat 11. Add to this his previous nights work, and Warwick must surely rate as the Rebels star rider of the weekend, high praise indeed for a rider who only a few short weeks ago was having trouble turning his undoubted starting ability into any sort of meaningful score.
The Rebels have now completed 4 League matches, and are unbeaten in 3 away league matches this season, with their only defeat coming at home against last years double winners, the very strong Kings Lynn Stars. This must rate as one of the best starts to a Rebels league campaign ever, and bodes well for the remainder of the season. |
BERWICK BANDITS Texter: Comebackkings |
EDINBURGH MONARCHS Results courtesy of the MONARCHS CHATZONE UPDATER EDINBURGH "SCOTWASTE" MONARCHS 48 |
Stoke 'Easy Rider' Potters v Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels Stoke 'Easy Rider' Potters - 42
1: Ricky Ashworth (G) - fl, 3, 2*, 3, 0, 2 = 10+1 2: Tony Atkin (G) - 2, 1, 3, 3, 2* = 11+1 3: Garry Stead - R/R 4: Lee Complin - 1, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1* = 8+1 5: Rusty Harrison - 0, 1, 3, 2, 1 = 7 6: Barry Evans - 1, 0, 0 = 1 7: Jack Hargreaves - 0, 2, 2*, 0, 1 = 5+1 Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels - 48 1: Magnus Zetterstrom - 3, 3, 3, 2*, ex = 11+1 2: Stephan Katt - 1, 0, 1, 1 = 3 3: Emil Kramer - 2, 3, 1, 3, 3 = 12 4: Jordan Frampton - R/R 5: Ritchie Hawkins - 1, ret, 2, 3, 3 = 9 6: Simon Walker - 2*, ret, 1, 0, 2* = 5+2 7: Danny Warwick - 3, 3, 2*, 0, fl, fl = 8+1 SCB Referee: Dave Robinson Heat Results
Heat 01: Zetterstrom, Atkin, Katt, Ashworth (fl): (2-4) (2-4) 63.6 Heat 02: Warwick, Walker, Evans, Hargreaves: (1-5) (3-9) 64.4 Heat 03: Ashworth, Kramer, Complin, Walker (ret): (4-2) (7-11) 64.7 Heat 04: Warwick, Hargreaves, Hawkins, Harrison (frmt): (2-4) (9-15) 65.4 Heat 05: Zetterstrom, Complin, Atkin, Katt: (3-3) (12-18) 64.2 Heat 06: Atkin, Ashworth, Walker, Hawkins (ret): (5-1) (17-19) 65.6 Heat 07: Kramer, Warwick, Harrison, Evans: (1-5) (18-24) 65.3 Heat 08: Atkin, Hargreaves, Katt, Warwick: (5-1) (23-25) 65.3 Heat 09: Harrison, Hawkins, Complin, Walker: (4-2) (27-27) 64.7 Heat 10: Ashworth, Atkin, Kramer, Warwick(fl): (5-1) (32-28) 65.0 Heat 11: Zetterstrom, Harrison, Katt, Evans: (2-4) (34-32) 65.2 Heat 12: Kramer, Walker, Complin, Hargreaves: (1-5) (35-37) 65.7 Heat 13: Hawkins, Zetterstrom, Harrison, Ashworth: (1-5) (36-42) 64.6 Heat 14: Hawkins, Complin, Hargreaves, Warwick (fl): (3-3) (39-45) 65.6 Heat 15: (re-Run) Kramer, Ashworth, Complin, Zetterstrom (excl): (3-3) (42-48) 65.1 The Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels, minus the injured Jordan Frampton, travelled to Loomer Road for a meeting, which no one would have been surprised had it been cancelled in light of the previous evenings events at the Oak Tree Arena. The Stoke 'Easy Rider' Potters called on the services of Sheffield star Ricky Ashworth, Newport skipper Tony Atkin, and operated Rider Replacement, in place of the injured trio of Glenn Cunningham, Ben Barker, and Garry Stead respectively.
The meeting itself was a testament to the fortitude, and professionalism of the riders, in the fact that under the circumstances they not only agreed to ride, but produced a close exciting battle to boot. The meeting opened with both guests lining up against Rebels skipper Magnus Zetterstrom, and returnee Stephan Katt. It was the Rebels who took the first advantage, with win from behind by Zorro. Katt was quickly away alongside Atkin, with Ashworth taking a tumble on the opening bend. Atkin got the better of Katt on the back straight, before Zorro took second spot on the third bend. He then set off after Atkin, and made a neat inside pass on the home straight, as they ran on to the third lap, to take the race win.
In the last few weeks the form of Danny Warwick, who had an inauspicious start to the season, has taken a welcomed upward trend. He has always been a good starter, but has had problems turning that into points. He now seems to have rectified that , and been putting in some good returns. He continued his good form here with another rocket start, and was followed home by Simon Walker. Walker, who is back at reserve after the re-introduction of Stephan Katt, had to see off Jack Hargreaves, which he did to good effect on the second bend, and then he held off the close attentions of Barrie Evans for the remainder of the race. Evans wasn't helped by the fact that he and his race partner appeared to get in each other way a couple of times during the race.
Ashworth, taking the rider replacement ride, quickly made amends for his first race fall by out trapping Emil Kramer in Heat 3. Try as he might Kramer could not get back on terms. Simon Walker looked like making it a 3-3 heat, until Lee Complin came underneath him with a pretty hard move on the last bend of the opening lap. Danny Warwick took his second race of the night with another fast start alongside his team-mate, Ritchie Hawkins. Rusty Harrison fell on the second turn, but remounted and continued. Hawkins locked up at the same spot, and lost his position to Warwick and Hargreaves. From then on the order was unchanged, despite Hawkins chasing down Hargreaves.
Heat 5 saw Zorro make a quick getaway from the home pair, with Stephan Katt missing the gate. That was the race, and it remained that way until the flag. The Potters hit back with a 5-1 in Heat 6, after a great gate from guest Tony Atkin, who got the better of the fast starting Hawkins between the first two turns. Ashworth was last away, but powered around the outside of Walker and Hawkins coming off the second bend. It was left to Walker to chase as Hawkins retired late in the race. The Rebels fired back immediately with a maximum of their own. Warwick was once again jet propelled from the gate, even leading his team mate Emil Kramer, who is no slouch himself, by a long way onto the back straight. Warwick had a couple of tricky moments late in the race, but Kramer rode shotgun for him, until he took up the lead going down the back straight for the final time.
The swings and roundabouts continued in Heat 8 with Atkins and Hargreaves flying from the gate to lead all the way for the third 5-1 on the trot, and the Potters second. Stephan Katt took third from Danny Warwick, who was taking his second ride in succession, and also made his worst start of the evening so far. This was the first of three successive Potters heat advantages, which saw them lead for the first time in the match. Heat 9 brought them level after a 4-2 from Harrison and Complin. It may have been a different story had Simon Walker been able to hold off Lee Complin after a nice second bend sweep had given him third place. Complin chased Walker until he repaid the compliment with a neat inside move on the last bend of the second lap.
The Potters hit their third 5-1 in Heat 10 to grab the lead by four points., 32-28. It was the guest pair who did the damage, Ashworth made a good start, and Atkin accounted for the quick starting Emil Kramer on the opening turn. Danny Warwick was looking a bit tired as he missed the gate for the second time on the bounce. He chased hard, but fell late on in the race. Kramer chased Atkin hard, and tried inside and out to put a pass on him, but came up short as the flag fell.
Stung into action after losing their long time lead, the Rebels came roaring back and did not lose another advantage for the remainder of the match. Heat 11 saw a 2-4 to the Rebels, which may have been a 1-5 but for the lack of grip on the outside line. Zorro made the best start, to lead off the opening turn from Rusty Harrison. Stephan Katt just failed to grab second place early in the race, and was all over Harrison as they ran down the home straight at the end of the opening lap. He appeared to have the measure of the South Australian as he flung the bike wide into the first bend, but the gip wasn't there, and he couldn't make the move stick. Had there been any sort of purchase at all the Rebels would have returned full points for the race.
Somerset regained the lead in Heat 12 with the first of back to back 5-1's. Emil Kramer and Simon Walker made flying starts to lead from the opening turn. The Potters pair had no answer to give, and the Rebels took the heat, and with it the lead, 35-37. Ritchie Hawkins has talent in abundance, but sometimes needs a boost of confidence to bring out his best, and Steve Bishop must have administered that to good effect before Heat 13. Hawkins looked transformed as he powered away from the gate to lead. Zorro was uncharacteriscally out if shape, when he was clipped by Rusty Harrison in the first turn, but it didn't stop him taking second spot and holding it to the end, behind a delighted Hawkins.
