Sheffield Speedway Results 2004

'Teng Tools' Northern Classic Owlerton Stadium 17th Oct
Rider0102030405060708091011121314 151617181920Tot
Sam Ermolenko 3 3 2 2 f 10 3rd
Brent Werner 2 2 0 2 1 5 9th
Mark Lemon 1 2 0 1 3 7 7th
Robbie Kessler ef 2 3 ef 1 6 10th
Richard Hall 2 0 1 2 2 7 8th
Jason Bunyan 3 1 ef 1 0 5 11th
Ritchie Hawkins 0 1 0 0 0 1 16th
Craig Boyce 1 3 1 3 2 10 4th
Ricky Ashworth 3 2 2 2 3 12 5th
Ben Wilson 2 0 2 0 1 5 12th
James Birkinshaw 1 fx 1 f f 2 15th
Jason Lyons 0 1 2 1 1 5 14th
Adam Skornicki 0 1 1 1 2 5 13th
Simon Stead 3 3 3 3 3 15 1ST
Magnus Karlsson 1 3 3 3 3 13 2nd
Adam Allott 2 0 3 3 2 10 6th
Track record
59.5 Simon Stead
 01  02  03  04  05  06   07  08  09   10  11  12  13  14  15  16   17  18  19  20 
63.665.166.362.565.0 63.465.567.064.264.8 64.167.563.365.165.4 64.965.366.065.565.5

Semi-final FINAL
Ricky Ashworth         3rd Simon Stead1st
Sam Ermolenko1st Magnus Karlsson  2nd
Craig Boyce2nd Craig Boyceef
Adam Allott4th Sam Ermolenko+3rd
65.164.7

A track made greasy by rain showers throughout the day led to a lot of processional racing. Sudden Sam won heat 1 comfortably, and Jason Bunyan claimed heat 2 ahead of Richard Hall with Craig Boyce in third and never looking like attempting to challenge. Ricky Ashworth streaked away to win heat 3 from Ben Wilson & James Birkinshaw with ex Grand Prix ex superstar Jason Lyons last. Steady trapped to win heat 4 with Adam Allott passing Magnus Karlsson out of turn 2 to follow his cousin home, while Adam Skornicki's 250cc machine obviously wasn't up to Premier League pace.

Adam was out again in heat 5 and managed to beat Richard Hall, although Ricky Ashworth rounded him on the first lap as he followed Sudden Sam home. Steady won heat 6 from Brent Werner with slow starting Jason Bunyan rounding Ben Wilson on the second turn. Magnus Karlsson won heat 7 after James Birkinshaw fell in the deep stuff wide on turn 3 as he tried to regain second place from Mark Lemon. Craig Boyce redeemed himself by winning heat 8, although the competition wasn't up to much. Robbie Kessler took second despite riding for two laps on a spluttering bike, ahead of Jason Lyons who was made to look good by Adam Allott who just didn't want to know after an awful start off gate 4.

Good to see Adam hasn't changed as he flew from the tapes to win heat 9 with Sudden Sam left in his wake and Birko gifted a point as Jason Bunyan shed a chain. Magnus passed ex leader Jason Lyons out of turn two to win heat 10, and Steady continued his sequence passing Ricky on the outside of turn 1 and Craig on the inside of turn 2 to lead by the back straight in heat 11. Robbie Kessler put himself back into the top six by winning heat 12 and Ben Wilson earned the crowds approval passing Adam Skornicki around the outside of turn three on the last lap.

Jason Lyons led heat 13, briefly, as first Sam and then Simon passed him by the back straight, with Simon wasting little time before flashing by into the lead. Boycie took his second win in heat 14 with Brent Werner passing Adam Skornicki on the second lap. Birko went wide looking to do the same on the third turn with familiar results. Adam Allott anticipated the start but Craig Ackroyd was having none of it in heat 15. It made little difference as he repeated the trick in the restart, and Magnus Karlsson won heat 16 with Ricky Ashworth looking content to qualify for the semi.

Magnus Karlsson passed Craig Boyce exiting turn 2 to lead heat 17 but when Sam tried to follow suit on the third turn he got caught out by the deep stuff. Adam was again pulled back for making too good a start in heat 18, and Ricky won the battle of nerves on the first lap to run out eventual winner. Mark Lemon trapped to lead heat 19 with Jason Bunyan passing Jason Lyons out of turn 2. Sadly as he tried to round Adam Skornicki on the third turn he too found the deep berm and although he managed to stay on two wheels he found himself trailing at the back as a result. Steady booked his Grand Final place with a comfortable win from Richard Hall but Birko's season finished as you might have predicted with him sat in the shale on the third turn as result of him trying to pass Robbie.

Statistically at this stage the best gate was gate 2 with 7 wins, then gate 3 with 6 wins, gate 1 with 5 and just 2 wins from gate 4 (Simon and Magnus, the finalists). Ricky had first choice of gate for the semi-final and opted for the inside. Adam's choice of gate 4 was even more of a surprise and left Sam happy to choose gate 2. Ricky was first to show but Sam demonstrated that there is plenty of racing in him yet with a daredevil wide blast on the big boys line around the pits turn to lead by the end of lap 1. Craig Boyce showed his experience as he left it to the last lap before making his own move out where the grip was on the third turn and then closed Ricky down on the final turn to scrape his way into the final.

Simon also chose the inside gate in the Grand Final with Sam chosing gate 4 obviously with the intention of making a big sweep aound the first turns. Alas it was not to be as Sam destroyed the tapes, but Craig Ackroyd eventually allowed him to go from a 15 metre handicap solely because he was already off gate 4. The final was an anticlimax as Steady powered away into lead and Sam earned a place on the rostrum after Craig's attempts to pass Magnus Karlsson ended with him hitting a berm at an angle and dropping a chain as a result.

Not a classic meeting by any stretch of the imagination but at least we saw the season to its close without further injury. The fireworks were spectacular and the Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity were also winners to the tune of £1,490 from the Children's gate receipts and an interval bucket collection.

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