Around the Premier League Tracks 2009

[Merlin]

Wednesday, 14 October



Premier League Play Offs, semi-final, second leg:..... King's Lynn 55, Birmingham 35 King's Lynn won on aggregate by 102-78.


Team changes: King's Lynn were without Kozza Smith and Tomas Topinka. They had Chris Kerr as a guest at number 2 for Smith and used Rider Replacement (R/R) at number 5 for Topinka. In addition they nominated Adam Lowe as their number 8. Birmingham were without Tomasz Piszcz and had Cory Gathercole as a guest instead at number 1.

With a four point lead from the first leg Birmingham were at long odds to qualify for the final by winning at the Norfolk Arena. They got off to a good start though and had wiped out their aggregate deficit after the first four races. Jason Lyons then fell in heat 6 and withdrew from the meeting and the Stars cashed in to build up a double figure lead before Birmingham used tactical rides in consecutive races. However with both riders entrusted with the black and white cover, Ludvig Lindgren and Cory Gathercole, also falling what little chance they had disappeared without trace.

Heat 1 wasn't in the script. Rusty Harrison and Cory Gathercole made the gate for the Brummies but Chris Kerr passed Gathercole on the first lap and gave chase to Harrison. Harrison held on to win the race while Darcy Ward after a slow start retired on the second lap with engine problems. This gave the visitors a 2-4 advantage but a routine 5-1 for Jan Graversen and Linus Eklof in heat 2 reversed the two point lead. Chris Schramm led heat three from the tapes folowed by the two Brummies, Richard Sweetman and Ludvig Lindgren. Sweetman passed Schramm on the first lap then Lindgren followed him through on the second lap and the Stars conceded a 1-5 which reversed the lead once more with Birmingham two in front again. Jason Lyons won heat 4 while Chris Kerr (R/R) fell and remounted. Jan Graversen held on to a pressing Lee Smart for third and Birmingham scored a 2-4 which took the score to 10-14 and tied the aggregate score at 57-57.

King's Lynn hit back with a 5-1 in heat 5 to level the match when Schramm and Sanchez gated to lead Gathercole home but heat 6 looked promising for the Brummies when Jason Lyons led Chris Kerr and Jay Herne had passed Darcy Ward to settle in third but it all went wrong for the visitors. Kerr passed Lyons on the third bend then Lyons picked up grip and crashed on the fourth bend causing the race to be stopped and rerun without him. King's Lynn took full advantage of the second chance as Chris Kerr had a tapes to flag victory while Darcy Ward passed passed Jay Herne on the last lap for second and a second consecutive 5-1. Chris Schramm gated to win heat 7 but had a job on his hands holding off challenges from Sweetman then Lindgren. Linus Eklof finished at the back so the race was shared. The Stars moved six points in front in heat 8 as Chris Kerr won narrowly from Rusty Harrison who passed Graversen on the last bend with Smart in third. The 4-2 took the score to 27-21 with the aggregate standing at 74-64.

When Lee Smart replaced Jason Lyons in heat 9 and Sanchez and Schramm added a 5-1 to the King's Lynn total taking the lead on the night to 10 points, the tie looked out of the Brummies' reach especially when it transpired that Lyons had been withdrawn from the meeting. Now ten points in arrears it was tactical time for Birmingham but the two tactical rides they had in the two following heats were absolute disasters. First up was Ludvig Lindgren with the black and white helmet cover in heat 10 but he fell while leading the race with Sweetman in second. Chris Kerr passed Sweetman to win the race with Darcy Ward in third giving the Stars a 4-2. Next up in the black and white helmet cover was Cory Gathercole in heat 11 but he suffered the same fate as Lindgren falling on the third lap although he was back in third at the time. Sanchez won from Harrison and Eklof for another 4-2 then Sanchez won heat 12 from Herne and Lindgren for a 3-3 so the score now stood at 40-26 on the night, 87-69 on aggregate. This meant that King's Lynn could not now be caught.

Jan Graversen won heat 13 from Herne and Eklof with Gathercole at the back for another 4-2 then Richard Sweetman gated to win heat 14 from Schramm and Eklof with Lee Smart falling at the back. Finally the Stars finished off with a 5-1 from Chris Schramm and Chris Kerr ahead of Ludvig Lindgren and Richard Sweetman for a 24 point aggregate win which means that they will now face Edinburgh in the final.


Scorers: King's Lynn – Chris Schramm 14+1 (6), Chris Kerr 13+1 (6), Emiliano Sanchez 11+1 (5), Jan Graversen 9 (5), Linus Eklof 5+2 (5), Darcy Ward 3+1 (3).

Birmingham – Richard Sweetman 9+1 (5), Rusty Harrison 7 (4), Ludvig Lindgren 6+2 (5), Jay Herne 6 (5), Jason Lyons 3 (2), Cory Gathercole 2 (4), Lee Smart 2 (5).

[Merlin]

Tuesday, 20 October



Premier League Play Offs, final, second leg:..... King's Lynn 47, Edinburgh 41 Edinburgh won on aggregate by 97-83.


Team changes: King's Lynn were missing three riders: Kozza Smith, Darcy Ward and Tomas Topinka. They had Ulrich Ostergaard at number 1 in place of Ward, Ty Proctor at number 5 in place of Topinka and used Rider Replacement for Smith at number 2. They also nominated Adam Lowe as their number 8. Edinburgh were at full strength.

The second leg of the final seemed to be delicately poised after Edinburgh built up a 20 point lead from the first leg. Having lost by the same margin in the Premier Trophy final second leg by the same margin it looked as though this might go the full distance. It didn't though; Edinburgh qualified on aggregate with a bit to spare having the tie wrapped up after heat 11. It must be a long time since King's Lynn provided only five race winners to the opposition's ten round the Norfolk Arena.