Hawkins didn't have time to dwell on his change up, as he was back out in the next to take the rider replacement spot for the absent Jordan Frampton, who was the fourth victim of Friday's unfortunate events with a broken Tibia. With his confidence high he made no mistake and took his second win on the spin. He was fast away with team mate Danny Warwick, who had regained his starting boots. Warwick took a hefty fall in a tight first bend skirmish with Lee Complin, but the referee allowed the race to continue. Complin gave chase to Hawkins but was never going to get on terms with the Poole based rider. That result wrapped up the match for the Rebels, as not even a last heat maximum could rescue the Potters.
The final heat saw Ashworth, and Complin appear for the Potters, against the inevitable Zorro backed up by Emil Kramer. The meeting may have been over as far as the points were concerned, but the on track action wasn't. As the tapes rose Zorro made a fast start followed by Complin, who in a tight first corner hit the dirt. It was a nothing incident, but referee Dave Robinson had other thoughts, the red lights came on, followed immediately with the Green exclusion light for Zorro. This was a surprising decision by Robison, especially as he had allowed two almost identical incidents pass without comment earlier in the meeting.
The re-run took place without the Rebels top man, but Somerset needn't have worried as they were ably represented by their other Super Swede, Emil Kramer. A level break saw all three rider enter the opening turn side by side, but Kramer scythed between the two Potters to take up the running on the second bend. From there on it was all over, and the heat was shared.
The final result saw the points go back to Highbridge, 42-48, with a great all round performance from all of the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels sextet. Special mention should go to Danny Warwick, who is fast becoming a favourite with the Somerset faithful, and also a valuable member of the team, especially now he appears to be putting his early season woes firmly behind him.
The riders from both sides who took part should be congratulated for the way they went about the job of providing an absorbing closely fought match, on a night when no one would have blamed them if they had decided that they didn't want to ride. The news of some of the riders injured on the previous night is encouraging, but Garry Stead is still in a serious condition, with the long hard road of recovery in front of him. The thoughts and best wishes of everyone at Somerset and Stoke, and the whole of speedway are with Garry and his family, and hope that he will make a speedy and full recovery.
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Sunday 6th May 2007
KO Cup - 1st Round (2nd leg) Glasgow 'fsm outdoor advertising' Tigers -v- Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels Glasgow 'fsm outdoor advertising' Tigers - 48 (agg 86) 1. George Stancl - 0, 3, 3, 2 = 8 2. Lee Dicken - 1, 0, 1 = 2
3. Shane Parker - 3, Exc, 3, 3, 3 = 12
4. Robert Kseizak - 2*, 2, 1, 2, ret = 7+1
5. Trent Leverington - 2*, 2, 1*, 0 = 5+2
6. Lee Smethills - 3, 0, 1*, 2, 0 = 6+1
7. David McAllan - 2*, 3, 2, 1 = 8+1
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels - 45 (agg 97)
1. Magnus Zetterstrom - 3, 3, 3, 6^, 1* = 16+1 2. Simon Walker - 2*, 1, 0, 0 = 3+1
3. Emil Kramer - 0, 3, 2, 2, 2 = 9
4. Jordan Frampton - 1, 1, 0, 1 = 3
5. Ritchie Hawkins - 1, 2, 2, 1 = 6
6. Tomas Suchanek - 0, 1*, 0 = 1+1
7. Danny Warwick - 1, Exc, 3, 0, 3 = 7
SCB Referee: Jim McGregor Heat Details: Heat 01: Zetterstrom, Walker, Dicken, Stancl. (1-5) (1-5) (39-57) 59.7 Heat 02: Smethills, McAllan, Warwick, Suchanek. (5-1) (6-6) (44-58) 61.3
Heat 03: Parker, Kseizak, Frampton, Kramer. (5-1) (11-7) (49-59) 61.5 Heat 04: McAllan, Leverington, Hawkins. Time (5-1) (16-8) (54-60) Awarded Heat 05: Zetterstrom, Kseizak, Walker Time (2-4) (18-12) (56-64) 62.0 Heat 06: Stancl, Hawkins, Suchanek, Dicken. (3-3) (21-15) (59-67) 60.9 Heat 07: Kramer, Leverington, Frampton, Smethills. (2-4) (23-19) (61-71) 61.0 Heat 08: Warwick, McAllan, Smethills (for Dicken), Walker. Time (3-3) (26-22) (64-74) 61.3 Heat 09: Parker, Hawkins, Kseizak, Suchanek Time (4-2) (30-24) (68-76) 61.0 Heat 10: Stancl, Kramer, Dicken, Frampton. Time (4-2) (34-26) (72-78) 61.0 Heat 11: Zetterstrom, Smethills, Leverington, Walker. (3-3) (37-29) (75-81) 64.6 Heat 12: Parker, Kramer, McAllan, Warwick (for Suchanek) (4-2) (41-31) (79-83) 61.8. Heat 13: Zetterstrom (tactical), Stancl, Hawkins, Leverington (2-7) (43-38) (81-90) 63.1 Heat 14: Warwick, Kseizak, Frampton, Smethills. (2-4) (45-42) (83-94) 63.8. Heat 15: Parker, Kramer, Zetterstrom, Kseizak (ret) (3-3) (48-45) (86-97) 62.5 'Rebels Put The Bite on The Tigers'
After two weeks of fine dry weather the return leg of this Premier League KO Cup tie took place under heavily overcast skies, with rain showers threatening to disrupt the match, a particularly heavy one of which almost called a halt to the proceedings after Heat 11. The Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels arrived in Glasgow defending a 14-point lead from Friday's first leg. The opening heat increased that lead as the Rebels stormed to a 1-5 advantage. Skipper Magnus Zetterstrom made the best start to lead, from the rest of the field. As the Tigers pair appeared to get in each others way, Simon Walker, after a fast start, was on hand to take advantage, and nipped through on the inside to join Zorro at the front. Walker rode a great race to stay in front of the hard chasing Tigers riders, headed by Lee Dicken.
Glasgow were in no mood to slip any further behind, and hammered home three 5-1 heat wins on the trot to put the Rebels under extreme pressure. In Heat 2 the Rebels may have increased their lead after a flying start by Danny Warwick, but he was caught out by the track, and locked up on the second turn allowing Lee Smethills through. Tomas Suchanek grabbed third place off David McAllan, but the Tigers reserve fought back, and re-passed the Rebels man. McAllan then set off after Warwick, and made a neat cutback to slip through off the very last bend.
Emil Kramer's starting skills let him down badly in Heat 3, as he was last away. The Tigers pairing led from the start, from Jordan Frampton, with Kramer trailing behind. Kramer admitted afterwards that he had got his set up wrong, thinking that the track was grippier than it was. David McAllan, and Trent Leverington completed the 5-1 fest, but it might have been so different had Warwick not taken a fall. Ritchie Hawkins caught a big lift off the start, and left Warwick to chase the Tigers tails. Warwick was second away behind McAllan away, but was passed by Leverington off the second turn. He fought back and regained second spot on the home straight. He then set off to catch McAllan, and was closing fast on the wide outside when he got in too deep, and took a heavy spill. Ritchie Hawkins quickly laid down to avoid the fallen Warwick, and the race was stopped and awarded 5-1 to the Tigers.
The next three heats saw the Rebels claw back four of those lost points, as they calmly set about the Tigers. Zorro made a flying start to Heat 6, and led Shane Parker for the first lap. Parker came storming back into the picture as they approached the first bend for the second time. He shot under Zorro, but carried a lot of speed into the bend, and drifted very wide forcing the Rebels skipper into a rapidly reducing amount of space between Parker and the fence, the result of which was a very nasty fall for Zorro after contacting the fence. It was a very heavy fall, which saw Zorro on the floor for a long time, but after an anxious wait for all connected with the Rebels he eventually got to his feet to take his place in a re-run that did not include Shane Parker, who had been excluded for unfair riding. The re-run was a formality, with Zorro leading from the gate in front of Ksiezak, and Frampton taking third spot.
George Stancl took the next heat to share the points, but he had to come from behind on the second turn after being led by Ritchie Hawkins. Tomas Suchanek took third in front of Lee Dicken. The adjustments Emil Kramer had made after his first ride paid off as he flew from the gate in Heat 7 to lead from Trent Leverington. although Leverington chased him hard, he could never get on terms with Kramer. Jordan Frampton made up for a slow start, as he cut inside Lee Smethills on the second bend to grab third place.
The Rebels could have cut back the deficit even further had it not been for some determined riding by Lee Smethills, who came in for Lee Dicken. The Rebels pair led from the gate. with Danny Warwick heading the field. David McAllan was close up, and cut inside Simon Walker on the first turn. Smethills chased Walker hard for the next three laps, and passed him off the final turn of Lap 3. Walker did nothing wrong, but Smethills just found a slightly better line out of the corner, which gave him that extra bit of drive. Smethills then chased hard after Warwick, but the Rebels man had his measure all the way.
The Tigers once more came hitting back with a couple of 4-2's, increasing their match lead to 8-points, and reducing the Rebels overall lead to 6-points. After his previous exclusion, Shane Parker returned for a win from Ritchie Hawkins. Parker and team-mate Ksiezak made a great start, only for Ksiezak to lock up on the opening bend. Hawkins didn't need asking twice, as he nipped through on the inside of the young Aussie on the second bend. Tomas Suchanek recovered from a poor start to chased down Ksiezak over the last two laps but, despite not giving up, never quiet got near enough to put in a full blooded challenge.
