Advantage to the Diamonds
Jul 26 2010 The Journal
NEWCASTLE Diamonds got off to an unexpectedly good start in last night's first leg of the prestigious Premier Trophy Final at the Newcastle Stadium against Birmingham Brummies, their biggest match in nine long seasons.
Jason Lyons and Lee Smart made a superb scissor pass on Derek Sneddon, but the veteran Aussie Lyons ground to a rare halt on the second lap, and with Kenni Larsen well out in front Newcastle took the lead 4-2.
Birmingham’s reserves of Smart and Kyle Newman took advantage of Newcastle’s guest Jade Mudgway (of Berwick) making a poor start and hit four past the home side to level the match.
But Rene Bach and skipper Jason King overcame Richard Sweetman and Justin Sedgmen for a maximum 5-1 and 11-7 up.
Referee Craig Ackroyd bewildered the crowd in heat four when, at speed and on his own, Newman hit the deck. The official inexplicably excluded Mudgway, well clear of the incident, reducing Newcastle’s manpower to one in the re-run.
That re-run ended up a 3-3 with the score at 14-10 going into a second re-run race, when Lyons fell on bend three of lap three as he was passed by Bach with the fallen rider excluded from the second running, a stonewall 5-1 for the home side who went 19-11 up.
Sneddon pulled off a superbly brave outside pass on bend two of heat six, rounding both Brummies to join Larsen up from for a 5-1 that brought the house down as Newcastle pulled further ahead, the lead now 12 fine points.
Birmingham, however, pulled two back in the seventh race, won by a country mule by Sweetman with Lemon in second, while the visiting manager Graham Drury nominated Steve Johnston as a tactical ride for double points.
But after a superb effort by the leader Sneddon and reserve Anders Andersen, battling superbly with the tactical man, Johnston hit the shale on lap three with the referee excluding the Diamond from another re-run.
In the second attempt to finish heat eight, Sneddon made another excellent gate to lead, although he had to fend off some hard challenges from Johnston, but the latter’s doubled points were restricted to four in a 3-5 as Birmingham only reduced the lead by two at 29-21.
Johnston smashed the tapes at the first attempt to get heat nine of this high-tension match running, and went off 15 metres in the re-run which was also stopped when Newman went wide on bend one with the result that King hit the fence, the referee ruling an all four back re-run. However, before the remaining three had slowed Bach shot under Johnston who also fell on bend three, resulting in yet more wreckage to clear.
Take three of heat nine was finally completed but not before Newman rode a frighteningly wild and out of control opening lap that nearly had King on his backside again, but the welcome 5-1 put the Diamonds back in control by 34-22.
Larsen and Sneddon blew Sedgmen and Sweetman out of sight in the heat 10 5-1 home maximum putting Newcastle 16 ahead as Drury pulled out his last tactical move, putting Lyons out for the double tally in Heat 11.
But with an engine failure for Smart the second place four was equally matched by Lemon and a spirited Andersen, as the first-lef score motored on to 43-27.
Smart went down heavily on bend one of the 12th race and was disqualified from the eventual 4-2, which was rescued from an initial 5-1 after Newman’s hard inside run under Andersen on the third lap.
Lemon shot round Lyons on bend two and Larsen took the hard inside line under the same Brummie to ruin the visitors’ share of another 5-1, with the score 52-30.
The shared 14th race was followed by heat 15’s vibrant contest, which needed a re-run without Larsen – harshly excluded for what appeared to be a perfect case of first bend bunching, Lyons going down.
The final’s first leg finally came to a rip-roaring conclusion, Bach running the most incredible inside line under both Brummies on the opening bend to open up a lead he held to the end in a 3-3 finishing last the scoring at 58-36.
Newcastle team boss George English said: “Twenty two points is an excellent margin to carry down to the second leg at Birmingham on Wednesday night.
“But we’re not going to get over-confident as that would be a fatal mistake. We are going into that match the same as any other; we need to win and we’ll go for that. One thing I do know is that it could well be the match of the season down at Perry Barr.”
LAWRENCE HEPPELL
NEWCASTLE SAPPHIRE ENGINEERING DIAMONDS: Kenni Larsen 11+1, Derek Sneddon 8+2, Jason King (captain) 9+3, Rene Bach 15, Mark Lemon 11, Jade Mudgway (guest) 0, Anders Andersen 4.
BIRMINGHAM BRUMMIES: Jason Lyons (captain) 7, Aaron Summers – rider replacement, Justin Sedgmen 2, Richard Sweetman 7+1, Steve Johnston 6, Kyle Newman 6+1, Lee Smart (guest) 8+2.
