Post by Merlin on Oct 26, 2006 21:01:19 GMT
Thursday, 26 October
The sole action tonight was at Sheffield where the Tigers brought their home season to a close by facing King’s Lynn in the final of the play offs to decide the winners of the Premier League.
Premier League Play Off Final, first leg: Sheffield 52, King’s Lynn 37 .
Sheffield had Tai Woffinden filling their problem number 6 spot while King’s Lynn were at full strength.
After a full campaign over most of the season for Premier League points, all that had gone before counted for nothing as the title of 2006 Premier League Champions boiled down to home and away matches on successive cold October evenings. Tonight’s first leg of the final saw Sheffield desperately looking for a sizeable lead on what looked a wet and rough track to take to the Norfolk Arena tomorrow night, a task which had been beyond them already this season. King’s Lynn, red hot favourites for the title and deservedly so, were hoping that they wouldn’t experience one of those dreadful nights most teams suffer from time to time.
Things were going well for Sheffield over the first half of the meeting which saw them build an eight point lead by heat 8 but two dreadful heats thereafter resulted in them falling behind in the match. It is to their credit that they rallied with four consecutive 5-1s in the last four heats to give King’s Lynn something to think about. The star of the show was without any doubt young Tai Woffinden who dropped only one point in five rides in such an important match.
Sheffield, off the inside gates, got off to a bright start with a 4-2 in the opening heat. In a race which was decided from the gate the riders finished in gate order from the inside. Ricky Ashworth led home Daniel Nermark with Ben Wilson third from Trevor Harding for a two point lead to the Tigers. It stayed that way in the reserves race as Chris Mills won from Tai Woffinden and Paul Cooper with John Oliver tailed off at the back for a 3-3. Heat 3 was shared too. Kyle Legault, off gate 1, won the race from King’s Lynn’s top pairing of Troy Batchelor and Kevin Doolan with Emiliano Sanchez at the back. In heat 4 King’s Lynn made a reserve switch with Chris Mills replacing John Oliver. You could have made a lot of money predicting the finishing order of this race correctly! Tai Woffinden led home Chris Mills in one of the fastest times of the meeting with Andre Compton on a slow looking bike in third place and Tomas Topinka suffering an engine failure on the third lap while in last place. The result was a 4-2 to the Tigers which meant that after the opening four races the score was 14-10.
In a cracking heat 5 King’s Lynn pulled two points back. Daniel Nermark won from Emiliano Sanchez with Trevor Harding third from Kyle Legault for a 2-4 to the Stars cutting the gap to two points and they consolidated their position when Tomas Topinka beat the Wilson/Ashworth pairing for a shared race in heat 6. Sheffield stretched their lead to four points again with a 4-2 in heat 7. Andre Compton won the race but it looked as though Doolan and Batchelor would share the race points until Troy Batchelor fell on the third lap while in third place gifting the odd point to Paul Cooper. Then in heat 8 Sheffield scored a 5-1 through Tai Woffinden and Ben Wilson who finished ahead of Trevor Harding as Chris Mills, who had replaced John Oliver, fell while lying second. Tai Woffinden’s time was even faster than his winning time in heat 4 and was the fastest of the meeting. The score after eight races now stood at 28-20.
Heat 9 was an absolute disaster for Sheffield! In the first running of the race Emiliano Sanchez joined the list of fallers when he came to grief on the third bend. He was excluded from the rerun in which Tomas Topinka was leading Kyle Legault for a 2-4 when Legault suffered an engine failure on the last bend of the third lap. Perhaps unaware of what lap he was on Legault did not push round for the third place point so the Tigers surrendered a 0-5 with John Oliver, who had replaced Chris Mills, picking up an unexpected paid win behind Topinka. This cut the home side’s lead to just three points. The battle of the top pairings took place in heat 10 and it turned out to be another disaster for the home side as Troy Batchelor and Kevin Doolan raced home ahead of Ben Wilson and Ricky Ashworth for a 1-5 which completely wiped out Sheffield’s lead and put the Stars one point ahead in the match at 29-30. Andre Compton stopped the rot by winning heat 11 but Daniel Nermark and Trevor Harding kept Paul Cooper at the back for a share of the points. Then came the Sheffield fight back starting in heat 12 with another 5-1. Inspired again by young reserve and top scorer Tai Woffinden, they hit home a maximum with Woffinden, scoring his third consecutive win, and Emiliano Sanchez relegating Troy Batchelor and Chris Mills to the back. This restored the Tigers’ three point lead with the score after twelve races reading 37-34.