George Stancl won the next at the first turn, after a quick start saw him take a wide line to block out the outside run from the fast starting Emil Kramer. Jordan Frampton chased Lee Dicken for the whole race, but could never quite find a way by the Yorkshireman. The Rebels pair of Zorro and Simon Walker made great starts in Heat 11, but they was too good for liking of referee Jim McGregor, who called back the race for an unsatisfactory start. In the re-run, it was Zorro who again made a good start, but Lee Smethills flew around his outside to lead off the second turn. Many lesser riders would have panicked at this point, but Zorro chased him, and explored a few different lines until he produced a classy cut back off the last turn of Lap 3 to take the lead. The second go did not do Walker any favours, as he started slowly, and could not get on terms with Leverington despite a spirited chase.
That was almost the last action the watching crowd saw, as the moment the riders left the track the heavens opened dumping a monsoon shower on the Ashfield circuit. The prospects didn't look very good for the remaining heats as the track became very wet and slippery very quickly. The riders and referee had a meeting on the track, and as the rain eased slightly it was decided to continue with an extended bout of track grading, and make a final decision at 5:45pm. The track staff worked extremely hard to bring the surface back into raceable condition, and just as it looked as though their efforts may be in vain the weather eased again, and a further meeting of Captains, Team Managers, and the Referee saw them agree to continue.
Heat 12 saw the Rebels replace the out of form Tomas Suchanek with Danny Warwick. In the race, Shane Parker made the gate in front of Emil Kramer and Warwick. Whilst Parker and Kramer made the best of their way home, David McAllan took on Warwick, and chased him down on the second lap, producing a fine inside move to grab third at the end of the lap. Ironically that move may have just cost his team the tie, as it put them 10-points in the lead, and allowed the Rebels to introduce their skipper on a tactical ride in Heat 13. He made no mistake as he bolted from the gate to lead George Stancl. Ritchie Hawkins made the tie virtually safe as he passed Leverington on the second turn. The resulting 2-7 to the Rebels cut the Tigers match lead to 5-points, and gave the Rebels a 9-point lead overall. Barring an absolute disaster over the final two heats that guaranteed the Rebels a spot in the next round against the Tigers local rivals, the Edinburgh Monarchs.
The Rebels made certain by taking Heat 14 by a 2-4 margin, when Danny Warwick completed a terrific afternoons work with an all the way win over Robert Ksiezak. It might have actually been a Rebels 1-5, had Ksiezak not just got the better of Jordan Frampton off the second turn. So not only had the Rebels taken the tie, as they lined up for the last heat a 5-1 in their favour would have also given them the match, but Shane Parker wasn't going to let that happen, despite being led to the first bend by Emil Kramer. He powered around the outside of Kramer, and blocked off the outside line for Zorro at the same time. Robert Ksiezak was at the rear when he fell, remounted, and then retired at the end of Lap 3.
Despite the best efforts of the weather, both sides produced a terrific meeting, and a tie that was in doubt until well into the late stages of the meeting. The Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels were given a stern examination, and came through with flying colours. They were put under extreme pressure, but didn't panic when many teams may have buckled. Instead they plugged away, picking up points, and keeping their lead intact, making the best use of the tactical rule when the opportunity arose. Points came from all sections of the team, with Zorro once again providing the main firepower. Emil Kramer showed excellent resolve after a shaky start, and ended with a useful back up score. The Rebels performance of the day had to be Danny Warwick, who put in the kind of battling performance that earned him Berwick's 'Rider of the Year' award last season. He is improving week by week, and appears to be getting stronger, both physically and mentally, in his racing. Instead of giving away points, as he as been a little guilty of in the recent past, he is now picking them up in situations where the opposite would have been true a few matches ago. So now it's the Monarchs who will provide the opposition in the next round, and hopefully the Rebels will bring a nice lead, and a similar disposition back to Scotland on their next visit. |
Sunday 22nd April 2007
Premier League
Mildenhall Fen Tigers
-v-
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels
Mildenhall Fen Tigers 45
1. Tom P Madsen - 1, 3, 1, 1, 3 = 9 2. Shaun Tacey - 3, 2*, 2, 0 = 7+1 3. Kyle Legault - 0, 2, 0, 2 = 4 4. Jason King - 2, 0, 3, 6^, 2* = 13+1 5. Mario Jirout - 3, 2, 2, 0 = 7 6. Paul Cooper (G) - 0, 0, 1*, 1 = 2+1 7. Mark Thompson - 2, 0, 1*, 0 = 3+1 Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels 48 1. Magnus Zetterstrom - 2, 3, 3, 2*, 1 = 11+1 2. Simon Walker- 0, 1, 3, 0 = 4 3. Emil Kramer - 3, 3, 3, 3, 0 = 12 4. Jordan Frampton - 1, 1, 2*, 2 = 6+1 5. Ritchie Hawkins - 2, 1, 2, 3 = 8 6. Tomas Suchanek - 3, 0, 1*, 1 = 5+1 7. Danny Warwick - 1, 1*, 0, 0 = 2+1 SCB Referee: Dave Robinson Heat Details Heat 01: Tacey, Zetterstrom, Madsen, Walker (4-2) (4-2) 50.59 Heat 02: Suchanek, Thompson, Warwick, Cooper (2-4) (6-6) 51.31 Heat 03: Kramer, King, Frampton, Legault (2-4) (8-10) 50.84 Heat 04: Jirout, Hawkins, Warwick, Thompson (3-3) (11-13) 51.97 Heat 05: Zetterstrom, Legault, Walker, King (2-4) (13-17) 51.75 Heat 06: Madsen, Tacey, Hawkins, Suchanek (5-1) (18-18) 52.81 Heat 07: (re-run)Kramer, Jirout, Frampton, Cooper (2-4) (20-22) 52.0 Heat 08: Walker, Tacey, Thompson, Warwick (3-3) (23-25) 53.22 Heat 09: (re-run) King, Hawkins, Suchanek, Legault (exl) (3-3) (26-28) 52.62 Heat 10: Kramer, Frampton, Madsen, Tacey (1-5) (27-33) 52.28
Heat 11: Zetterstrom, Jirout, Cooper, Walker (3-3) (30-36) 52.96 Heat 12: Kramer, Legault, Suchanek, Thompson (2-4) (32-40) 53.18 Heat 13: Hawkins, Zetterstrom, Madsen, Jirout (1-5) (33-45) 52.72 Heat 14: King(tactical), Frampton, Cooper, Warwick (7-2) (40-47) 53.66 Heat 15: (re-run)Madsen, King, Zetterstrom, Kramer (5-1) (45-48) 53.60 A month ago the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels came to West Row in the early stages of their Premier Trophy campaign. They left defeated, by a margin that flattered the home side, but reflected the luck suffered by the Rebels over that particular weekend. Since then things have improved somewhat, and with Premier League points at stake, they arrived in Suffolk on this occasion in no mood to succumb to a similar fate, especially having beaten the Fen Tigers in the concluding Trophy match a couple of days before.
Things didn't start the way they would have envisaged though, as skipper Magnus Zetterstrom was beaten into second place by the enigmatic Shaun Tacey. From the tapes Zorro challenged Tom P Madsen for the lead, but at the second turn Tacey stole inside the pair to grab the lead on the back straight. Zorro tucked in behind, and probed away for four laps, until he found an opening coming off the final turn, only to see his strong run to the line fail by just inches.
Tomas Suchanek returned to the side, after returning a fine third place in the Czech qualifying round of the European Championship. The first set of this seasons averages saw him drop from the main body, to a reserve berth, and he started well with a storming win from the gate. It appeared for a long time that the Rebels would take a 1-5 advantage with Danny Warwick holding second spot from Mark Thompson for three laps, until moving wide, and losing a little control on the second bend of the final lap. Thompson need no second invitation, and shot through to grab second place. The Fen Tigers guest reserve, Paul Cooper, never got off the line as his bike stopped, suffering an electrical problem, as the tapes rose.
Emil Kramer continued his current good form with an all the way win in Heat 3. With Jason King in a clear second the main action of the race took place behind them, as Jordan Frampton, and Kyle Legault swapped places for most of the race with never more than inches between them, until Frampton made the decisive move late on lap 3.
The next heat was shared, when Mario Jirout made a fast start to account for Rebels pair around the opening turns. Once Hawkins move into a clear second, he never allowed Jirout to get far in front, but could not get in a blow. Danny Warwick held off Thompson for third to take the shared points. Zorro made no mistakes in Heat 5 as he cut inside Kyle Legault on Bend 3, after the young Canadian had lead him away from the gate. Simon Walker followed suit with a similar move on Jason King on the very next bend, for a 2-4 advantage to the Rebels.
