|
Last Updated: Nov 28th, 2010 - 10:22:29 |
Starting green sheet averages (excluding bonus points) are shown in brackets.
Chris Neath (b. January 29th 1982, Worcester) (6.93)
The Rye House captain is back for his 7th year with the Silver Ski Rockets, and enters the new season as their starting No.1 after topping the team’s score charts with 446 points and a 7.82 average (inc bonus points) across all fixtures in 2009. He is now the third highest points scorer in Rye House history.
Also the Rockets’ Premier League Riders Finalist last term, Chris’ previous achievements include reaching the 2004 World Championship Semi-Finals, appearing in three British Finals and winning an international cap for Great Britain in 2004. In addition to his Premier League titles with Rye in 2005 and 2007, he featured in Wolverhampton’s Elite League success of 2002. He is also a former British Schoolboy Grasstrack Champion (both Junior and Intermediate).
Promoter Len Silver puts it best when he says that “Chris is a brilliant skipper, he so loves Rye House and everything about the club, the public, the track, he loves it all. We don’t have a more loyal rider than Chris in our team.”
Jordan Frampton (b. March 8th 1985, Poole, Dorset) (6.81)
The Dorset born rider has joined the Rockets on loan from parent club Coventry with a starting average of 6.81 which will see him as the Rockets’ second heat leader. He spent 2009 at Newport, scoring 305 points and representing the Welsh side in the Premier League Riders Championship, where he finished just a point shy of the semi-final cut-off. His 7.36 average (inc bonus points) was a personal best yet, and fractionally up on 2008’s 7.31 with Somerset.
Frampton was also a more than solid 4.72 rider in 20 appearances doubling up with Elite League Coventry. He will fulfil a similar role, this time with Swindon, in 2010.
Stefan Ekberg (b. January 21st 1972, Motala, Sweden) (6.78)
The North Star makes a welcome return to a Rye House race jacket after a season’s absence.
He first rode for Rye in August 2007, coming in to fill the gap left by successive injuries to Stuart Robson, Ray Morton and Robbie Kessler. There is little doubt as to the spark he provided to the team’s Premier League championship run-in that year. Ekberg made an immediate impact with 11 points in his debut at Stoke, was unbeaten in his home debut against the Isle of Wight, and rarely looked back, averaging out at 9 a match and posting paid 23 across the two legs of the Championship Final against Sheffield.
The Swede returned to Rye on a full season basis in 2008, only for a serious injury in the Promotion Play-Off tie at King’s Lynn that October to rule him out of a 2009 spot.
Clearly determined to make up for lost time, Ekberg has spent the close season in a stamina improvement programme that has included playing ice hockey (at which he is of professional standard) three times a week and jogging in the snow every day.
Linus Sundstrom (b. October 28th 1990, Avesta, Sweden) (6.74)
The Blond Bombshell was a total unknown to British supporters until a whirlwind tour in mid-October 2007 that delivered a string of impressive displays – including the Ace of Herts finale at Hoddesdon. So impressed was promoter Len Silver that he had Sundstrum signed to a full contract just nine days later!
The Swede did not disappoint in his first “proper” year in this country, either, bagging 431 points and a 7.42 average (inc bonus points). Internationally speaking, he claimed a silver medal in the European U-19 Team Championship and a bronze one in the Swedish U-21 Championship.
In addition to his central role for the Rockets, Sundstrom has been named as one of Elite League Ipswich’s doubling up riders for 2010.
Luke Bowen (b. January 26th 1986, Harlow) (5.99)
A second successive “Mr Rocket” rider of the year award was just reward for the Bowen 747 after a tremendous 2009 that netted a 6.97 average – and, perhaps more importantly, a 5.05 away record that marked that all-important breakthrough on the road. Paid scores of 17 against Scunthorpe, 16 versus Sheffield, 16 at Redcar and 14 at Workington were just some of the highlights along the way. Oh, and there were those last race heroics against the Scorpions in the Young Shield Semi-Final and a 4th placed finish in the Ace of Herts to remember as well.
Rye House promoter Len Silver got it spot on a year earlier when discussing Bowen’s first rider of the year success. The Mr Rocket title “means somebody who has ridden his heart out, who has improved in a way and represents what Rye House is, and nobody does that better than Luke.”
A fair summary, indeed, of the 23 year old from Harlow, whose popularity has been earned by both his never-say-die racing attitude and sheer determination to return from a string of early career injuries.
Kurt Shields (5.00)
A highly rated prospect, the Aussie was originally set to join Redcar after impressing in their Teesside Pairs event in August, but has opted for Rye House in order to be based closer to his cousin, Elite League star Adam Shields.
The Kurri Kurri, New South Wales, native joins the team on a 5 point assessed average, which will place him in a reserve berth alongside Kyle Hughes. He will ride a machine set up for him by his cousin and a second bike prepared by Rocket's skipper, Chris Neath.
Kyle Hughes (b. June 15th 1989, Bath)
The British U-21 international was one of the Rockets’ first signings for 2010 after impressing in guest appearances last season. Paid scores of 11 (vs Edinburgh), 8 (vs Sheffield) and 5 (vs Lakeside, with a win from the back over Paul Hurry) helped to take Hughes from being one of the sport’s best kept secrets to being very much public knowledge.
