Around the Premier League Tracks 2005

[Merlin]

Wednesday, 26 October


Tonight the first leg of the final of the Jack Young Shield was raced at King’s Lynn . The Stars were again up against the Rye House Rockets still licking their wounds over their Premier League KO Cup Final defeat at the hands of the Stars last week.



Jack Young Shield (final, first leg): King’s Lynn 59, Rye House 34.


The teams lined up exactly as they had done so last Friday night in the first leg of the Premier League KO Cup Final. King’s Lynn again had Simon Lambert at number 6 as a guest for Tommy Stange while Rye House were again without Stuart Robson and used Rider Replacement at number 1 in his absence. They also again nominated Luke Bowen as their number 8 for this match. This time Tactical Rides and Tactical Substitutes were allowed and Rye House were looking for a much closer score than the 36 point drubbing they suffered last week.

As happened last week Rye House won the toss and elected to go from gates 1 and 3 in the opening heat. Oliver Allen won the race beating Chris Neath in the process and Ashley Jones eventually got the better of Edward Kennett for third place to ensure a 4-2 success for the Stars. In the reserves race, heat 2, Steve Boxall led for the first two laps but was passed by Jan Jaros then his team mate, Tommy Allen. With Simon Lambert at the back the race was shared. However in heat 3 the formidable Kevin Doolan/Troy Batchelor pairing scored the first 5-1 of the match for the home side ahead of Daniel King and Brent Werner to open up a six point lead. It was soon 10 points when Tomas Topinka and Jan Jaros took another 5-1 with Chris Neath taking the third place point after passing his partner, Tommy Allen. The score after the opening four heats was 17-7, the same as it was last week at the same point.

Another 5-1 from the Doolan/Batchelor pairing in heat 5 ahead of Edward Kennett and Brent Werner sent the alarm bells ringing loudly again in the Rye House camp as the home side’s lead stretched to 14points. In heat 6 it took three attempts before the race got passed the first bend but Chris Neath raised the Rockets’ spirits by providing their first race winner of the match. Oliver Allen and Ashley Jones filled the minor places so the points were shared. Heat 7 was shared too when Tomas Topinka headed home Brent Werner and Daniel King but King’s Lynn added two points more to their lead with a 4-2 in heat 8. In the first running of the heat Tommy Allen fell and was excluded. In the rerun Jan Jaros fell under pressure from Edward Kennett who then unsuccessfully pressed Ashley Jones for the lead. This took the score after 8 heats to 32-16.

It was time for Rye House to use one of their tactical options and they gave Chris Neath a TR in heat 9. When the Rye House rider hit the front it looked as though they had made the correct decision but Troy Batchelor soon passed him and it was left to Neath to defend his second place against Kevin Doolan. He couldn’t do it as Doolan passed him on the last bend for a 5-2. As it happened the Rockets would have been better giving the TR to Daniel King who won heat 10 from Oliver Allen and Ashley Jones to share the race. However Daniel King was out again as R/R for Stuart Robson in heat 11 and this time was nominated for a TR. Although Tomas Topinka won the race, Daniel King finished second with Edward Kennett third. This gave Rye House a 3-5 advantage in the heat, their first all match but in the next race the Rockets replaced Brent Werner with Tommy Allen so had both reserves out. They managed a shared race won by Troy Batchelor with Jan Jaros falling on the last lap while at the back. This took the score after 12 races to 46-29 with the Stars 17 points in front and looking for another big finish over the last three heats.

They took the expected 5-1 in heat 13 from Tomas Topinka and Oliver Allen ahead of Chris Neath and Edward Kennett to increase their lead to 21 points Daniel King led heat 14 for over a lap before being passed by Kevin Doolan while Tommy Allen fell at the back. This 4-2 provided another two point advantage to King’s Lynn and the same score was provided by heat 15. Daniel King led the race for two laps before Tomas Topinka got by to win the heat while Troy Batchelor passed Chris Neath for the third place point.

Rye House at least prevented King’s Lynn rattling up another 60 point total but the Stars’ 25 point lead still looks beyond Rye House’s current resources. Although the Rockets scored 34, seven more than last week, three of the extra points came from TRs and King’s Lynn will have the added advantage of being able to use them if necessary in the second leg.


Scorers: For King’s Lynn – Tomas Topinka 15 (5) (full maximum), Troy Batchelor 11+2 (5), Kevin Doolan 11+1 (4) (paid maximum), Oliver Allen 9+1 (4), Jan Jaros 7+1 (5), Ashley Jones 6+2 (4), Simon Lambert 0 (3).

For Rye House – Daniel King 13+1 (6) including a 4 point TR, Chris Neath 9 (6) including a 2 point TR, Edward Kennett 4+1 (5), Tommy Allen 4 (5), Steve Boxall 2+2 (4), Brent Werner 2 (4), Luke Bowen DNR.

[Merlin]

Saturday, 29 October


So we come to the last match of the season for the Premier League. Fittingly the final match was the second leg of the final of the Jack Young Shield at Rye House where the Rockets were attempting to pull back a substantial deficit against King’s Lynn just as they tried unsuccessfully to do last week in the the Premier League KO Cup final.



