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Kings Lynn Stars v Sheffield Tigers
PL Playoff (Final), 27 October 2006
Norfolk Arena, Kings Lynn
| 1 | Daniel Nermark | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | . | . | . | 11 | 0 |
| 2 | Trevor Harding | 1* | 2* | 2 | 2* | . | . | . | 7 | 3 |
| 3 | Troy Bachelor | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | . | . | 13 | 0 |
| 4 | Kevin Doolan | 2* | 3 | 1 | 3 | . | . | . | 9 | 1 |
| 5 | Tomas Topinka | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | . | . | . | 10 | 0 |
| 6 | Chris Mills | 2* | 1 | 0 | 2* | 2* | . | . | 7 | 3 |
| 7 | John Oliver | 3 | 2* | F | 1 | . | . | . | 6 | 1 |
| 1 | Ricky Ashworth | X | 2 | 1* | 0 | Fx | . | . | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | Ben Wilson | 3 | 0 | 6^ | 2 | . | . | . | 11 | 0 |
| 3 | Kyle Legault | 1 | 2 | 1# | 2 | . | . | . | 6 | 0 |
| 4 | Emiliano Sanchez | R | 0 | 0 | F | . | . | . | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Andre Compton | 1 | R | 2 | 2 | 1! | 1 | . | 7 | 0 |
| 6 | Paul Cooper | 0 | 1 | . | . | . | . | . | 1 | 0 |
| 7(g) | Mark Thompson | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | . | . | 2 | 0 |
* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).
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King’s Lynn were at full strength again but Sheffield were denied the services of Tai Woffinden, who starred for them in one of the reserve berths last night, since he was riding in the Conference League play-off final for the Scorpions at Plymouth. Instead Sheffield had Mark Thompson at number 7 to partner Paul Cooper. They also switched their middle pairing around with Kyle Legault moving to number 3 and Emiliano Sanchez to number 4. Sheffield’s remarkable last four heat maximum charge added extra spice to this final which had looked at one point last night to be a formality for the Stars. The Tigers’ 15 point lead may not have made them favourites for the title but must have sown the seeds of doubt in the King’s Lynn camp. It certainly did no harm to the attendance since the match was delayed by 15 minutes to let the crowd gain admission to the stadium. The weather was dry but grey skies threatened and the track looked good with an extra load of shale having been laid for this match. Sheffield continued to win the tosses and took gates 1 and 3 in the opening heat. The omens looked bad for Sheffield when Ricky Ashworth had a puncture on the parade lap but he made it to the starting gate in time for the opening heat. The outlook then looked bright for Sheffield when they stormed into a 1-5 position from the gate but, on the second lap, Ricky Ashworth got out of shape and brought down Daniel Nermark. An unhappy Ashworth was excluded from the rerun leaving Ben Wilson to fly the Sheffield flag on his own. This he did in fine style by gating and heading home the hard challenging Nermark and Trevor Harding to share the race 3-3. Sheffield’s Achilles heel looked to be in the reserve berths and so it proved in heat 2 as Chris Mills and John Oliver had no problems in scoring a 5-1 ahead of Mark Thompson to knock four points off the Tigers’ lead. King’s Lynn added another 5-1 in heat 3 when Troy Batchelor and Kevin Doolan won from Kyle Legault with Emiliano Sanchez pulling up at the back. It was all going pear-shaped for Sheffield as they lost a third consecutive 5-1 in heat 4. Tomas Topinka and Chris Mills simply raced away from Andre Compton to leave the Tigers hopes hanging by a thread. The score after four races was 18-6 with the Tigers aggregate lead reduced to just three points. Troy Batchelor gated well in heat 5 to join Kevin Doolan for what looked like yet another 5-1 but he made a mess of the second bend allowing Ricky Ashworth through to second place. That’s the way it finished with Ben Wilson, the winner of the opening heat, finishing last. The 4-2 reduced the Tigers’ overall lead to one point and it seemed just a matter of time before the Stars’ fans were popping the champagne corks. In heat 6 King’s Lynn took a three point lead on aggregate with another 5-1, their fourth so far, but were assisted by an Andre Compton engine failure at the gate. Paul Cooper, who finished third, a long way behind Daniel Nermark and Trevor Harding, looked in some distress and needed the attention of the paramedics after the race. Heat 7 saw King’s Lynn pull further away with another 4-2 when Tomas Topinka raced away from Kyle Legault after an early challenge from the Sheffield rider. Chris Mills had little trouble beating an off-form Emiliano Sanchez for third place which increased the Stars’ aggregate lead to five points. Ben Wilson took a much needed TR for Sheffield in heat 8 and scored the full six points after John Oliver fell on the last lap while leading the race. Trevor Harding finished second with Mark Thompson picking up the gift third place so Sheffield scored a 2-7 which brought the score on the night to 33-18 and tied the aggregate scores at 70-70. Paul Cooper withdrew from the meeting leaving Mark Thompson to take his remaining rides starting in heat 9. Troy Batchelor was soon leading the race but behind him Andre Compton and Kevin Doolan fought a neck and neck battle with neither giving an inch. Compton held on to his narrow early advantage so the race finished as a 4-2 to the home side putting them in front on aggregate again this time by two points. In heat 10 Kyle Legault took Sheffield’s second TR. This was not a success! Daniel Nermark and Trevor Harding scored a 5-1 with Kyle Legault trailing in last and Emiliano Sanchez again well off the pace. The Stars increased their lead in the match to 21 points with this success and Sheffield looked a beaten side now 6 points behind on aggregate with both TRs used. Tomas Topinka produced a virtuoso performance to win heat 11. Ben Wilson and Ricky Ashworth looked to be off for a 1-5 but Topinka passed Ashworth on the first lap then reeled in Wilson over the rest of the race finally passing him on the line. This resulted in a 3-3 shared race. Troy Batchelor won heat 12 while Kyle Legault passed John Oliver for second place and a 4-2 bringing the Stars another two points nearer the league crown. The score after 12 races now stood at 49-26 with King’s Lynn leading on aggregate by 86-78. The first running of heat 13 was called back and Tomas Topinka warned for moving at the start. In the rerun Topinka then fell on the first bend as he was sandwiched between Ricky Ashworth and Andre Compton. It was an ‘all four back’ decision and in the second rerun Daniel Nermark made the gate while Andre Compton slotted in behind him and withstood the challenges of Tomas Topinka to restrict King’s Lynn to a 4-2 which put them 10 points ahead on aggregate and left Sheffield needing a 1-8, 1-5 finish to win the league. Consequently Sheffield gave Andre Compton a Tactical Substitute ride from 15 metres back but the championship finally went to King’s Lynn when Emiliano Sanchez fell on the second lap while challenging Chris Mills for second place sustaining a leg injury. There was a delay before the heat could be rerun as Sanchez was taken from the track by ambulance. In the rerun Andre Compton failed to make up the 15 metre handicap leaving Kevin Doolan and Chris Mills finally to put the issue to bed with King’s Lynn’s sixth 5-1. In the final race of the season King’s Lynn won the toss and took gates 1 and 3. It seemed inevitable that the Stars would wrap up their most memorable season with a 5-1 and so it came to pass but not without incident. The honour went to Troy Batchelor and Chris Mills but not before Ricky Ashworth had fallen taking Chris Mills off with him. Ashworth was excluded and the race awarded as King’s Lynn took their winning aggregate lead to 18 points. Congratulations go the Stars who have now won the League, Cup and Premier Trophy for a memorable trio. Congratulations must also go to Sheffield for giving the Stars a much harder fight in the final than many would have imagined. Match Report by Merlin |