He also finished second – suffering a last bend bike stoppage when leading the title run off-off – in the National League Riders Championship, and placed third in the season finale Ace of Herts event.
Other career highlights to date include finishing just a point shy of a top six run-off spot in the 2009 British U-21 Championship and winning Conference League titles with both Mildenhall and Oxford.
In addition to his Premier League role with the Rockets, Hughes will be part of the new-look Kart Raceway Cobras National League line-up for 2010.
The State of the Nation 2010
The Premier League will remain with 14 competing teams. The sport will return to Leicester for the first time since 1983, although a delayed start to building work has meant that the Lions will be unable to take part in competitive action. Instead, they will ride a number of challenge fixtures, the first of which will be at Rye House on Saturday, March 20th.
The early season Premier Trophy will see these teams split into two groups of five and one of four, with the three group winners, plus the highest placing runner-up qualifying for the semi-finals. The Silver Ski Rockets will compete in the Southern group alongside arch-rivals and defending titlists King’s Lynn, Newport and Somerset.
The Northern group will comprise Berwick, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Glasgow and Workington, while the Midland section will feature Redcar, Sheffield, Scunthorpe, Stoke and Birmingham.
To maintain its season opening feel, the whole competition, including the Final, is set to be completed by July 31st.
The draw for the Knock-Out Cup, meanwhile, has seen the Rockets paired against 2009 semi-final opponents Edinburgh in the first round. The winners of the tie will face either Glasgow or defending holders King’s Lynn in the second round.
The full first round draw is:
Birmingham vs Sheffield, Scunthorpe vs Newcastle, Rye House vs Edinburgh, Glasgow vs Kings Lynn, Berwick vs Newport, Workington vs Stoke.
Byes: Somerset, Redcar
Key decisions made during the winter are:
A new quieter silencer will be introduced for 2010 to comply with F.I.M. requirements and this will certainly be a factor in helping to secure the future of Birmingham and other venues.
The new Chairman of the BSPA is Alex Harkess of Edinburgh, who is joined on the management committee by new younger members Jon Cook (Lakeside), Jonathan Chapman (King’s Lynn) and Matt Ford (Poole), with Neil Machin (Sheffield) retaining his place. The new look committee have already indicated their planned focus on a number of marketing methods and in particular are looking at more internet involvement.
The new President is long serving promoter, Tony Mole, recently the promoter at Birmingham and the current BSPA expert in Town Planning matters.
The Premier League Riders Championship will again be staged at Sheffield in September.
The Premier League Pairs will again be held at Somerset the night before the Cardiff GP.
The Premier League Fours will return to its “spiritual home” of Peterborough.
As previously announced, the World U-21 Team Cup Final will be at Rye House on Sep 5th.
The British Championship has also received a shake-up, with the Final now be preceded by two semi-finals, with the top 32 British riders competing with no seeding of any kind. The top 5 finishers in the British Final will qualify for the 2011 Grand Prix qualifiers.
Rules of the Game
A relatively quiet Annual BSPA Conference saw only two minor changes to the rulebook:
After many years of lobbying by some "traditionalist" promoters, the white helmet colour will return to replace green for a visiting rider, so visitors will now be more easily identified, wearing white or yellow while the home pairing remains in red and blue.
The 2009 experiment with choice of gate positions in the Cup will be discontinued as most clubs felt that the experimental season showed many flaws in the concept.
Make It A Date
With the main fixtures published, a number of key dates already stand out in the 2010 calendar:
The opening meeting of 2010 – with the highest quality field ever assembled for a Rye House meeting - is the Ben Fund Bonanza, to be staged at Hoddesdon on Sunday, March 14th. See full details for that spectacular below. That event is followed six nights later by the Rockets’ team challenge opener against Leicester, before the focus turns to the Premier Trophy with the visit of Somerset (complete with Firestarter Shane Parker and former Rye star Steve Boxall) on March 27th.
The Cobras will appear on track at Rye for the first time when they entertain the American Dream Team in an international challenge match on Saturday, April 3rd, two nights before the Rockets face Birmingham in Easter Monday’s Sky Sports televised Premier League opener.
The Rockets’ first round Knock-Out Cup tie against Edinburgh is set to be settled across consecutive nights, with Rye heading up to Armadale for the first leg on Friday, May 7th, and then hosting the Monarchs in a quick-fire return the following evening.
There are two firm Sunday dates in the Rockets’ home programme to facilitate Linus Sundstrom’s availability. The Blond Bombshell has FIM U-21 commitments on both Saturdays, but will be back in town for the League matches against Somerset (June 20th) and defending champions King’s Lynn (July 18th).
Sunday is also the day for the U-21 World Cup Final; in this case September 5th, while promoter Len Silver is also planning to run at home on Sundays during the final month of the season to avoid a clash with the immensely popular X Factor show that had an adverse impact on attendances in 2009. The first such meeting is the National League Riders Championship which is being staged once again at Hoddesdon, on October 3rd.
© Copyright Worldpeedway.com
Top of Page
|
