| SHEFFIELD SPEEDWAY MATCH REPORTS 2008 | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scunthorpe 'Scorpions' v SHEFFIELD WINDOW CENTRE 'Tigers' | Knock Out Cup | 11 April | |||||||||||||||
|
Ref: Paul Carrington |
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Tot+Bp | |
| 1. Magnus Karlsson | 7.24 | 1' | 0 | 0 | ef | 1+1 | |||||||||||
| 2. Carl Wilkinson | 6.16 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2' | 11+1 | ||||||||||
| 3. Andy Moore | 7.80 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 4. Viktor Bergstrom | 7.00 | 1' | 0 | 1 | - | 2+1 | |||||||||||
| 5. Richard Hall © | 7.12 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | *4 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 6. Byron Bekker |
3.00 |
3 | 1' | 0 | 1' | 5+2 | |||||||||||
| 7. Benji Compton | 3.00 | 1 | r | 0 | fx | 1 | |||||||||||
| John Adams | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 5 | ||
| 'Scorpions'' | 3 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 15 | 17 | 20 | 23 | 27 | 29 | 30 | 33 | 34 | 39 | 44 | 80 | |
| 'Tigers' | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 19 | 22 | 25 | 27 | 31 | 36 | 39 | 44 | 47 | 48 | 103 | |
| Eric Boocock | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 1. Ricky Ashworth | 7.65 | r | 1' | 2' | 3 | 6+2 | |||||||||||
| 2. Joel Parsons | 5.96 | 3 | 2 | 1' | 3 | 1 | 10+1 | ||||||||||
| 3. André Compton © | 9.79 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |||||||||||
| 4. Paul Cooper | 5.05 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | |||||||||||
| 5. Ben Wilson | 6.71 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2' | f | 10+1 | ||||||||||
| 6. Sam Martin | 3.00 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1' | 4+1 | |||||||||||
| 7. Lee Smethills | 3.30 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |||||||||||
|
Track record: 56.92 T.Woffinden, 7 Oct '07 |
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | ||
|
60.46 |
61.26 |
59.59 |
60.18 |
58.96 |
60.29 |
60.18 |
61.67 |
59.75 |
61.32 |
61.61 |
60.92 |
61.29 |
61.86 |
61.32 |
|||
The track had taken a soaking earlier in the day but still looked better than
the Owlerton strip last night. André Compton won the toss for gate positions
and took 1&3. Joel Parsons made a sweet start to lead heat 1 but Ricky Ashworth
got crowded out on the second turn. He kept plugging away on the inside line
but was getting nowhere so tried the outside blast on the last lap and very
nearly fell! Byron Bekker led away in heat 2 but Lee Smethills went too wide
on the second turn and found himself at the back of the field. Benji Compton
was second but coming under pressure from Sam Martin which paid off as the young
Aussie powered under him on the second bend on the last lap. Paul Cooper was
taken very wide on turn two at the start of heat 3 and then nearly fell on the
third turn and never looked like making up lost ground, while André Compton
posted the first sub-minute winning time. Ben Wilson and Lee Smethills were
the first to show in heat 4 but Richard Hall wasted little time in swooping
around Lee down the back straight. Ben never put a wheel wrong and Richard could
no nothing about it. Andy Moore was the strongest in a very physical first turn
in heat 5 but Ricky and Joel made sure the heat was shared. One third point
of the meeting and the scores are tied, meaning the Tigers lead by nineteen
points from the first leg.
Ben leads away from Carl Wilkinson in heat 6 but Magnus Karlsson has a moment on the fourth turn which Sam makes the most of snatching third position and Magnus cannot respond! Very tight off the line in heat 7 and Richard Hall drifts André wide on the second turn but the Tigers skipper is not phased and powers around his contemporary for his second win. Paul Cooper is working the lines for all he's worth but is getting nowhere. Carl and Benji trap to lead heat 8 but Lee and Joel pounce on Benji on the second turn. Joel elects to ride shotgun and snuffs out all Benji's attempts to pass. Ben made a good start to lead heat 9 but Andy powers around him out of turn two and leaves him standing. Paul makes a lightning start to lead heat 10 from Carl with Magnus and André trailing at th back. André hits the berm on the apex of the third and fourth turns and lifts careering across Magnus' line before clouting the fence. Magnus virtually stops to avoid collecting him and then is very slow to get the power back on giving André a 'Get out of Jail Free' card! Two thirds in and the Tigers have a narrow lead on the night, and a massive twenty one point aggregate advantage.
Ricky makes a sweet start to lead heat 11 until Joel blasts around both Richard and his team mate out of turn two and into the lead. Richard throws everything but the kitchen sink at Ricky but cannot make an impression, but it was exciting speedway. André blasted high and wide past Andy Moore to lead heat 12 but Benji fell at the back of the field and took an inordinate length of time to clear the track. Andy didn't make the same mistake in the rerun and the heat was shared. Magnus led heat 13 'till Ricky nipped under him out of turn two. Magnus responded with an inside challenge on turn three but Ricky kept the throttle wound on and re-took the lead out of the last turn. A split second later Ben passed the Scorpions skipper on the same bend, and when Magnus ground to a halt on the next lap the Tigers found themselves ten points ahead (twenty-nine on aggregate so the match was over). Viktor Bergstrom was sacrificed in a forlorn attempt to chase the home win with Richard Hall (why not Andy?) coming in as a tactical substitute off a 15 metre handicap (for double points). Paul made another good gate and shrugged of Byron to lead on the first lap. Richard blasted around Lee on the second lap and his team mate on the next bend and made a determined effort to dive under Paul on the third turn of the last lap but Paul got the better line out of the last corner and just won the drag to the finish line to put the seal on the away win. Kenny went with Carl and Andy for heat 15, while Eric rested on his laurels and plumped for Joel and Ben. Another tight first bend ensued with three riders in close formation entering the third turn with Ben taking an uncharacteristic tumble. The Scorpions may have been humiliated yet again but sent their fans home happy with a final heat 5-1, their first of the meeting.
Alarm bells must be ringing back stage. How can you expect to win when your no.1 finishes with 1+1 from four rides at home? The scores were dead level until Cooperman swapped to the carburettor from his spare bike and started flying! Joel joint top scorer again and he is still waiting to get his best engine back from Sean, but that was never likely to happen before the Redcar match was it? Promising display by young Sam passing both Benji and Magnus en-route to his highest score of the season.
Interim averages come into force for the Redcar match but with Lee having not done the regulation three home and three away there will be no change despite him scoring better than Paul. Joel has moved ahead of Ben but Eric can choose where he wants them to ride as it is only the top two who are fixed into race jackets 1 and 3. Eight premier meetings into the season and we've won seven, lost one.
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