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MATCH REPORTS
Week Commencing 8 April 2012 TIMMS RETAINS ELLIS MEMORIAL - posted 9 April 2012 We hope to have a detailed report soon. Christine Ellis Memorial Individual 2012
The Leicester racer, who only took up the sport three years ago, was streets ahead of the opposition, splattering her closest rivals, Sandra Tamborska and Vicky Brown, with shale when the big three met in a winner-takes-all showdown. Looking super-fit so early in the season, Tamborska really impressed while Brown delivered another typically honest performance. Lauren Hookway also rode well. Had she not tangled with another rider on the first turn in one of ther races, she may well have finished on the podium. Laura Watson also enjoyed a good meeting. National women's champion, Livvy Horsley, won her first and last race but appeared to be struggling with early season fitness, returning a disappointing 13 points. Organiser Roger Ellis was full of admiration for the gutsy women racers who braved terrible weather conditions on a rain-sodden track. "Considering the conditions, they were magnificent" said Ellis. "Can I also record my thanks to Steve Mullinder from Dash Trophies to sponsorng the meeting and providing some excellent trophies."
IPSWICH MADE OF STERNER STUFF - posted 9 April 2012 Ipswich started their second season in top flight racing with a daunting task at last year's runners-up Leicester Monarchs. In an emotional afternoon, both teams gave the good size crowd plenty to talk Leicester were hot favourites and started the match in top form. After a shared heat in the first, they reeled off in the next three heats 7-3, 6-3, 7-3 and suddenly the writing was on the wall for the Suffolk outfit. Last season they would have fell apart under this intense pressure but with new signings Ian and Lee Grange and Leigh Cossey, they are made of sterner stuff. They steadied the ship in the next two heats with heat five being shared and then took a one point advantage in heat six, meaning they trailed by ten. The match really came to life when in heat seven after Ashford was excluded for moving "Under Orders", the unthinkable happened. 16-year-old Lewis Roberts took gate one for the second time with current However their joy was to be short-lived when in the very next heat Jamie Chittock was unlucky to lose his front wheel resulting in him not only going down but also bringing down Craig Marchant. In the re-run, Marchant/Stephenson completed a 7-2 of their own over Brooke. Ipswich came fighting back in heat nine when captain Williamson replaced Mower to partner Ian Grange to face Peck/Jarvis. Leicester suffered another exclusion when Jarvis was adjudged to come across Grange. The re-run saw Ipswich claim a 7-2 to go into the interval five points adrift 45-40. Leicester started the second half with a 6-4. Heat ten saw Ipswich claw a point back 5-4 before heats twelve and thirteen were shared. Heat fourteen again saw Ipswich just get one point from another Leicester exclusion 5-4 advantage to close the lead to just five points. Heat fifteen went the way of the Suffolk side with Williamson/Cossey seeing off Burns/Marchant 6-4 and only three points separated the teams but Leicester held their nerve and called on all that experience over the years to win heats sixteen 6-4 through Ashford/Peck. More crucially heat seventeen 7-3 with top scorer Adam Stephenson and Lukasz Nowacki securing the two points for the home team though Ipswich managed to win heat eighteen 6-4, leaving the final score Leicester 90 Ipswich 83. Ipswich can be pleased with their overall performance and take Opening day fixture for Ipswich young Eagles in their Combination fixture, saw them travel to face current champions Leicester. Leicester fielded a team comprising of experience and youth and a much older side than their opponents with the likes of Nicky Whitehead, Doughty, Hartshorn and Joe Kemp supported by Lauren and Liam Davies. Ipswich only had two riders over the age of sixteen, captain Jordan Stant and Lauren Jacobs. They also gave debuts to Fraser Harris and Ipswich won the toss and took the inside grids in heat one and Leicester, like the champions they are, hit back with an 7-3 with Whitehead/Joe Kemp to put the home side in front for the first time in the match 60-59. Heat thirteen saw Hill off one and team mate Rumbold in three. Leicester lined up with Doughty/Kemp. After a restart, Hill flew out of grid one but the action happened on the first bend with Rumbold holding Kemp who slipped, allowing the Ipswich rider to chase down Doughty and secure a 6-4 final heat win to give the Horspath Hammers defeated Wednesfield Aces in what was an exciting Elite curtain raiser. As usual for their first home meeting, the Hammers had to come from behind. An exclusion to Mark Boaler saw an Lee Aris/Scott Doherty 6-3 and a four point lead in the sixth. Shaun Rudman took an interesting seventh with Lewis Bates making a 6-4 halving the lead. A drawn heat eight with Ben Mould tapes to flag win. Scott Doherty had a gate exclusion in the ninth Shaun Rudman/Mateusz Szymczak collecting a 7-2 and a three point Hammers lead at the half.
