Premier League
Somerset Speedway: Rebels romp over Rockets.
By Admin
May 10, 2008, 14:17

Awesome is the only word to describe the Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels destruction of the Rye House ‘Silver Ski’ Rockets, in this Premier League encounter.

The manner of their victory was not just emphatic; it was total, as for the second week running they did not return one single last place. The Rebels were brimming with confidence after the previous evenings stunning away victory over the Redcar Bears, and two 60-point plus wins in there last two home matches. A visit from the Rye House Rockets is normally a tight affair, and in the past the Hoddesdon outfit have been known to take the points back to Hertfordshire, but not tonight. Tai Woffinden apart this was not the kind of performance you would expect from the reigning League Champions, they were quite frankly, out-gated, out-fought, and outclassed.

Jason Doyle, and Jordan Frampton are building the reputation of being a pairing to be feared on any track; at home they have been supreme, and tonight was no different. In Heat 1 Doyle gated with Chris Neath alongside, but had pulled to the front before the opening turn. Jordan Frampton was not far behind, and cut inside Neath on the third turn. From there it was all over as the home pairing pulled clear to record an easy opening 5-1 victory.

That was the signal for the start of the rout, as the Rebels powered to a 22-point lead by Heat 8, including four more maximums in the process. Heat 2 saw a level break, but the Rebels pair had it sewn up by the first turn. Simon Walker led on the inside of his race-partner, Brent Werner, on the second bend, and once more it was all over as the pair took the second bloodless victory of the night.

Newly crowned British U21 Champion, Tai Woffinden, made his first appearance of the night in Heat 3, and looked as though he was about to take the Rockets first victory of the night, but he figured without Emil Kramer. Scunthorpe born Woffinden led from the tape rise with a flying start. Kramer came roaring round the outside, and shot passed the 17-year old sensation on the wide line out of bend 4. He pulled away to record a very fast 57.53sec win. Matthias Kröger easily accounted for Daniel Halsey to take a 4-2 in the Rebels favour.

Heat 4 took two attempts to start after Stefan Ekberg moved in the original start, forcing Referee Chris Durno to recall all four to the restart. In the re-run a reborn Brent Werner shot from the gates to lead from Stephan Katt and Ekberg. It was Katt who was his only challenger, as the German took up the running off the opening turn, and the pair won easily from the Rockets. Ekberg was having his first ever outing at the Oak Tree Arena, but he looked more like a complete novice at the sport, as he seemed to have great difficulty handling the fast Highbridge circuit, before the bemused Swede retired on the final lap.

Heat 5 was another maximum for the Rebels, but not before Matthias Kröger had accounted for a dogged Luke Bowen on the opening lap. Bowen had made a huge jump at the tapes, and was lucky not to have touched them in the first running of the heat. In the re-start he made a good break level with the Rebels pair. Emil Kramer took up the running on the first bend, but Bowen made Kröger work for the first lap, before the experienced German exerted his superiority coming off the final bend. The result was an easy win for the Rebels, with a lack lustre Chris Neath retiring on the second lap.

Heat 6 was another Doyle and Frampton show; as the pair took an easy win after a level break. Doyle was the first to break ranks, as he led on the first bend from Ekberg, moving the Rye man over to let Frampton come powering through the inside to shut out the Swede. Ekberg again showed signs of not being at ease with the track, and Daniel Halsey retired on Lap 3, as the Rebels roared in their fifth 5-1 in six.

John Sampford needed divine intervention if he was to haul his team back from the 22-point deficit they found themselves in, and he looked to Tai Woffinden to be the instrument of that. Young Woffinden may be a burgeoning Speedway god, but faced by this task he is still a mere mortal, and despite winning the heat in the ‘Black and White’ he needed the help of other mortals, and that was not forthcoming. The race itself was the first win in a four-race run that would see him unbeaten for the remainder of the evening, but he had to work for it. Trapping quickly he looked to have the race sewn up from the start, until Simon Walker came with a powerful run on the outside. The Rebels skipper stormed into the lead, and looked like lowering the Woffinden colours as they ran back to the home straight. Woffinden battled back, and dived under Walker at the first bend of Lap 2. It was a hard pass that saw him move Walker so wide he was almost riding the air fence, but it drew no complaints from Si-Co. Stephan Katt took third to share the heat, but the Rockets took their first and only heat advantage, courtesy of the tactical ride.

From that point on it was all Rebels as they took five 5-1’s from the next eight heats. The other three were shared, all at the hands of Tai Woffinden. Heat 8 saw a battling performance from Brent Werner, after he locked up on the first turn, and dropped back to last place, with his race-partner, Jordan Frampton, leading from the opening turn. As Frampton pulled clear, Werner started his fight back. Gathering himself over the first lap and a half, he reeled in the Rye House pair, before just riding around them on the second lap. The Rockets pair of Bowen and Mear, were lucky to finish the race in the end, as they tangled with each other at the final bend of the race, and were fortunate not to end up on the floor.

Stefan Ekberg was quickly out of the gate in Heat 9, but could still only break level with the Rebels pair. Matthias Kröger was soon in the lead as they approached the opening turn, and Emil Kramer followed, before taking up the running off the second turn. What followed was another easy Rebels win.

