Leicester Lions v Newcastle Diamonds
Sat 16 Apr 2011 Beaumont Park, Premier League - by Lawrence Heppell
The Newcastle “Sapphire Engineering” Diamonds made hard work of their first visit to the new Beaumont Park Speedway last night taking on the reformed Leicester Lions, who had not had the best start to a season... until the Diamonds arrived.
They indicated from the off that the Lions were after a change of fate taking a solid 5-1 over Newcastle guest (for injured Rene Bach) Kevin Doolan and skipper Derek Sneddon in a shock Heat One, and with Richie Worrall out of Heat Two for unfair riding the 4-2 put the Lions 9-3 up.
Another 5-1 in Heat Three, despite a good challenge from Lubos Tomicek left the Diamonds trailing by 10 points, leaving the visiting pit in a state of shock as Lion’s mysteriously included guest Sam Masters took Heat four with ease over Mark Lemon with the score at 18-6.
Lemon was out as a tactical ride in Heat Six but Sergei Darkin shot from the gate and held the Diamond in second for four points in a shared 4-4, and with a seventh race 3-3 on a track that was producing no passing at all the score moved on to 28-16.
A diabolical exclusion for Worrall in Heat Eight when John Oliver fell right in front of him restricted the heat score to 3-3, whilst Lemon and Kyle Newman finally gave Newcastle a heat advantage in the ninth, 2-4, and with Stuart Robson hitting the groove in the 10th another 2-4 set the score to a more respectable 35-27.
Doolan and Sneddon hit another 2-4 over the Lions in Heat 11 tightening the score again by two to 37-31, but Leicester hit a 5-1 over Tomicek and Newman in Heat 12, followed by a match-winning 4-2 in a Heat 13 won by Darkin despite a stunning chase from Doolan.
The final two races finally regained some respectability for the Diamonds.
Team manager George English said: “This was not a good night for us as we couldn’t gate on a track where passing was exceptionally difficult, and generally it was a night were everything conspired against us, so the fact we fought back in the second half was pretty good, but we had too many off the boil – we must bounce back tonight against the same team and show them what we’re made of.”
Then on Sunday, Leicester visited Newcastle,
Newcastle Diamonds v Leicester Lions
Sun 17 Apr 2011, Newcastle Stadium, Premier League, by Lawrence Heppell
The Sapphire Engineering Diamonds had some revenge to catch up on over their guests, the Leicester Lions last night Brough Park as 24 hours previously, the Lions had taken a solid victory over the Diamonds.
The home side got off to a superb start with a fine 5-1 put into the record books, but Richard Hall, a former Newcastle star went from third to first on the second bend in Heat Three to lead well for the rest of the Lions 2-4, pulling the gap back to two at 10-8.
Mark Lemon made a miserable gate in Heat Four, but fought back magnificently, passing Jan Graversen in the third bend and then shot hard under Sam Masters coming off bend four on lap two to share the heat, 3-3 and maintain the two point home lead.
A fall and exclusion for Lubos Tomicek in Heat Five resulted in his exclusion as he'd also brought down Lion, Sergey Darkin, and in the re-run the Russian made a great gate to lead and fend off a stiff challenge from Stuart Robson in the 2-4 which leveled the match 15-all.
Hall again took a magnificent pass out the outside of bend two in Heat Seven, this time round Lemon who fought back to frighten Hall with a super-fart underpass off bend four only for both superb passes to be repeated a lap later with the Diamonds' veteran Aussie taking a hard-earned three points as Newcastle still held the slender lead, 22-20.
Heat 10 came to a grinding halt when Ilya Bonderenko tried to go round a gap on Sneddon's right coming off bend two, but as the gap reduced the Russian Lion hit the fence in an alarming heap with the visiting rider also being excluded from the re-run by the referee, in which the 4-2 was transformed to a 3-3 thanks to Hall making a far better start second time around, 29-25.
Graversen and young Jamie Courtney took a 2-4 over Tomicek in Heat 12 to close the gap to two once more, but an excellent pass off bend four by guest Andrew Tully of Edinburgh, coupled with another big win from Lemon gave Newcastle a 5-1 to ease the pressure in Heat 13 with the score at 42-36 with two to go.
Going into the final Heat 15 the gap was still six points, and one bonus league point was still in reach for the Lions, but a rapid-response gate from Lemon and Robson sent the visitors hopes backwards into a shower of shale with Newcastle taking a 50-40 win.
George English, Newcastle's team manager said: "Again we were a little slow early on, but with the likes of Mark and his perfect five ride maximum, backed up by Stuart and Derek's excellent returns we were onto a confident win which was well received by our supporters on a chilly night."
After the meeting the crowds were thrilled to hear the announcement that Slovenian International speedway rider - 34-year-old Matej Ferjan, six-time Hungarian Champion, five-time Slovenian champion and two years a Grand Prix rider will come into the Newcastle Diamonds' side as a permanent replacement for injured Dane, Rene Bach.
Ferjan's vast experience and scoring power will benefit the Diamonds cause no end and he makes his debut for Newcastle next Sunday at Glasgow with his home bow coming at Brough Park on Easter Bank Holiday Monday.... a Premier League match against Glasgow with a 7.30pm start time - doors opening early at 6.00pm as the event is to be shown live on SKY TV, another first for the Newcastle club.
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