Premier League Pairs Championship 2011

Premier League Pairs Championship	24 June 2011
	Somerset
Glasgow T 1 Joe Screen 4 4 3 3 3 3 20 2 James Grieves 2 0 4 2 2 4 14 Workington 3 James Wright 2 3 4 3 2 2 16 4 Rusty Harrison 3 2 2 0 3 0 10 Redcar 5 Jason Lyons ex 3 4 2 4 13 6 Aaron Summers 4 4 2 3 0 13 Sheffield 7 Ricky Ashworth 3 2 3 fx 4 12 8 Shane Parker 2 3 4 3 0 12 Newcastle 9 Derek Sneddon 3 0 0 0 3 10 Stuart Robson 2 4 4 4 14 Somerset 11 Cory Gathercole 4 0 2 4 10 12 Sam Masters 0 3 4 0 7 Ipswich 13 Kevin Doolan 4 2 2 0 8 14 Taylor Poole 2 4 0 3 9 Leicester 15 Richard Sweetman 4 3 2 0 9 16 Sergei Darkin 0 4 0 3 7 Rye House 17 Jordan Frampton 3 r 3 4 10 18 Chris Neath 0 2 2 2 6 Edinburgh 19 Andrew Tully 0 0 3 2 5 20 Craig Cook 3 2 r 4 9
Group A: Glasgow 22, Workington 19, Newcastle 17, Leicester 16, Rye House 16 Group B: Redcar 22, Sheffield 20, Somerset 17, Ipswich 17, Edinburgh 14 Heat 01: Screen, Frampton, Grieves, Neath 58.84 Heat 02: Gathercole, Ashworth, Parker, Masters 58.98 Heat 03: Sweetman, Sneddon, Robson, Darkin Heat 04: Doolan, Cook, Poole, Tully Heat 05: Screen, Harrison, Wright, Grieves Heat 06: Summers, Parker, Ashworth, Lyons (x) Heat 07: Darkin, Sweetman, Neath, Frampton (r) Heat 08: Poole, Masters, Doolan, Gathercole Heat 09: Robson, Wright, Harrison, Sneddon Heat 10: Summers, Lyons, Cook, Tully Heat 11: Grieves, Screen, Sweetman, Darkin Heat 12: Parker, Ashworth, Doolan, Poole Heat 13: Robson, Frampton, Neath, Sneddon Heat 14: Masters, Tully, Gathercole, Cook (r) Heat 15: Wright, Darkin, Harrison, Sweetman Heat 16: Lyons, Poole, Summers, Doolan Heat 17: Robson, Screen, Greives, Sneddon Heat 18: Re-run Cook, Parker, Tully, Ashworth (fx) Heat 19: Frampton, Wright, Neath, Harrison Heat 20: Gathercole, Summers, Lyons, Masters Semi Final 1: Ashworth, Screen, Grieves, Parker Semi-Final 2: Lyons, Harrison, Wright, Summers Final: Grieves, Screen, Wright, Harrison
report from Somerset Rebels While the Glasgow Tigers were the deserving winners of the 2011 Premier League Pairs Championship held at Somerset’s Oak Tree Arena, the home Rebels duo were, once again, left to reflect on a disappointing Championship night. Previous winners of the title back in 2005 and 2006, albeit on home shale, Glasgow had the night’s star performer in Joe Screen, he being more than ably supported by team-mate James Grieves, the Tigers defeating Workington in the final, one that was played out in heavy rain that had set in during this enthralling meeting. The meeting started out in dry conditions, which was in stark contrast to the predicted weather forecast, but as the evening progressed so the rain eventually arrived, and credit should be given to all 20 riders who took part in the meeting for continuing in far from ideal conditions, with some superb racing with which to thrill the fans that had packed into the Oak Tree Arena. As it was Glasgow and Workington topped group A with Redcar and defending champions Sheffield progressing through to the semi-final stages from group B along with the Redcar Bears. A maximum 7-2 heat win in the final race of the group stages over Redcar would have seen Somerset pip the Bears for that semi-final berth, but although Gathercole duly won the heat, Masters was unable to find a way past the opposition duo, leaving the Rebels still searching for their first victory in the Championship, despite this being the fifth time that it has been staged at their home Oak Tree Arena track. The semi-finals both went the way of the two group A teams with Glasgow ended Sheffield’s tenure of the Championship Trophy, whilst Workington disposed of Redcar to set up a Glasgow/Workington showdown to determine the destiny of the 2011 crown. With the rain still falling Glasgow made the crucial better start through James Grieves and with Screen in 3rd behind Workington’s James Wright. That would have been sufficient to give Glasgow the title, but wanting to do things in style, Screen found a way past Wright on the 3rd lap to make it, somewhat fittingly, a Glasgow 1-2 for the Tigers to be crowned 2011 Premier League Pairs Champions.