The Mildenhall Fen Tigers struck back immediately, taking a 5-1, and levelling the match scores at 18-18 in Heat 6. A level break between the two home riders, and Tomas Suchanek saw Suchanek caught on the outside of the opening turns, and forced very wide on the second bend. As they renewed their challenge on the third turn, the Rebels pair appeared to take each others line, and that was enough to give the home riders a bit of space. Ritchie Hawkins emerged as the best challenger for the Rebels, and was all over the back wheel of Tacey, trying inside and out. He came with a late run of the final bend, which just failed to yield second spot.
Emil Kramer and Jordan Frampton appeared in the next heat, and turned the match back in the favour of the visitors, but it took two attempts to do it. The Referee called back the initial start as Paul Cooper fell on the second bend. Despite this appearing to be of his own making the referee put on the stop lights, and brought them back. In the re-run Emil Kramer made a fast start to lead from his team-mate. As Kramer pulled out a lead, Mario Jirout came under Jordan Frampton on the third bend, only for Frampton to repay the compliment on the opening bend of the next lap. Jirout wasn't done however, as he made the same third bend move stick next time round.
After his first heat heroics, the Fen Tigers fans must have expected Shaun Tacey to take Heat 8 in a canter, but he can be a frustrating rider, obviously not devoid of a good measure of talent, but totally inconsistent. Simon Walker made a blinding start to lead up Tacey, who quite frankly never got anywhere near him. Once it became obvious that he was not going to catch the Badminton based rider, Tacey made a 'show' of team riding his team-mate, Mark Thompson, home in front of Danny Warwick.
The teams shared the points in the next heat, with the race being re-called after a lot of moving at the tapes. It was frustrating for the Rebels as they were in a 1-5 advantage at the time of the recall, but it was also a blow for the home side, as Kyle Legault shed a chain as the tapes rose, and was excluded for not being under power at the time the race was stopped. In the re-start the inevitable happened, and Jason King bolted from the tapes to take the win, and a share of the points.
Emil Kramer took a third straight win in Heat 10 with another all the way win, and initially it looked like another shared heat with Jordan Frampton at the rear. Frampton has improved race by race since the start of the season, and he wasn't in a mood to take a last place. He cut inside Shaun Tacey on the back straight to grab third, and then set off after Tom P Madsen. He caught Madsen on the opening turn of the next lap, and ran inside him to make a 5-1 for the Rebels, and open up a 6-point lead. Another shared heat followed, with Zorro taking a great win after giving Rebels supporters a scare by only gating in third spot. He didn't panic, and took the inside line under Paul Cooper on the second bend of Lap 2, before executing an outside move on Mario Jirout in exactly the same spot on the very next lap.
Emil Kramer bolted from the gate to lead of the first turn, and make it four rides, four wins in Heat 12. Tomas Suchanek recovered from a poor start, and challenged for second place on the third turn, but he couldn'y force his way by, and had to be content with third place. However the 2-4 advantage gave the Rebels an 8-point lead with just three heats left. The Rebels made that lead 12-points in the next with a superb display of team riding from Zorro and Ritchie Hawkins. Both starting quickly, at was Ritchie who just made the bend first with Tom P Madsen challenging on the outside. He cleverly drifted wide, whilst still giving Madsen room, but making him go the long way round. As they ran on to the back straight, Zorro let Ritchie go ahead, and then sat on his shoulder inside him. Every time Madsen tried to make a move up the inside Zorro clamped him hard to the kerb, easily blocking any challenge the Dane could deliver.
Laurence Rogers can be a wily opponent, but it looked like he had missed a trick when he was about to send out his riders in Heat 14, without throwing in a tactical rider. It was only loud prompting from the home supporters that alerted him to this option, and how it paid off. He sent out his skipper, and his best rider on the day, Jason King in the 'Magic Hat'. King shot out of the gates, and once in front, there was nothing the chasing Jordan Frampton could do. To make matters worse for the Rebels, Paul Cooper held Danny Warwick for third spot to take a 7-2, the best they could hope for in the circumstances.
The nominated riders in Heat 15 were no surprise for the Rebels, with Zorro and Emil Kramer lining up. The Fen Tigers sent out skipper King, with Tom P Madsen as their two representatives. As the tapes rose it was the Rebels pair who emerged in front, only for the Referee, Dave Robinson, to throw the 'Red Light' switch once more. He was apparently unhappy with the start made by both Rebels, saying that Zorro had moved across too sharply, and impeded Madsen, and Emil Kramer had made an wavering start, which had cause problems for King. Once more the re-start saw the inevitable take place, with the Fen Tigers getting away in front, and despite a strong challenge from both Rebels they took a 5-1 win to bring the once 12-point gap down to just 3-points. For Kramer it spoiled an almost flawless display, and it was clear to see his anger and frustration as he returned to the pits.
Despite these late problems, it was a great all round display by the Rebels, with every one contributing points. The final score somewhat flattered the home side, and a measure of the dominance showed by the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels can be seen in the fact that they provided 9 of the 15 winners, and only returned 6 'no scores'. It's always good to get your first league points under the belt, but it's especially good to do it away from home. Make no mistake though, a much sterner test will await the Rebels next Friday with the visit of the strong Kings Lynn Stars to the Oak Tree Arena, but with the Rebels top two in this kind of form, and the remaining five riders all contributing points, the Stars won't have it easy either.
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Sunday 15th April 2007
Premier Trophy (2nd Leg)
Newport Wasps
versus
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels
Newport Wasps - 53 Points
1: Michal Rajkowski - 3, 2*, 3, 2, 0 = 10+1 2: Chris Schramm - 2*, 3, 2, 2*, 2 = 11+2 3: Tom Hedley - 1, 1*, 2, flx = 4+1 4: Tony Atkin - 0, 2, 1*, 3 = 6+1 5: Phil Morris - 2*, 3, 2, flx = 7+1 6: Nick Simmons - 3, 2*, 1*, 1 = 7+2 7: Barry Burchatt(G) - 1, 3, 1*, 3 = 8+1 Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels - 37 Points. 1: Magnus Zetterstrom - 1, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 13 2: Simon Walker - 0, 0, 0, dns = 0 3: Emil Kramer - 2*, 1^, 0, 1* = 4+2 4: Tomas Suchanek - 3, 0, 1, 0 = 4 5: Ritchie Hawkins - 1, 1, 3, 1, 1 = 7 6: Jordan Frampton - 2, 0, 3, 0, 0, 2, 2 = 9 7: Danny Warwick - 0, 0, dns, dns = 0 SCB Referee: Rod Smith Heat Details
Heat 01: Rajkowski. Schramm. Zetterstrom. Walker: (5-1) ( 5-1) 60.11. Heat 02: (Re-Run) Simmons. Frampton. Burchatt. Warwick: (4-2) (9-3) 61.01 Heat 03: Suchanek. Kramer. Hedley. Atkins: (1-5) (10-8) 61.16. Heat 04: Burchatt. Morris Hawkins. Warwick (ret): (5-1) (15-9) 62.31 Heat 05: Zetterstrom. Atkin. Hedley. Walker: (3-3) (18-12 61.03 Heat 06: Schramm. Rajkowski. Hawkins. Frampton: (5-1) (23-13) 61.45. Heat 07: Morris. Simmons. Kramer (tactical). Suchanek: (5-1) (28-14) 61.69. Heat 08: Frampton. Schramm. Burchatt. Walker (ret): (3-3) (31-17) 61.47 Heat 09: Hawkins. Hedley. Atkins. Frampton: (3-3) (34-20 61.45 Heat 10: Rajkowski. Schramm. Suchanek. Kramer: (5-1) (39-21) 60.93 Heat 11: Zetterstrom. Morris. Simmons. Frampton: (3-3) (42-24) 61.09 Heat 12: Burchatt. Frampton. Kramer. Hedley (flx): (1-5) (43-29) (Awarded) Heat 13: Zetterstrom. Rajkowski. Hawkins. Morris flx: (2-4) (47-31) (Awarded) Heat 14: Atkins. Frampton. Simmons. Suchanek: (4-2) (51-33) 61.59 Heat 15: Zetterstrom. Schramm. Hawkins. Rajkowski (ret): (2-4) (53-37) 60.22 Those old enough to remember will recall that Harold Wilson once famously said 'A week is a long time in politics', well that goes for speedway too, but in this case it was only a couple of days. After comprehensively beating the Newport Wasps on Friday night, the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels would have been forgiven for thinking that today's match would be a stroll in the park, but experience dictates there's no such thing, especially if you are a Rebels supporter. Too many times in the past, the Rebels, and their fans have arrived at Queensway Meadows riding high, and been brought down to earth with a bump, particularly when the Wasps have been mortally wounded. Long-time Rebels supporters will tell you, this is when the Wasps are at their most dangerous.