To have any chance at all in the second leg tomorrow night, Sheffield needed to finish with three big scoring heats. They got one in heat 13! Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth saw off Daniel Nermark and Tomas Topinka for a 5-1 which stretched the home side’s lead to seven points. In heat 14 it was no surprise when Tai Woffinden replaced Paul Cooper and what a result that produced. Tai Woffinden scored his fourth consecutive win leading home his partner, Kyle Legault, ahead of Kevin Doolan and John Oliver, for another 5-1 to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 11 points with just one race to go. Could Sheffield finish the match with four consecutive 5-1s? The answer was ‘yes’! It was the ‘old firm’ of Ricky Ashworth and Andre Compton who were nominated by Sheffield while King’s Lynn fielded Daniel Nermark and Kevin Doolan in heat 15. Significantly Sheffield won the toss for gate positions and went from gates 1 and 3. Ashworth and Compton again banged home a maximum with Daniel Nermark third to give Sheffield a 15 point lead which had hardly looked possible when they trailed by a point after heat 11.
King’s Lynn will be shell-shocked at the results of the last four heats although the clever money will still be on them to pull back the 15 points tomorrow night and win on aggregate. However it gives them a lot less leeway to cope with any bad luck but will no doubt do wonders for the gate receipts at Saddlebow Road tomorrow as Sheffield fans will be wondering whether they might just pull it off.
Scorers: For Sheffield – Tai Woffinden 14 (5), Andre Compton 12 (5), Ricky Ashworth 9+2 (5), Ben Wilson 6+1 (4), Kyle Legault 5+1 (4), Emiliano Sanchez 4+1 (4), Paul Cooper 2+1 (3).
For King’s Lynn – Daniel Nermark 9 (5), Kevin Doolan 6+2 (5), Tomas Topinka 6 (4), Troy Batchelor 6 (4), Chris Mills 5 (4), Trevor Harding 3+1 (4), John Oliver 2+1 (4).
The sole action tonight was at Sheffield where the Tigers brought their home season to a close by facing King’s Lynn in the final of the play offs to decide the winners of the Premier League.
Premier League Play Off Final, first leg: Sheffield 52, King’s Lynn 37 .
Sheffield had Tai Woffinden filling their problem number 6 spot while King’s Lynn were at full strength.
After a full campaign over most of the season for Premier League points, all that had gone before counted for nothing as the title of 2006 Premier League Champions boiled down to home and away matches on successive cold October evenings. Tonight’s first leg of the final saw Sheffield desperately looking for a sizeable lead on what looked a wet and rough track to take to the Norfolk Arena tomorrow night, a task which had been beyond them already this season. King’s Lynn, red hot favourites for the title and deservedly so, were hoping that they wouldn’t experience one of those dreadful nights most teams suffer from time to time.
Things were going well for Sheffield over the first half of the meeting which saw them build an eight point lead by heat 8 but two dreadful heats thereafter resulted in them falling behind in the match. It is to their credit that they rallied with four consecutive 5-1s in the last four heats to give King’s Lynn something to think about. The star of the show was without any doubt young Tai Woffinden who dropped only one point in five rides in such an important match.
Sheffield, off the inside gates, got off to a bright start with a 4-2 in the opening heat. In a race which was decided from the gate the riders finished in gate order from the inside. Ricky Ashworth led home Daniel Nermark with Ben Wilson third from Trevor Harding for a two point lead to the Tigers. It stayed that way in the reserves race as Chris Mills won from Tai Woffinden and Paul Cooper with John Oliver tailed off at the back for a 3-3. Heat 3 was shared too. Kyle Legault, off gate 1, won the race from King’s Lynn’s top pairing of Troy Batchelor and Kevin Doolan with Emiliano Sanchez at the back. In heat 4 King’s Lynn made a reserve switch with Chris Mills replacing John Oliver. You could have made a lot of money predicting the finishing order of this race correctly! Tai Woffinden led home Chris Mills in one of the fastest times of the meeting with Andre Compton on a slow looking bike in third place and Tomas Topinka suffering an engine failure on the third lap while in last place. The result was a 4-2 to the Tigers which meant that after the opening four races the score was 14-10.
