Sheffield Speedway Match Reports 2006

Key:   + = from 15m handicap,  * = Tactical ride for double points,  ! = Tactical substitution from 15m
Newcastle 'Diamonds' v. Sheffield PIRTEK 'Tigers' Premier League 3rd September

Referee: Paul Ackroyd

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 Tot+Bp
1. George Stancl 8.09 2 3 ef 1 6
2. Manuel Hauzinger r/r 4.47 - - - - (6)
3. Christian Henry 6.85 3 1' 3 2' 3 1 13+2
4. Josef Franc 7.37 2' 2 3 3 0 10+1
5. James Grieves © 7.61 3 2 0 2 7
6. Adam McKinna (C) 1 0 1' 1 7+1
7. Jamie Robertson (A) 0 3 1 2' 2 0 0 8+1
George English 2 4 5 3 3 4 3 5 5 2 1 3 3 3 1
Newcastle 'Diamonds' 2 6 11 14 17 21 24 29 34 36 37 40 43 46 47 79
PIRTEK 'Tigers' 4 6 7 10 13 15 18 19 20 24 32 35 38 41 46 106
 Reg Wilson 4 2 1 3 3 2 3 1 1 4 8 3 3 3 5
1. Ricky Ashworth © 7.45 3 3 *6 3 3 18
2. Ben Wilson 6.96

1

0 1 2' 2 6+1
3. Kyle Legault r/r 6.42 - - - - (3)
4. Emiliano Sanchez 7.04 1 3 3 2 9
5. Mark Lemon (g) 9.64 2 2 *1 +0 2' 7+1
6. David Speight (?) 0 1' - 0 0 - 1+1
7. Paul Cooper (B) 2 0 - 0 0 1 1' 1' 5+2
Track record: 62.1
K. Bjerre, 20 July 2003
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

63.9

65.9

64.8

65.4

64.3

64.5

65.9

66.2

65.9

66.1

65.0

65.6

65.2

65.1

65.2

The Diamonds were without Manuel Hauzinger and utilized rider replacement, as did the Tigers for Kyle Legault who was riding in his national championship meeting in Canada. The Tigers also tracked Mark Lemon as a guest in place of the injured André Compton, and David Speight deputized for Benji Compton at very short notice. Newcastle had a mountain to climb to pull back the 28 points by which they lost at Sheffield in their quest for the bonus point. As it happened after racing into a 14 point lead they had a struggle on their hands to finish ahead of the Tigers.

Sheffield got off to a good start when Ricky Ashworth won the opening heat form George Stancl. Ben Wilson’s third place gave the Tigers an opening 2-4 but it was all square again when Newcastle scored a 4-2 in the reserves race won by Jamie Robertson from Paul Cooper. Christian Henry and Josef Franc then took a 5-1 to put the Diamonds in front. James Grieves won heat 4 from Mark Lemon but David Speight took third place to share the heat bringing the score to 14-10.

Ricky Ashworth won again in heat 5 from Josef Franc and Christian Henry for another shared race but in heat 6 Newcastle pulled further away with a 4-2 from George Stancl and Jamie Robertson with Mark Lemon the meat in the sandwich. The lead stayed at six points after heat 7 was won by Emiliano Sanchez from James Grieves with Adam McKinna gaining revenge ahead of David Speight for third place. The Diamonds pulled away decisively in heat 8 when Henry and Robertson scored a 5-1 at the expense of Ben Wilson taking the score to 29-19.

Master tactician Reg Wilson nominates Mark Lemon for a tactical ride in heat 9 but this was a dismal failure as Josef Franc and Christian Henry scored another 5-1 to extend the Diamonds lead to a comfortable 14 points. However any complacency was knocked out of the Diamonds as the Tigers clawed 9 points back over the next two heats. George Stancl's engine failure while leading heat 10 gifted the win to Emiliano and a point to Paul, and the Tigers then gave Ricky a tactical ride in heat 11. Ricky took the win with Ben passing McKinna on the last bend for second place and a big 1-8 cutting the Diamonds lead back to just 5 points. It stayed that way after a shared heat 12, Christian Henry winning but Ben and Paul finished behind him for a 3-3 taking the score to 40-35.

In heat 13 Mark Lemon was penalized under the two minute rule and had to go from 15 metres back but Ricky was unstoppable passing both Stancl and Grieves to win the heat, his fourth consecutive victory. In heat 14 Josef Franc clinched the match for the Diamonds by winning from Sanchez and Cooper and it is just as well that he did because in the last race Ricky and Mark took a maximum win which reduced the Diamonds winning margin to a single point!

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