Things didn't go well right from the start, with the Rebels inspirational skipper, Magnus Zetterstrom only managing a third place behind Michal Rajkowski, and Chris Schramm. It was Schramm who was the architect of Zorro's defeat, after making a quick start to lead, he slowed just as Zorro was about to pounce, causing the Rebels number one to take evasive action, and allowing Rajkowski a free run around both of them on the second bend. With little drive on the outside, Schramm was able to defend the inside easily.
The reserves race only got as far as the first turn, and all except Nick Simmons ended in a heap on the floor. From the gate Simmons was engaged in a battle of elbows with Jordan Frampton, and a robust shove just as they entered the bend sent Frampton wide, and leaving those on his outside with nowhere to go, with the inevitable result. Amazingly the referee put all four back in, and Simmons made the best of his luck taking the re-run from Frampton. Danny Warwick took one more ride, before retiring from the meeting with a hand injury sustained in the first bend crash.
Tomas Suchanek, and Emil Kramer raised the Rebels hopes in the next, with an all the way 1-5 advantage, never being troubled by the Wasps pair after the gate. It was short lived hope however, as the Wasps struck back immediately with a 5-1 of their own. Burchatt, deputising for the injured Mason, made a slick start alongside Hawkins and Warwick, with Morris close up. As Hawkins delivered a challenge he appeared to catch a rut, and momentarily lose a bit of control. It was all Morris needed to drive through the gap inside the second turn, and he team rode he less experienced partner home.
A shared heat followed, with Zorro back on the winning trail after a swift start saw him lead from bend one, and take the heat with ease from his Wasps counterpart, Tony Atkin. The respite was again only temporary, as the Wasps hit back with two more 5-1's. Firstly Chris Schramm made another lightning gate to lead from the two Rebels Hawkins and Frampton, with all three running a tight first turn, Rajkowski made the best of the bunching, riding around their outside to lead into the back straight. From then on there was no way back for the two Rebels. The bigger blow of the two came in the second of these heats, Heat 7. Steve Bishop sent Emil Kramer out with the Black and White helmet in an attempt to claw back some points, but the normally reliable Swede appeared to have left his gating boots at home, and was caught in no-mans land at the first bend, shut out by the fast starting Wasps Pair of Morris and Simmons.
Heat 8 was shared courtesy of Jordan Frampton, who took the win after he bolted out of the gates, leading up the excellent Schramm. Simon Walker has been in some good form of late, but never seemed comfortable today, and ended this heat, and his meeting as it turned out, on the centre green after suffering an engine failure. Speaking after the meeting he said that he thought his earlier run of bad luck was over, but it had returned with the same engine, which seized on the stand at Rye House in the opening fixture, giving up the ghost again.
Heat 9 was shared, this time after a battling performance by Ritchie Hawkins. Fast away alongside Wasps new boy, Tom Hedley, he just lost out in a very tight fight for supremacy off the second turn. The young Australian squeezed through an almost impossible gap to grab the lead, but Hawkins replied in the same spot on lap 3, after a close fought couple of laps. Hedley wasn't about to give up his race lightly, and again tried to squeeze through, but this time without success. Jordan Frampton was putting the pressure on Tony Atkin for third spot, after being forced out by the Wasps skipper at the first turn, but the experienced Atkin resisted to the line.
The Rajkowski/Schramm pairing racked up another 5-1 in Heat 10, with an almost identical start to their previous race, with Schramm getting away, and allowing Rajkowski a clear run on the outside, with Tomas Suchanek the recipient this time. Emil Kramer was again slowly away, and was caught out wide in the dust on the first bend where there was no grip to allow any kind of fight back. Heat 11 was shared, with Zorro again producing the goods, but not before he had repelled the challenge of Phil Morris who appeared up his inside on the second turn. Once in front, Zorro pulled away to win with ease. Jordan Frampton was all over the back of Nick Simmons, until he locked up whilst throwing in a challenge on Bend 3 of Lap 3. He recovered to renew the chase over the last lap, and was closing fast on the line.
Heat 12 again saw the points shared, when the Wasps pair of Hedley and Burchatt made the gate. Emil Kramer came flying around the outside of the second turn, only to be impeded by his own team mate, Jordan Frampton, who got caught out in the turn, and ran wide. Frampton made amends though, and chased down Hedley, and putting in a superb inside move to pass coming off the final turn of Lap 2. Hedley then became a victim of the lack of grip, running wide into the dusty stuff in turn one, and falling. The heat was stopped, Hedley was excluded, and the points shared.
Ritchie Hawkins clearly has the 'Indian Sign' over Phil Morris at the moment, and it came to the fore again in Heat 13. Hawkins moved at the tapes, and this set Morris off, he lunged forwards as the tapes rose, and touched them, catching them under his wheel. He was excluded, and clearly unhappy with the decision, made his feelings known to the referee. In the end he took the 15 metre penalty, and set off after the others at speed. As it turned out Hawkins was his immediate target, and this seemed to bring down the 'Red Mist'. He caught the Somerset man, but Hawkins didn't give an inch, sticking tight to the grippy inside line. At the first bend of Lap 3, Morris charged hard under Hawkins, with absolutely no chance of a pass, and was lucky not to collect his rival in the process. At the third turn on the next lap, he lunged around the outside, but with no grip on offer Morris took a nasty looking fall, with the bike ending up on top of him. It took a while for anyone to reach him, and some time for him to regain his feet when they did. For the record Zorro took the win from Michal Rajkowski, and Ritchie Hawkins third.
The last two heats went 4-2 to the Wasps, and then 2-4 to the Rebels. Heat 14 was won by Tony Atkin, who gated alongside the Rebels Tomas Suchanek. At the second bend Suchanek threw down a challenge, only to be clamped hard against the kerb. He had to back off, and locked up in the process, allowing the other two to pass him, with Jordan Frampton taking up the chase. He never allowed Atkin a moments peace, and was nipping away at his lead right up to the line. Zorro took the final heat with another quick start, from Chris Schramm. Ritchie Hawkins battled back from last place to nip up the inside of Rajkowski on the second bend of Lap 3. The young Pole did not get the chance to reply, as he was the victim of engine problems later in the race, and coasted round at the back.
For the home side it was a great all round performance, and one they had hinted that they could produce in the second half of their previous home victory against Mildenhall. The stand out pair though were Michal Rajkowski and Chris Schramm, who returned paid 24-pts between them. Many people slated Tim Stone for the signing of Rajkowski, but the young rider is showing what he is capable of around the Meadows, now that he is getting used to the track. He only needs to master some of the away tracks, and he may just turn out to be another little gem to follow in the foot steps of the likes of Nils Kristian Iversen, Mads Korneliussen, and the revered Craig Watson.
For the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels, after an early blip, Zorro turned in a great performance as usual. It is easy to get blasé about Zorro's contribution, but it is not just scoring that he brings to the team, it's also about inspiration, and one who clearly took that from him today was Jordan Frampton. Frampton was magnificent, taking the workload for the injured Danny Warwick, and filling in for Simon Walker after his engine problems, and still returning a 9-point total when some my have crumbled under the pressure. Ritchie Hawkins continues to improve with every meeting. Queensway Meadows may not be his cup of tea, but he stuck to the task, ending a difficult day with a heat win, and a good supporting role, with some spirited racing thrown in for good measure. It was just unfortunate that on a day when gating turned out to be the requirement, it deserted those who can normally be relied on to produce the goods, but to paraphrase Harold Wilson, 'A week is a long time in Speedway', so roll on next Friday, and bring on the Mildenhall Fen Tigers.