In a cracking heat 5 King’s Lynn pulled two points back. Daniel Nermark won from Emiliano Sanchez with Trevor Harding third from Kyle Legault for a 2-4 to the Stars cutting the gap to two points and they consolidated their position when Tomas Topinka beat the Wilson/Ashworth pairing for a shared race in heat 6. Sheffield stretched their lead to four points again with a 4-2 in heat 7. Andre Compton won the race but it looked as though Doolan and Batchelor would share the race points until Troy Batchelor fell on the third lap while in third place gifting the odd point to Paul Cooper. Then in heat 8 Sheffield scored a 5-1 through Tai Woffinden and Ben Wilson who finished ahead of Trevor Harding as Chris Mills, who had replaced John Oliver, fell while lying second. Tai Woffinden’s time was even faster than his winning time in heat 4 and was the fastest of the meeting. The score after eight races now stood at 28-20.
Heat 9 was an absolute disaster for Sheffield! In the first running of the race Emiliano Sanchez joined the list of fallers when he came to grief on the third bend. He was excluded from the rerun in which Tomas Topinka was leading Kyle Legault for a 2-4 when Legault suffered an engine failure on the last bend of the third lap. Perhaps unaware of what lap he was on Legault did not push round for the third place point so the Tigers surrendered a 0-5 with John Oliver, who had replaced Chris Mills, picking up an unexpected paid win behind Topinka. This cut the home side’s lead to just three points. The battle of the top pairings took place in heat 10 and it turned out to be another disaster for the home side as Troy Batchelor and Kevin Doolan raced home ahead of Ben Wilson and Ricky Ashworth for a 1-5 which completely wiped out Sheffield’s lead and put the Stars one point ahead in the match at 29-30. Andre Compton stopped the rot by winning heat 11 but Daniel Nermark and Trevor Harding kept Paul Cooper at the back for a share of the points. Then came the Sheffield fight back starting in heat 12 with another 5-1. Inspired again by young reserve and top scorer Tai Woffinden, they hit home a maximum with Woffinden, scoring his third consecutive win, and Emiliano Sanchez relegating Troy Batchelor and Chris Mills to the back. This restored the Tigers’ three point lead with the score after twelve races reading 37-34.
To have any chance at all in the second leg tomorrow night, Sheffield needed to finish with three big scoring heats. They got one in heat 13! Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth saw off Daniel Nermark and Tomas Topinka for a 5-1 which stretched the home side’s lead to seven points. In heat 14 it was no surprise when Tai Woffinden replaced Paul Cooper and what a result that produced. Tai Woffinden scored his fourth consecutive win leading home his partner, Kyle Legault, ahead of Kevin Doolan and John Oliver, for another 5-1 to stretch the Tigers’ lead to 11 points with just one race to go. Could Sheffield finish the match with four consecutive 5-1s? The answer was ‘yes’! It was the ‘old firm’ of Ricky Ashworth and Andre Compton who were nominated by Sheffield while King’s Lynn fielded Daniel Nermark and Kevin Doolan in heat 15. Significantly Sheffield won the toss for gate positions and went from gates 1 and 3. Ashworth and Compton again banged home a maximum with Daniel Nermark third to give Sheffield a 15 point lead which had hardly looked possible when they trailed by a point after heat 11.
King’s Lynn will be shell-shocked at the results of the last four heats although the clever money will still be on them to pull back the 15 points tomorrow night and win on aggregate. However it gives them a lot less leeway to cope with any bad luck but will no doubt do wonders for the gate receipts at Saddlebow Road tomorrow as Sheffield fans will be wondering whether they might just pull it off.
Scorers: For Sheffield – Tai Woffinden 14 (5), Andre Compton 12 (5), Ricky Ashworth 9+2 (5), Ben Wilson 6+1 (4), Kyle Legault 5+1 (4), Emiliano Sanchez 4+1 (4), Paul Cooper 2+1 (3).
For King’s Lynn – Daniel Nermark 9 (5), Kevin Doolan 6+2 (5), Tomas Topinka 6 (4), Troy Batchelor 6 (4), Chris Mills 5 (4), Trevor Harding 3+1 (4), John Oliver 2+1 (4).
