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Report: Premier League: Sheffield v Ipswich

Event: 5th June 2011
Promoted by: Sheffield CSC
Venue: Sheffield Cycle Speedway Club
Report: Shaun Hudson
Images: Richard Seipp
Event Details

Above: Richard Seipp's image paints a vivid picture of an incident packed meeting on Sheffield's newly laid shale.

Sheffield 103 Ipswich 72

Sheffield: Lukas Pizsczek 18 Andy Angell 17 Jono Birks 16 Radek Handke 15 Lee Grange 13 Ryan Hoyland 12 Jamie Brown 8 Mark Winwood 4

Ipswich: Jamie Chittock 13 Jordan Stant 12 Dan Chambers 12 Dan Pike 11 Ashley Hill 9 Leon Mower 7 Josh Brooke 5 Lewis Roberts 3

This match could well go down in the record books as the longest ever Premier League match taking some two hours and twenty minutes to complete. Sheffield's first home match of the 2011 season (due to building work) was something of a let down, the track which had been re laid only 5 days beforehand cut up badly and was very deep, despite being heavily tyre packed. This caused all sorts of problems for the riders and the meeting was held up a number of times while the track received maintenance.

When things finally got underway the starting gates decided to misbehave causing more delays. So what of the racing? The Sheffield riders, despite all the problems started off in fine style with a 7-3 from Handke & Pizsczek over Mower and a lacklustre Brooke. Angell won the second with Chambers & Stant keeping Grange behind them to share the heat. Hoyland won the third before Handke & Winwood then Pizsczek & Brown took maximum points from heats 4 & 5. With Sheffield leading 32-18 Ipswich then claimed the inside grids and managed to square the next race before Handke & Pizsczek fired home another maximum. Heat 8 proved the most controversial of all the races with both Ipswich riders receiving their marching orders from Referee Andy Moody, much to the disgust of the Ipswich team.

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In fact the meeting saw a number of decisions that were somewhat confusing and the home side in all fairness did benefit more then the visitors. The interval arrived with Sheffield 23 points up. Ipswich started the second half well taking maximum points from heat 11 through Chittock and Pike and despite all the drama were still intent on making a match, unfortunately their young riders were finding it tough to contain the Sheffield big guns and Handke, Pizsczek Angell and Birks really were never troubled. Having said all that, Ipswich contain some fine prospects who, given time, will mature into a team that will gain some big wins, if the team can stick together and weather the storm.

Lukas Piszczek 18+2 saw him top score and Handke would have joined him on the same score but for a racing exclusion in his last ride. Angell and Birks both ended up on 18 with their bonus points included. James Chittock was Ipswich's top scorer and Chambers, Stant, Hill & Pike all contributed to the cause. Not a pretty match, not a great match and on another day everything could have been so much better. Shame really, as a healthy crowd turned out to watch.

Combination Match
Sheffield 54 Ipswich 74

Sheffield: Aiden Owen 13, Jamie Langton 13, Liam Webster 9

Ipswich: Ashley Hill 15 Lewis Roberts 15 Lauren Jacobs 14

With Ipswich giving away twenty penalty points, Sheffield hung on by the skin of their teeth to snatch a draw. Once again some controversial refereeing decisons from Dave Shoat didn't go down well with the riders & officials.

British Cycling would like to thank the organising team, officials and everyone else who helped promote this event. Our sport could not exist without the hundreds of people, many of them unpaid volunteers, who put in many hours of hard work running events, activities and clubs