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Premier Trophy (2nd Leg)
Isle of Wight 'Wightlink & Isleofwight.com' Islanders
-v-
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels
Isle of Wight Islanders - 47
1. Chris Holder - 2, 2*, 3, 2, 3 = 12+1 2. Glen Phillips - 1*, 3, 2, 1 = 7+1 3. Cory Gathercole - 0, flx, dns, dns = 0 4. Krysztof Stojanowski - 1, 2, 3, 3 = 9 5. Jason Bunyan - 3, 3, 2, 1*, 0 = 9+1 6. Andrew Bargh - 0, 1, 1*, 1, 2* = 5+2 7. Chris Johnson - 3, 1, 1*, fl, 0 = 5+1 Somerset Rebels - 43 1. Magnus Zetterstrom - 3, 3, 3, 3, 2 = 14 2. Simon Walker - 0, 1, 3, 0 = 4 3. Emil Kramer - 2*, 2, 2, 3, 1* = 10+2 4. Tomas Suchanek - 3, 0, 0, 1 = 4 5. Ritchie Hawkins - 2, 1, 2, 0 = 5 6. Jordan Frampton - 1*, 0, 1*, 2* = 4+3 7. Danny Warwick - 2, 0, 0, 0 = 2 SCB Referee: Christina Turnbull
Heat Details Heat 01: (Re-run) Zetterstrom, Holder, Phillips, Walker (3-3) (3-3) 68.0 Heat 02: Johnson, Warwick, Frampton, Bargh (3-3) (6-6) 71.0 Heat 03: Suchanek, Kramer, Stojanowski, Gathercole (1-5) (7-11) 69.9 Heat 04: Bunyan, Hawkins, Johnson, Warwick (4-2) (11-13) 70.4 Heat 05: (Re-run) Zetterstrom, Stojanowski, Walker, Gathercole(flx) (2-4) (13-17) 69.1 Heat 06: Phillips, Holder, Hawkins, Frampton (5-1) (18-18) 70.3 Heat 07: Bunyan, Kramer, Bargh, Suchanek (4-2) (22-20) 68.6 Heat 08: Walker, Phillips, Johnson, Warwick (3-3) (25-23) 71.9 Heat 09: Stojanowski, Hawkins, Frampton, Johnson(Fell/Ret) (3-3) (28-26) 68.8 Heat 10: Holder, Kramer, Phillips, Suchanek (4-2) (32-28) 68.5 Heat 11: Zetterstrom, Bunyan, Bargh, Walker (3-3) (35-31) 68.1 Heat 12: Kramer, Frampton, Bargh, Johnson (1-5) (36-36) 70.5 Heat 13: (Re-run) Zetterstrom, Holder, Bunyan, Hawkins (3-3) (39-39) 68.2 Heat 14: Stojanowski, Bargh, Suchanek, Warwick (5-1) (44-40) 69.5 Heat 15: Holder, Zetterstrom, Kramer, Bunyan (3-3) (47-43) 68.3 With their first Premier Trophy win of the season under their belt, the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels took on the trip to the Isle of Wight in a buoyant mood. Friday's 10-point defeat of the Islanders gave the Rebels at least the hope of taking the bonus point, but the Islanders home performances so far suggested that they would be a tough proposition on their home shale. The Smallbrook circuit looked in good condition in the early evening sunshine, with a newly spread layer of fresh dirt.
The Rebels got off to a fine start, with a win from Skipper Magnus Zetterstrom in the restarted Heat one, defeating Chris Holder in the process. Zorro had to contend with the close attentions of Glen Phillips, until pulling out a lead. Phillips was soon passed by Holder, who took up the chase, but to no avail. The Rebels reserve pairing looked like pulling off a shock 1-5 heat advantage, when they led away from the gate in Heat 2. They figured without the determination of Chris Johnson, who first took Jordan Frampton on the back straight, before setting off in pursuit of Danny Warwick. Warwick produced an almost perfect ride, until he lost out to an inside pass from Johnson off the last turn. It was a smart move by Johnson, who had confined his challenges to outside, and then took his chance as Warwick covered the line on the final bend.
Tomas Suchanek belied his recent inconsistent form by producing a flying start, and took a great win in Heat 3, and on top of that he produced a 1-5 result with his race partner Emil Kramer, who shadowed the out of sorts Czech holding off a strong challenge from Kristof Stojanowski. This gave the Rebels an early 4-point lead
Jason Bunyan took a fine win in the next heat holding off the early charge of Ritchie Hawkins. Danny Warwick got a huge bump at the first turn, but challenged on the outside until he locked up entering Bend 4, giving the Islanders their first heat advantage of the meeting. The Rebels struck back immediately with another storming win by Zorro, but not before having to restart the race after Cory Gathercole fell at the first bend attempting to force his way inside Simon Walker. He was excluded from the re-start, in which the Rebels pair looked to be on a 5-1, until Stojanowski swooped on Walker out of the second bend. Gathercole took no further part in the meeting, as he had received a nasty bump to the head.
The Islanders were back in the meeting after Heat 6. As the tapes rose, Chris Holder and Ritchie Hawkins made a level break, with Glen Phillips in attendance. It was Holder who prevailed, clamping Hawkins tight to the kerb, allowing Phillips to swoop around the outside to take the win, in a nice display of team riding with Holder to score a 5-1 advantage. The home side also took the next heat to lead for the first time in the meeting. It was Bunyan, this time accompanied by Andrew Bargh, who again gave the Islanders an advantage to pull out a slender 2-point lead.
Simon Walker made a blinding start in Heat 8 to lead all the way. Danny Warwick also made a good start, and once again raised Rebel hopes of a 5-1, until he was passed first by Glen Phillips, and then got involved in a tremendous scrap with Chris Johnson, as the two passed and re-passed each other, with Johnson having the final word. Heat 9 was shared, with Krystof Stojanowski providing the points for the home team, and as the meeting moved towards the closing stages, the Islanders still held just the 2-point lead. They increased that lead as Holder took Heat 10 from Emil Kramer, with Glen Phillips beating the lacklustre Tomas Suchanek with ease. Magnus Zetterstrom took his tally to three races unbeaten in the next heat, taking Jason Banyan's unbeaten status in the process. With Andrew Bargh grabbing third spot the points were shared.
The Rebels took full advantage of the enforced replacement of Cory Gathercole, by Andrew Bargh, in Heat 12. It was Emil Kramer and Jordan Frampton who hammered home a 5-1 to draw level for the first time since Heat 6, with a 36-36 scoreline. It took two attempts to start, and a warning for the Rebels skipper for anticipating the tapes, but Zorro took Heat 13 to remain unbeaten, and keep the scores level with just two heats to go. Those points ensured the bonus point at least would return to Somerset with the Rebels.
The Rebels must surely now have been harbouring thoughts of taking all five points from this tie, but their hopes were dashed with an Islanders maximum in Heat 14. Krystof Stojanowski took the win, but not before he had been led up by Danny Warwick who held him off until the second turn. Warwick looked to have given the Rebels a fighting chance of taking the tie as he battled with Bargh throughout the race, but Bargh conjured up a huge amount of drive on the opening turn of the final lap to drive under Warwick, who had held him comfortably until this point. Warwick came roaring back on the last bend, but fell as he laid down a strong challenge on the outside of Bargh, leaving Suchanek to take the consolation point. The only thing left now was the full maximum for Zorro, but Chris Holder wasn't in the mood to concede that on his home turf. A superb start, and opening turn saw him shut out the Rebels skipper, and pull away to take the win in a fast time. Emil Kramer took third spot to share the points.
It was a gritty fighting performance from the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels, which was praised after the meeting by the Islanders Dave Croucher. The top two Rebels were again in fine form, with good support in general from the rest of the team. A special mention should go to Danny Warwick, who came into his own on the big Smallbrook circuit, and his 2-point return was scant reward, and in no way reflected a performance that was full of bravery, determination, and battling qualities.
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Premier Trophy (1st Leg)
Mildenhall Fen Tigers
-v-
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels
Sunday 25th March 2007 Mildenhall Fen Tigers - 54
1. Mario Jirout - flx, 3, 2, 2* = 7+1
2. Shaun Tacey - 2, 2*, 3, 1*, 0 = 8+2
3. Kyle Legault - 2, 2, 3, 3, 3 = 13
4. Jamie Smith - ef, 1*, 2*, 3 = 6+2
5. Tom P Madsen - 3, 3, 1*, 3 = 10+1
6. Jason King - 3, 1, 1, 2, 2* = 9+1
7. Mark Thompson - flx, 1, 0 = 1
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels - 38
1. Magnus Zetterstrom - 3, 3, 3, ex, ex, 2 = 11
2. Simon Walker - 1, 0, 2, 0 = 3
3. Emil Kramer - 3, 2, 6^, 2, 1* = 14+1
4. Tomas Suchanek - 1, 0, 0 = 1
5. Ritchie Hawkins - ef, ex-2min, 1 flx = 1
6. Jordan Frampton - 2, ex, 0, 1, 1* = 4+1
7. Danny Warwick - 1, 2, 1 = 4+1
SCB Referee:Barbara Horley
Heat Details
Heat 01: (re-run) Zetterstrom, Tacey, Walker, Jirout (flx) (2-4) (2-4) 51.40
Heat 02: (re-run) King, Frampton, Warwick, to (flx) (3-3) (5-7) 51.13
Heat 03: Kramer, Legault, Suchanek, Smith (2-4) (7-11) 50.78
Heat 04: Madsen, Warwick, Thompson, Hawkins (ef) (4-2) (11-13) 51.00
Heat 05: Zetterstrom, Legault, Smith, Walker (3-3) (14-16) 50.13
Heat 06: (re-run) Jirout, Tacey, Warwick (for Hawkins - ex-2min), Frampton ex (5-1) (19-17) 52.93
Heat 07: Madsen, Kramer, King, Suchanek (4-2) (23-19) 52.06
Heat 08: Tacey, Walker, King (for Thompson), Warwick (4-2) (27-21) 52.31
Heat 09: Legault, Smith, Hawkins, Frampton (5-1) (32-22) 51.44
Heat 10: Kramer (tactical), Jirout, Tacey, Suchanek (3-6) (35-28) 51.05
Heat 11: Zetterstrom, King, Madsen, Walker (3-3) (38-31) 51.38
Heat 12: Legault, Kramer, Frampton, Thompson (3-3) (41-34) 51.41
Heat 13: Madsen, Jirout, Hawkins (flx), Zetterstrom (ex) (5-0) (46-34) 52.50
Heat 14: (re-run) Smith, King, Frampton (for Warwick), Zetterstrom (tactical - 15mts) (ex) (5-1) (51-35) 53.00
Heat 15: Legault, Zetterstrom, Kramer, Tacey (3-3) (54-38) 51.70
The Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels continued their quest for 'on the road' Premier Trophy points visiting West Row, the home of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers. The day started dry, and bright, if a little cool, in complete contrast to the previous evenings trip to Hoddesdon. The track looked in good condition, despite hosting Banger racing the night before. It was a little firm underneath, but had a reasonable covering of dirt on top.