Heat 10 brought Woffinden back to the tapes, and he made no mistake with another quick start to pass Jason Doyle before the opening turn. Robert Mear made a fight of it for a lap with Jordan Frampton, passing the Poole based rider on the fourth bend. Frampton hit back on the opening bend of lap 2. Woffinden pulled away from the Rebels pair to record a very easy win, and take a share of the points.

Heat 11 saw Chris Neath make his best start of the night, but he had no answer to Stephan Katt from the gate. Simon Walker broke third, and despite Neath’s good gate he had his machine flying down the back straight to swoop round the outside of ‘Mr Big Stuff’, and give the Rebels another 5-1.

Heat 12 was ‘Woofy’ time again; this time it was Emil Kramer and Brent Werner on the receiving end. A level break saw Kramer take an early lead, only for Woffinden to storm round his outside on the opening two bends. Just has he had done against Doyle and Frampton, Tai pulled clear to take another easy win, despite Emil Kramer putting in a spirited chase. His winning time was the fastest of the night, 57.46, eclipsing Kramer’s earlier fast time by just 7/100ths of a second.

In Heat 13, Chris Neath, and Stefan Ekberg had no answer to the Rebels powerful starting, as Jason Doyle and Stephan Katt led from the opening bends to pull clear. Katt took the win, after an opening team riding first lap he eased to the front on the second lap. Heat 14 probably provided the closest race of the night, when Matthias Kröger and Stefan Ekberg battled it out over the final three laps for second spot. Simon Walker took the win, after powering passed the quick starting Swede on the final turn of lap 1. Kröger tried to follow his lead, but Ekberg had finally got to grips with the Oak Tree track, and the pair swapped places, battling wheel-to-wheel for the next three laps, before Kröger made the decisive inside move off the final bend of the race to give the Rebels their tenth maximum heat win of the night.

The nominated heat brought Emil Kramer to the tapes, alongside his skipper, Simon Walker. For Walker it was a deserved place in the line up after dropping only one point to an opponent, and that was Woffinden in Heat 7. Unsurprisingly Woffinden took his place in the line up, and it was his skipper Chris Neath, who completed the quartet.

The race went to Woffinden, with another faultless display, making the best of a level break to lead of the first bend. He pulled away to win unchallenged from the Rebels pair, taking a share of the final available points. For the third week on the trot the Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels had put 60-points on an opponent as they ran out 66-27 winners, to record their second highest score of the season. The manner of the Rebels victory prompted the Rockets promoter, Len Silver, to comment that on that kind of form, he doubted if any team could come to the Oak Tree Arena this season, and put any more than 35-points on the board.

Tai Woffinden apart, the Rye House ‘Silver Ski’ Rockets were abysmal, and this writer cannot remember them ever turning in a performance of this ineptitude at the Oak Tree Arena. Without Woffinden’s points the remainder of the team amassed only 10-points between them. Chris Neath was particularly disappointing, as over the years he has been a top performer at the Highbridge track, retuning an 8+ point average in his previous visits. Tonight he looked off the pace, and out of sorts, and a shadow of the man that has given the Rebels so much trouble in previous encounters. The experienced Stefan Ekberg looked like a novice in all but his last ride, and never really showed the gating ability he is noted for. The absence of the injured Tommy Allen could not have helped, but that doesn’t take away the fact that this Rye House team, looked nothing like the League Champions we are used to seeing. Woffinden’s performance was stunning for one so young. He dropped only one point all night in his 17-point return, and was fast, tough, and uncompromising, a credit to himself, and his team.

It would be churlish to single out any one Rebels rider for praise, except to say that this victory must have been particularly sweet for the rejuvenated Brent Werner, against his old team. Especially in view of the unholy stick his own Rockets supporters gave him on one of his last visits to the Oak Tree Arena in Rye House colours. His paid 11-point haul (7+4) comes at the end of a period that has seen him turn his fortune around after a very sticky patch with the Rebels, that saw him drop to reserve from the main body of the team. In this win the Rebels have demonstrated the value of building a strong balanced team, that contains two heat leaders, and five second strings, giving the Rebels the luxury of strong reserve pairings for the whole season. In this kind of form, the Rebels will be starting to think that they can have a hand in the destiny of this seasons League Championship, but no one at the Oak Tree Arena will be counting their chickens, until all the eggs have been laid.

Somerset Rebels - 66
1. Jason Doyle - 3, 3, 2, 2* = 10+1
2. Jordan Frampton - 2*, 2*, 3, 1* = 8+3
3. Emil Kramer - 3, 3, 3, 2, 2 = 13
4. Matthias Kroger - 1, 2*, 2*, 2* = 7+3
5. Stephan Katt - 3, 1*, 3, 3 = 10+1
6. Simon Walker - 3, 2, 2*, 3, 1* = 11+2
7. Brent Werner - 2*, 2*, 2*, 1* = 7+4

Rye House Rockets - 27
1. Chris Neath - 1, ef, 1, 1, 0 = 3
2. Luke Bowen - 0, 1, 0, 0 = 1
3. Tai Woffinden - 2, 6^, 3, 3, 3 = 17
4. Tommy Allen – Rider Replacement
5. Stefan Ekberg - ret, 1, 1, 0, 1 = 3
6. Daniel Halsey - 0, 0, ef, 0, 0 = 0
7. Robert Mear - 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0 = 3
8. Matt Bates - = DNR