Sheffield Speedway Match Reports 2006

Sheffield were at full strength for this match with Benji Compton at number 7 but Glasgow were missing Danny Bird who had a throat infection and were forced to use rider replacement. Defending a 5 point lead in the contest for the bonus point Danny Bird’s absence was a serious blow to their chances. Giving their big guns the first two rider replacement rides, Glasgow were vulnerable later in the match and ultimately ran out of steam at a crucial period of the match as Sheffield took all three points comfortably.

In the opening heat Shane Parker took the rider replacement ride and finished second to Ricky Ashworth with Ben Wilson taking the third place point for an opening 4-2 to Sheffield. Paul Cooper won the reserves race for a shared heat but Legault and Sanchez landed a 5-1 for the home side ahead of Nieminen to open up a six point lead in heat 3. Andre Compton then beat Shane Parker in heat 4 but, with James Cockle again consigning Benji Compton to the back, the race was shared so the score after the opening four races was 15-9.

Kauko Nieminen took the rider replacement ride in heat 5 to face the same pairing he raced in heat 3 but the result was the same – a 5-1 to Sheffield which stretched their lead to ten points. Then it was Shane Parker’s turn to face the same pairing he faced in heat 1. This time he won the race from Ashworth and Wilson for a 3-3. Andre Compton won again in heat 7 from Kauko Nieminen and Paul Cooper’s third place at the expense of Lee Dicken gave the home side a 4-2 which increased their lead to 12 points. Ben Wilson won heat eight for a share of the points as Cockle and McAllan ensured that Benji Compton had a third pointless ride. This took the score to 30-18 with Sheffield already seven points ahead on aggregate.

In heat 9 Shane Parker took a tactical ride facing the unbeaten Sanchez/Legault pairing. They weren’t unbeaten after this race however as Parker won for the full six points. Even better for Glasgow, Robert Ksiezak took third place ahead of Emiliano Sanchez so the visitors won the race 2-7 to cut the gap to seven points bringing them back into contention particularly for the bonus point for which they trailed on aggregate by only two points. However Ricky Ashworth won heat 10 from Kauko Nieminen with Ben Wilson third and a 4-2 which stretched the lead to nine points again. With no Parker nor Nieminen out in heats 11 and 12 Glasgow had to produce something from these two heats if they were to have any hope of salvaging anything from the match. It didn’t happen. Heat 11 saw Robert Ksiezak take the rider replacement ride but Sheffield took a 5-1 as Paul Cooper followed Andre Compton home putting the home side 13 points ahead. Emiliano Sanchez and Paul Cooper repeated the dose in heat 12 ahead of the Glasgow reserves and the 5-1 took the score to 46-29 effectively ending Glasgow’s hopes.

Lee Dicken took the rider replacement ride in heat 13 but Sheffield made it a hat trick of 5-1s when Andre Compton and Ricky Ashworth saw off Shane Parker. It had been clear for some time that Glasgow were ‘saving’ Kauko Nieminen’s tactical ride until heat 14 and sure enough out he came wearing the monochromatic tea cosy. He rose to the occasion by winning the race from Cooper and Legault for a 3-6 but it was all a bit late. In the last race Andre Compton completed his five ride maximum by beating Nieminen and Parker.

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