With the previous days defeat in mind the Rebels were looking for a good result here, and started off in the right vein, with skipper Magnus Zetterstrom taking a bloodless win over Shaun Tacey in the re-run of Heat 1. Former Rebel Mario Jirout took a tumble at the first bend of the original running, without interference from any other rider, and was excluded as the primary cause of the stoppage.
Heat 2 followed a similar pattern, with Mark Thompson being the unlucky rider to catch the referee's eye when he fell in almost the same spot as Jirout, and in a similar manner. However this re-run favoured the home side as Jason King made a good start to take the win, and share the points, after looking like conceding a 5-1 when the original running was stopped.
What a difference a few hours made for Emil Kramer. After taking a very heavy spill in his first ride the night before, injuring a hip, which caused him difficulty in turning the bike, the Swede was a totally different proposition today. He flew from the gate, and tore up the small West Row circuit, leaving everyone toiling in his wake. his winning time of 50.78 was only 1/2 a second outside Paul Lee's 3 year old track record. The useful Canadian, Kyle Legault, took second in front of Tomas Suchanek, who took third to give the Rebels another heat advantage.
The mechanical gremlins that struck Simon Walker at Rye House returned, this time to dog Ritchie Hawkins. As the tapes rose for Heat 4 he stayed rooted to the spot, allowing the Fen Tigers to return the compliment from the previous heat, by taking a 4-2 advantage, with Tom P Madsen taking the win from the Rebels Danny Warwick. If he thought that might be the end of it, Hawkins was mistaken, as this was only the start of problems that resulted in him not even getting out of the pits in his next ride, and another engine problem causing him to fall at the first turn, and be excluded in the re-run of Heat 13.
Emil Kramer wasn't the only one knocking on the door of the track record, as in the next heat Zorro scorched round after being led to the first turn by Shaun Tacey, and gave the record a good rattling with a 50.57, just 3/10th sec outside. The Fen Tigers packed the places to share the points, bringing the score 14-16. It was a good start for the Rebels, giving their supporters hope of a repeat of last years results in the Fens, but things were about to change, and not for the better.
The next four heats all went the way of the Fen Tigers, with two 5-1's either side of a couple of 4-2's. The first of these saw Ritchie Hawkins stuck in the pits, leaving Danny Warwick to partner fellow reserve Jordan Frampton, against Jirout and Tacey, with the inevitable result. That however was not the full story as this heat had to be restarted after Jordan Frampton had suffered a slight loss of control on the third turn, Tacey laid his bike down, and the referee put on the red lights. To the amazement of the travelling fans she excluded Frampton as the cause of the stoppage. Tacey was extremely lucky, as the previous evening the exact reverse of this situation had seen Simon Walker lay his bike down, when Tai Woffinden had almost fallen off in front of him, then perform a miracle to stay on the bike. On that occasion a different referee took no action, and allowed the race to continue, much to the disgust of Walker.
Walker almost took revenge in the next heat, as he made the outside line his own for all four laps, first accounting for King, and then giving Tacey a torrid time, and all this on a his back up bike, which was set up for a bigger track, but had to be used after his number one machine had blown up on the stand the previous evening. After a sticky start, Walker got better, and faster as the afternoon wore on, and was unlucky not to come away with a better return.
The next heat could have had a totally different result, when Tomas Suchanek bolted from the start of the re-run, after Jason King had fallen in the original start, followed by his team mate Kramer. Madsen then passed Kramer off the second turn, and King followed him at the third bend of the opening lap. On the next Madsen took Suchanek, and Kramer regained third spot from King, and then took his team mate, setting off after Madsen. King caught and passed Suchanek on Lap 3, whilst Kramer was all over the back of Madsen. Kramer conjured up a fantastic run on the last lap, getting alongside Madsen in the process, but the line came just in time for the Dane, as he held on by the narrowest of margins in what was probably the best race of the day.
By Heat 9 the Fen Tigers had pulled out a 10 point lead, 32-22, and it was time for Steve Bishop to start recouping the losses. In Heat 10 he sent out Emil Kramer on a tactical, and Kramer didn't let his manager down, rocketing from the start he won unchallenged in another quick time. His partner Suchanek could not get on terms with the Jirout/Tacey pairing, leaving a 3-6 advantage to the Rebels.
The next two heats were shared, with good wins for Zorro, over King and Madsen, and Kyle Legault, over Kramer and Frampton. Up to now it had been a hard fought match ridden in a good spirit, but Heat 13 proved to be a turning point in more ways than one. Firstly Zorro suffered an exclusion, and the wrath of the home crowd when Madsen, on Zorro's outside, was the victim of first bend bunching, falling and causing Hawkins to lay the bike down. The decision to exclude Zorro was very harsh, especially considering that Jirout was the actual cause of the problem, as he moved everyone wide from his inside gate position. In the re-run Hawkins only got to the first bend, before a sick engine caused him to fall, and he was also excluded, leaving the home riders to go again unopposed.
With an 8 point deficit, and only two heats left, Steve Bishop once again went down the tactical route. Having already used his only straight tactical ride, he nominated Zorro as a tactical substitute (off 15 meters) in place of Tomas Suchanek, and made a reserve change, Frampton for Warwick. A level break from the three on the line, made Frampton the meat in the sandwich, and he ended up on the floor. Zorro's machine expired after the race was stopped, and after some frantic pit activity he emerged on Kramer's machine.
In the re-run the two fen Tigers trapped in front with the two rebels in pursuit, and closing in. Frampton was the first to catch and pass Smith on Lap 2. Now Zorro was on Smith's back wheel, and got inside him on the last bend, as they ran side by side up the straight Zorro's faster speed carried him almost a bike length in front. They both turned in to the first bend, with Zorro's greater speed his back wheel, and Smiths front wheel touched. At the speed they were travelling, Smith took a hard fall, despite the contact being minimal. The referee excluded the Rebels skipper amid some pretty over the top reactions from the home fans, a small band of Smith supporters, and an angry Smith, who had to be restrained by his team mates.
Once calm had been restored the race was re-run, and the Fen Tigers took a maximum, to lead 51-35. The incident has been described in some places as a range of things, from 'very hard' to 'dirty riding', in truth it was one of those incidents you see hundreds of time a season, and one that happens when riders are chasing the points to make up ground. In other words just another racing incident that will be forgotten by most reasonable speedway fans in a matter of days.
The nominated heat saw the Rebels two top scorers, Zorro, and Emil Kramer pitted against Kyle Legault, and Shaun Tacey. The young Canadian just got the better of an even break with Zorro, as he took the inside around the opening turn. Zorro chased hard, but could not get by. Kramer took third spot from Tacey to share the points.
What started in a positive way for the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels, ended up in a less than desirable manner, and leaves the Rebels with some ground to make up for the bonus point. The performances of the day has to go to two riders, for the Fen Tigers Kyle Legault's top score was a joy to watch, ending in three straight victories over the Rebels top three. For the Rebels, and for me, 'the' performance of the day goes to Emil Kramer, who despite carrying injuries from the night before, which saw him in extreme discomfort, and with an ice pack on his wrist for most of the day, lead the Rebels scoring charts with two victories, including a tactical, for his 14+1 total. The final score does not reflect how good a match this was, and slightly flatters the home side. Without the later exclusions this could have been decided by a single point. The Rebels now have a month before they can wreak revenge for this defeat, which should be plenty of time to fine tune the outfit before the league proper gets into full swing.