As a result of this match Edinburgh progress to the Promotion/Relegation Play Off against Belle Vue with the first leg at Armadale on Saturday night and the second leg at Kirkmanshulme Lane on Monday next.

Ryan Fisher won the opening race from Jan Graversen and Ulrich Ostergaard for a shared heat but King's Lynn fans got a real shock when Edinburgh's new reserve, Kalle Katajisto, passed both Linus Eklof (on the fourth bend) then Jan Graversen (at the start of lap 2) to win the reserves race by the proverbial mile with Aaron Summers trailing in last. The Stars took the lead in heat 3 with Emiliano Sanchez and Chris Schramm teaming up to head home Andrew Tully and Matthew Wethers for 5-1 and four point lead cutting their arrears to 16 points but Edinburgh hit back in heat 4 with a 2-4. Kevin Woelbert gated to win the race comfortably while Kalle Katajisto had another splendid ride holding off Ty Proctor for third place. This took the score to 13-11 (49-67 on aggregate).

Ryan Fisher and Michal Rajkowski gated to lead heat 5 but, although both Schramm and Sanchez passed Rajkowski on the first lap, neither got near enough to challenge Fisher so the race was shared. Kevin Woelbert made it five race winners for the Monarchs in six races by winning heat 6 from Ostergaard and Eklof but, with Summers at the back again, it was only good enough for a 3-3. Ty Proctor got over his first race blob by winning heat 7 from Matthew Wethers while Linus Eklof passed Andrew Tully at the start of the second lap for a 4-2 to the Stars doubling their lead to four points. Heat 8 was a bad one for both sides! Firstly Emiliano Sanchez fell on the first bend and was excluded from the rerun. A second rerun was needed after an unsatisfactory start but at the next attempt it looked as though Edinburgh were going to level the scores as Rajkowski and Katajisto led Graversen for a 1-5 until the last bend when Rajkowski lifted and crashed heavily into the fence injuring his ankle and causing him to withdraw from the meeting. With Katajisto winning the race the result was a 2-3 to the Monarchs which took ther score to 25-22 (58-81 on aggregate).

After the interval and much track grading Aaron Summers finally broke his duck by powering away from the start of heat 9 to win comfortably. Schramm and Sanchez followed him home with Woelbert finishing at the back after a poor start. The result was a shared race and there was another in heat 10 as Ulrich Ostergaard and Linus Eklof made the gate only for Andrew Tully to pass Eklof at the end of the first lap and Matthew Wethers to do likewise on the last lap. Heat 11 had two races. The one for first was a titanic struggle between Ryan Fisher and Ty Proctor with the latter getting up to win on the line. The other was for third as Kalle Katajisto chased and passed Jan Graversen before the King's Lynn reserve's bike failed. This meant that this race was shared too and King's Lynn were rapidly running out of races to close the gap. They didn't gain anything from heat 12 as Edinburgh looked set for a 2-4 with Aaron Summers leading Linus Eklof with Andrew Tully in third ahead of Emiliano Sanchez but Summers suffered an engine failure on the third lap. Eklof had to take avoiding action and Tully nipped past to win the race for another shared race which took the score to 37-34 (73-90 on aggregate).

Heat 13 had to be rerun as Edinburgh sat on a 1-5. On the second lap Ty Proctor tried an outside drive round Ryan Fisher and fell so he was excluded. In the rerun Ryan Fisher took Ulrich Ostergaard wide on the opening bends – too wide for the referee who stopped the race and excluded Fisher. In the two man rerun Woelbert won unchallenged for a 2-3. King's Lynn took a 5-1 in heat 14 with Schramm and Eklof winning from Katajisto who threw everything at Eklof unsuccessfully. This meant that the Stars unbeaten home record was safe as they went into heat 15 leading by six points on the night. Kevin Woelbert won the last race from Schramm and Ostergaard with Tully at the rear so the Stars couldn't improve on their six point lead.


Scorers: King's Lynn – Chris Schramm 11+1 (5), Ulrich Ostergaard 9+2 (5), Jan Graversen 8 (5), Linus Eklof 7+3 (6), Emiliano Sanchez 6+3 (5), Ty Proctor 6 (4).

Edinburgh – Kevin Woelbert 12 (5), Kalle Katajisto 9+1 (5), Ryan Fisher 8 (4), Andrew Tully 6 (5), Matthew Wethers 3+1 (4), Aaron Summers 3 (4), Michal Rajkowski 0 (3).

[Merlin]

Sorry I never quite finished this thread but fatigue took its toll. The last week of the season saw a long drive down to Manchester to see the Monarchs hammered on a dreadful track on the Monday. Then came a long drive back home on Tuesday to feed the cat followed by an even longer drive to King's Lynn on the Wednesday to witness another heavy defeat and loss of the KO Cup to the Stars (not that we actually had it to lose of course).

Thursday meant another long drive home and Friday a visit to a sodden Armadale for the return match against Belle Vue and the biggest home hammering in Edinburgh's history (I mean Ulrich Ostergaard at reserve for the Aces! - you've got to be having a laugh) Saturday was the date of the annual dinner and dance which was a late finish and Sunday was wash day and catch up day for the other things I should have done. Monday was bike washing day for Kalle Katajisto (jeez can that boy make a mess?). Then Tuesday meant a six o' clock rise to get Kalle to Edinburgh Airport for his flight home and a good greet at the state of the house when I got home.

Thank goodness the season's over. See you all next year!