Lee Aris took a drawn tenth under heavy Boaler pressure. Steve Harris/Lewis Osborne rammed a 6-4 to increase Horspath's lead in the eleventh. Another Lee Aris win in a drawn twelfth with Mark Boaler/Matuesz Szymczak taking a 6-4 in the thirteenth. Lewis Osborne's exclusion bought a Gavin Wheeler/Jack Hibbard 6-3 in the re-run fourteen which saw Horspath's lead cut to four. Steve Harris/Chris Osborne replied with a Hammers 6-4 in the fifteenth. Mateusz Szymczak executed a high speed pass on Lee Aris bringing through Lewis Bates for a vital drawn sixteenth, Ben Mould winning. Then Horspath did what they do, draw the last two heats to close the match, Mark Griffiths taking the flag in race 17 and Mark Boaler the final heat.
Horspath 91 SHEFFIELD 'S SUPERB TEAM PERFORMANCE - posted 8 April 2012 A superb team performance from Sheffield secured the points in this hard fought match. Poole arrived armed to the teeth with Polish stars The meeting started off with a shared heat thanks to a good win by Matt Smith over Greg Cluchowski, then up stepped Andy Angell who executed a superb inside pass on Paradzinski and the resulting 6-4 to Sheffield really set the ball rolling. Radek Handke and new signing Pawel Idziorek then put sevn past Reed and Hearn and Sheffield never surrendered their lead. Handke was in scintillating form as he recorded a paid maximum and Idziorek soon found his feet and returned a solid 15. Young Sheffield rider Aiden Owen was always in the thick of the action and proved he is ready for the Elite League with some inspired riding. He was not put off even after a heavy spill courtesy of Paradzinski leg which resulted in an exclusion for the Polish star. The interval arrived with Sheffield nine points up and although Poole rallied in the second half of the meeting taking a good 7-2 in heat 11, they never really looked like they would trouble a Stars side who were Sheffield finished off in style with Handke and Angell recording a heat 18 maximum. New boy Dan Chambers soon showed a liking for the Sheffield track and Ryan Hoyland and Lee Smith were always on hand when needed. An exciting match from start to finish played out in front of a good sized Sheffield 94 POOLE NOSE INFRONT IN COMBINATION - posted 8 April 2012 The Combination match was just as exciting with Poole just keeping their noses in front. Adam Watson put in some superb gates and Kyle Holland showed what a top rider he is maturing into. Again it was very much a team effort from all the Sheffield riders. We had big crashes, great passes and a little bit of controversy but in the end a really good cycle speedway match. Poole riders Will Bristow, Luke Armes and Ben Donahue were the big points scorers, however their younger team mates all shared the burden and surely will be pleased with their efforts. Sheffield 62 LEICESTER MAKE HARD WORK OF IT - posted 8 April 2012 The Leicester v Ipswich Elite League match was a highly entertaining encounter full of good racing and incidents. The Monarchs opened up and early lead of eleven points thanks to maximum heat wins from Marchant/Stephenson and Nowacki/Jarvis. Proceedings then started to go awry with exclusions for Pike in heat seven and Ashford in the next, allowing Ipswich to close the gap to just five points, the highly impressive Lewis Roberts and Leigh Cossey achieving the almost unheard of task of keeping world champ Nowacki back in third place. After the interval Leicester consolidated but certainly didnt have things all their own way, the Ipswich riders being prepared to fight to the wire. Fittingly paid maximum man Stephenson wrapped it up in the penultimate heat taking a good 7-3 with partner Nowacki over Mower and Cossey. Ipswich can look at their young guns Lewis Roberts and Jamie Chittock with some pride, but top man was a rejuvenated Richard Williamson who made full use of his extra reserve rides to top score. Leicester never looked like losing but made hard work of it. Jarvis only managed to finish two races and Marchant, Pike and Ashford all suffered their own exclusions. On the plus side The Humber Hurricane Adam Stephenson was flying and Nowacki and Peck both looked sharp. The meeting was preceded by a minutes silence for Wil Burns. Leicester 90 HILL MAXIMUM - posted 8 April 2012 A close Combination match followed with Ipswich netting a vital 6-4 in the final heat after Joe Kemp suffered a first bend fall. Matt Hill was in superb form for the visitors collecting a 20 point maximum. Leicester 64 |
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