Diamonds given a glimmer of hope

Apr 16 2009 The Journal

NEWCASTLE Diamonds travel to Sheffield Tigers tonight hoping to banish memories of past visits to a bogey Owlerton Stadium track.

Team manager Richard Juul was a happier man after the weekend’s meetings with Glasgow, which included their first official win of the year at home on Sunday, but at Sheffield’s big, high-speed bowl – which has never been kind to the Tynesiders – they will have to fire on all seven cylinders to stand a chance of a respectable score tonight.

Sunday’s event was a superb meeting on a track prepared for thrilling passes with the home side being led in magnificent fashion by skipper Jason King.

However, in an attempt to nullify Shane Parker’s tactical ride, King suffered a heavy fall and wasn’t able to contribute to the home teams cause for the remainder of the match.

It was left to rising star Kenni Larsen to take the chequered flag in the last race to give the Diamonds a thoroughly deserved victory.

Juul said: “It was great to see every one of our seven contributing to this fine win and despite Jason being restricted by his heavy fall we covered enough to take what was a very entertaining clash. We only hope Jason’s smash won’t have an after-effect and restrict his scoring in Sheffield as we know he can ride the place well and will be reliant on a good score from him.”

Redcar Bears went to Sheffield last week and shocked the experts by claiming a sizeable win, which should provide a glimmer of hope for the Diamonds during their resurgence.

Former Newcastle rider Rob Grant, who has a quality butcher’s shop in Ponteland, Northumberland – AC Snaith – is to lend his backing to Newcastle number one, Steve Boxall, with a substantial sponsorship package that will allow him to improve the quality of the equipment that he uses in Diamonds matches.

Boxall said: “It’s a great offer from Rob and I really appreciate his support. I’m loving my time at Newcastle and getting back to the sort of performances I was producing before my injuries.

“This tremendous backing can only help that scenario and I’m looking forward to repaying the supporters, management and Rob with some big scores throughout the season.”

TONIGHT’S TEAM LINE-UPS

SHEFFIELD TIGERS: 1 Ricky Ashworth (capt), 2 Joel Parsons, 3 Paul Cooper, 4 Ritchie Hawkins, 5 Richard Hall, 6 Chris Mills, 7 Josh Auty.

NEWCASTLE SAPPHIRE ENGINEERING DIAMONDS: 1 Steve Boxall, 2 Derek Sneddon, 3 Kenni Larsen, 4 Trent Leverington, 5 Jason King (capt), 6 Casper Wortmann, 7 Craig Branney.