Jack Young Shield (final, second leg): Rye House 51, King’s Lynn 42

King’s Lynn won the Jack Young Shield on aggregate by 101-85.


The teams lined up exactly as they had done last Saturday night in the Premier League KO Cup Final. This meant that Rye House were without Stuart Robson and used Rider Replacement at number 1 in his absence. They also again nominated Luke Bowen as their number 8 for this match. King’s Lynn had Benji Compton at number 7 as a guest for Tommy Stange. The Stars arrived with a 25 point lead as opposed to last Saturday night’s 36 point lead but this time Tactical Rides and Substitutions could be used.

King’s Lynn won the toss and took gates 1 and 3 but they didn’t make as good a start as they did last week. Rye House opened with a 4-2. Edward Kennett made the start from Oliver Allen with Chris Neath third and that’s the way they finished. Then came a very important 5-1 from the Rye House reserves, Tommy Allen and Steve Boxall, which kick-started the fight back by giving the Rockets an early six point lead. Kevin Doolan stooped the Rockets momentum by winning heat 3 for a share of the points but Chris Neath beat Tomas Topinka in heat 4 with Tommy Allen third for another 4-2 which increased the home side’s lead to eight points at 16-8 reducing the Stars’ aggregate lead to 50-67, a 17 point difference.

Rye House took another big step towards catching up with a 5-1 in heat 5 from Brent Werner and Danny King ahead of Oliver Allen so King’s Lynn, now 12 points down on the night, gave Tomas Topinka a TR in heat 6 which looked like being crucial to their overall success. It turned out to be a disaster for the Stars as Daniel King and Edward Kennett worked their way to the front relegating Topinka to third place. This resulted in a 5-2 to the Rockets and things were looking bleak for King’s Lynn with only 10 points now separating the sides on aggregate. In heat 7 King’s Lynn played their second TR card giving the ride to Kevin Doolan who had won heat 3. This was a bit more successful because, although Chris Neath won the race under considerable pressure, Doolan finished second with his partner, Troy Batchelor, third for a 3-5 heat advantage to the visitors. Heat 8 looked a bleak prospect for the Stars as Ashley Jones and Jan Jaros had still to beat an opponent. The race was rerun after Jan Jaros had fallen with all four back just as the rain arrived. King’s Lynn were relieved to share the points as the race was awarded after Tommy Allen had fallen while challenging Ashley Jones for second place and been excluded. The race was won by Edward Kennett and the 3-3 took the score after eight heats to 32-19 with King’s Lynn now leading on aggregate by 66-78 and everything to race for.

The track had now become very wet and greasy and the heat times were suddenly 2 to 3 seconds slower than they had been for the first eight heats. This seemed to suit Tomas Topinka who won heat 9 from Daniel King and Brent Werner for a 3-3. It also didn’t seem to bother Kevin Doolan and Troy Batchelor who scored a 1-5 in heat 10 after Edward Kennett had initially led the race. The Rye House express had well and truly hit the buffers as their lead on the night had been cut to 36-27, 70-86 on aggregate. Oliver Allen provided King’s Lynn’s third consecutive race winner in heat 10 when he beat Chris Neath and Steve Boxall for a shared heat and the Stars were all but home. In heat 12 Brent Werner won the race but Troy Batchelor took the second place the Stars needed to guarantee winning the trophy. Tommy Allen finished third after Jan Jaros had fallen in the first running of the heat and been excluded to score a 4-2. The score after 12 heats was 43-32, 77-91 on aggregate. With three heats left King’s Lynn only had to make sure they provided two more finishers mathematically to cater for any improbable disasters.

King’s Lynn celebrated in style with the Rockets now more of a damp squib on the wet track. Oliver Allen and Tomas Topinka took a 1-5 in heat 13 ahead of Chris Neath and Edward Kennett to cut the home side’s lead on the night to 7 points at 44-37. Then Kevin Doolan became King’s Lynn’s fifth race winner from six heats when he won heat 14 from Daniel King with Steve Boxall passing Jan Jaros on the line for a shared heat. To round matters off for the 2005 season Rye House took a consolation 4-2 in the last heat with Chris Neath the winner from Kevin Doolan, Daniel King and Troy Batchelor.

Congratulations again go to King’s Lynn for winning their second trophy of the season. Before the rain started Rye House won heats 1 to 8 by 32-19 but after that King’s Lynn were very much in charge winning heats 9-15 by 19-23.

Scorers: For Rye House – Chris Neath 13 (6), Daniel King 12+1 (6), Brent Werner 9+2 (5), Edward Kennett 8+1 (5), Tommy Allen 5 (4), Steve Boxall 4+3 (4), Luke Bowen DNR.

For King’s Lynn – Kevin Doolan 15 (5) including a 4 point TR, Tomas Topinka 9+1 (4) including a 2 point TR, Oliver Allen 9 (4), Troy Batchelor 5+2 (5), Jan Jaros 2+1 (5), Ashley Jones 2 (4), Benji Compton 0 (3).