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Saturday 24th March 2007
Rye House 'Silver Ski' Rockets
-v-
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels
Rye House 'Silver Ski' Rockets - 55
1. Chris Neath - 3, 3, 3, 1*, 3 = 13+1
2. Luke Bowen - 1, 0, 3, 2* = 6+1
3. Steve Boxall - 3, 2, 3, 2*, 0 = 10+1
4. Tommy Allen - 2*, 1*, 2*, 2 = 7+3
5. Stuart Robson - 3, 2, frmt, 2 = 7
6. Adam Roynon - 2*, fl, 2, 0 = 4+1
7. Tai Woffinden - 3, 1, 1, 3 = 8
Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels - 38
1. Magnus Zetterstrom - 2, 6^, 3, 3, 2 = 16
2. Simon Walker - Ex (2min), 0, frmt, 1 = 1
3. Emil Kramer - 0, 1, 0, 1 = 2
4. Tomas Suchanek - 1, 3, 1, 3, 1* =9+1
5. Ritchie Hawkins - 2, 2, flx, 0 = 4
6. Jordan Frampton - ef, 1, 1*, 2, 0, 1 =5+1
7. Danny Warwick - 0, 0, 1 =1
SCB Referee: David Robinson
Heat Details
Heat 01: Neath, Zetterstrom, Bowen, Frampton (res: Walker excl - 2Min) (4-2) (4-2) 57.3
Heat 02: Woffinden, Roynon, Frampton, Warwick (5-1) (9-3) 59.3
Heat 03: Boxall, Allen, Suchanek, Kramer (5-1) (14-4) 60.2
Heat 04: Robson, Hawkins, Woffinden, Warwick (4-2) (18-6) 60.2
Heat 05: Zetterstrom (tactical), Boxall, Allen, Walker (3-6) (21-12) 59.2
Heat 06: Neath, Hawkins, Frampton, Bowen (3-3) (24-15) 59.7
Heat 07: Suchanek, Robson, Kramer, Roynon (fell) (2-4) (26-19) 59.7
Heat 08: Bowen, Frampton (for Warwick), Woffinden, Walker (flrmt) (4-2) (30-21) 60.7
Heat 09: Boxall, Allen, Warwick (for Frampton), Hawkins (flex) (5-1) (35-22) AWD
Heat 10: Neath, Bowen, Suchanek, Kramer (5-1) (40-23) 60.2
Heat 11: Zetterstrom, Roynon, Walker, Robson (flrmt) (2-4) (42-27) 60.4
Heat 12: Woffinden, Boxall, Kramer, Frampton (5-1) (47-28) 60.9
Heat 13: Zetterstrom, Robson, Neath, Hawkins (3-3) (50-31) 59.6
Heat 14: Suchanek, Allen, Frampton (for Warwick), Roynon (2-4) (52-35) 60.1
Heat 15: Neath, Zetterstrom, Suchanek, Boxall (3-3) (55-38) 60.1
On Saturday evening the new look Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels made the trip, which is fast becoming, the annual season opener in the Premier Trophy, away to the Rye House 'Silver Ski' Rockets . Along with the trip came the usual damp weather for this fixture, as the crowd and teams were greeted with a cold, and drizzly evening.
The Rebels have never found it easy at the tight Hoddesdon circuit, so the re-shaped team, with Simon Walker moving to the number two berth, the returning Ritchie Hawkins, now fully recovered from last seasons bad injury, at number 5, Czech international Tomas Suchanek at four, and two new reserves in Frampton and Warwick, were hoping for better things in this fixture. The Rockets have also done some team surgery over the close season, but to a lesser extent, with Luke Bowen, another of last seasons serious injury victims, moving into the main body of the team, at the expense of Brent Werner, and two new reserves in the shape of the exciting prospect, Tai Woffinden, partnered by Adam Roynon making a strong pairing. With Stuart Robson also now fit again they look a very strong side indeed.
Simon Walker has not enjoyed much luck in this fixture, having been the victim of injury and illness in previous seasons, and the hoodoo seemed to have struck again, when just before the first race he blew an engine whilst the bike was being warmed up on the stand. Then his second machine, which had performed perfectly the night before, steadfastly refused to start causing him to be excluded for exceeding the 2 minutes. The team fared no better in the race itself, as the tapes rose it was skipper Magnus Zetterstrom, and his Rye house counterpart Chris Neath, who contested the lead, with Walker replacement, Jordan Frampton in a comfortable third. Just as it looked as though the points would be share, Frampton's plug lead came adrift, causing his machine to stop. Bowen took up third, and then his machine promptly expired, and with no Rebel left to take advantage, he coasted over the line to take the points.
The Rebels were then rocked by two consecutive 5-1's, as first the reserves suffered the maximum setback, when Woffinden bolted from the tapes to lead, followed by Frampton and Warwick, only for Warwick to be caught out by the tight Hoddesdon bends. Frampton was comfortable in second, until he suffered a loss of control coming off the last turn of Lap 2, allowing Roynon to get a run on him, and pass at the next corner. In past seasons it has seemed impossible to get past Heat 3 without some sort of incident or injury causing the Rebels to suffer a setback, and this match was no different, as Emil Kramer caught his foot rest in the rear wheel of Tommy Allen's machine, and took a heavy fall. Initially it looked as though he might have suffered with a serious shoulder injury, but it transpired that the worst damage was to his hip, and although he continued, for the remainder on the meeting this caused him problems trying to turn his machine into the bends.
Ritchie Hawkins return to real competitive action saw him take a good second place behind another injury victim, Stuart Robson. After a fast start alongside Danny Warwick, who again found the bends troublesome, Hawkins had to give best to the local knowledge of Robson, who stormed past him, coming out of the final turn of Lap 2. He chased Robson hard, but could not find a way by. Now 12 points down, team manager Steve Bishop, wasted no time in bringing out the 'magic hat', sending out Zorro on a tactical ride to do the honours, and do them he did. Starting on the outside gate, he powered away from the start, and was not sighted by the rest of the field until the slow down lap. Simon Walker suffered more misfortune when he became the meat in a Rye House sandwich, getting squeezed out on the first turn. In Heat 6, Ritchie Hawkins again put in a good display, to take second spot behind 'Mr Rye', Chris Neath, and with Jordan Frampton filling the minor place, they shared the heat point 3-3.
New boy Tomas Suchanek bolted from the gates in the next heat, to spoil the chances of a maximum for Stuart Robson, and to take a fine win, in a reasonable time considering the conditions. Emil Kramer was clearly struggling after his earlier fall, and was the shadow of the rider who did so well at this venue last season, he did however take a point in this race after Adam Roynon's last bend fall on Lap 2. Simon Walkers luck didn't improve in the next, when Tai Woffinden lost control in front of him, it looked for all the world that the young reserve would end in a heap right in Walkers path, and to avoid hitting him, Simon laid the bike down, only to see the young Aussie-Brit amazingly regain control, and ride off into the distance, leaving Walker to pick himself up, and trundle round behind.
The Rockets rammed home their advantage, with two more 5-1's to take the difference to 17 points. Heat 9 saw Ritchie Hawkins completely miss the gate, and then fall in a attempt to win back the lost ground. In the next Tomas Suchanek made another great start, only for the Rockets pair to find superior drive around the second turn, and onto the back straight, and with Emil Kramer not able attack the track, the home side pressed on for a maximum return. It was up to the Rebels skipper to stop the rot in Heat 11, as Zorro once again shot away from the gate to easily lead. Simon Walker got a welcome change of fortune, and a point, with the fall of the chasing Stuart Robson taking the pressure of him.
It wasn't long before the Rockets pressed on again with a fifth 5-1. With the out of sorts Kramer making a good start in second, only to see Woffinden sail around the very wide outside to grab his second place. Chris Neath was the only rider left with a chance of a maximum as they came to tapes for Heat 13, but those chances disappeared as Zorro blasted off the gate beside him to lead. Stuart Robson threw down a brief challenge, but was no match to the flying Swede. Ritchie Hawkins suffered a huge lift on the start, and could not recover, leaving the teams to share the points. The Rebels clawed back a few points in Heat 14, with the excellent Tomas Suchanek taking his second win of the evening with another fast getaway, alongside team mate, Jordan Frampton. Frampton could not hold off Tommy Allen, but was good enough to give the Rebels a heat advantage.
The nominated Heat 15 saw the team share the points, with a repeat of Heat 1 in the first two places when Chris Neath beat Zorro to the drop from the gate. Tomas Suchanek cleverly kept a charging Steve Boxall in last place to take third spot, keeping an eye on him all the way to the line. For the Rockets it was the usual suspects who provided the bulk of the points, with Neath top scoring (13+1), with good support from Boxall (10+1), and Tai Woffinden supplying 8 points from the reserve slot, something that looks like being a common occurrence this season. The remainder of the team all contribute good points.
On the face of it was a bad night for the Rebels, but Hoddesdon has never been a happy hunting ground, and with Walker suffering horrendous luck all evening, and the early injury to Emil Kramer, who could normally be relied on to supply a fair amount of points, it made an already difficult task even harder.
There were some encouraging areas though, with Tomas Suchanek showing he is benefiting from a full season in the Premier League. Some hard racing from Ritchie Hawkins, who appears to have put last seasons terrible injury behind him, despite not being able on this occasion to convert his undoubted effort into points. A good display from Jordan Frampton at reserve bodes well, even though he was another who's points did not reflect his efforts. Danny Warwick will be more effective on the more open spaces of the Oak Tree Arena, and the bigger tracks. Zorro was Zorro, doing what he does best, scoring points on a track that by his own admission is not one of his favourites.
I am sure that the Somerset 'Sharp' Rebels will be doing everything in their power to reverse this 55-38 defeat in the home leg next Friday. They will be a different proposition on home shale, but in the quest for the bonus point 17 points is a difficult hurdle to overcome against what could prove to be one of the strongest outfits in the league this season, but try they will, and I for one wouldn't miss it for the world.
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