The Premier League Riders' Championship
Individual Event
Friday 13th September 1998
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield
Peter Carr failed after a valiant effort to retain his Premier league Riders' Championship. He was edged out by last years' runner up, Glenn Cunningham, and local favourite Carl Stonehewer in the Final.
The original field comprised 16 riders, one from each Premier League club and three wild cards:
The wild cards were Kokko, Bentley, and for some reason Martin Dixon currently at second string for Berwick. Scott Smith of Sheffield replaced the unavailable Petri Kokko. Derrol Keats of Sheffield was the reserve.
Heat 1: Peter Carr, Glenn Cunningham, Paul Pickering, Leigh Lanham [62.5]
First blood to Owlerton track specialist Peter Carr over other Owlerton track specialist Cunningham.
Heat 2: Lee Richardson, Frank Smart, Craig Watson, Mick Powell [62.3]
Lee Richardson gated to beat his three Australian opponents. Craig Watson came from the back to pass Mick Powell but failed to catch Smart.
Heat 3: Carl Stonehewer, Martin Dixon, Paul Bentley, David Walsh [61.6]
Big win by Stonehewer by a 10-length margin over Dixon and Bentley.
Heat 4: Paul Thorp, Nicki Pedersen, Steve Masters, Scott Smith [61.6]
Paul Thorp had a blistering first bend to see off the highly fancied Nicki Pedersen and win easily.
Heat 5: Leigh Lanham, Scott Smith, Frank Smart, David Walsh [63.0]
Leigh Lanham had a good win over local substitute, Scott Smith.
Heat 6: Peter Carr, Lee Richardson, Steve Masters, Martin Dixon [62.3]
A re run heat with four back after Richardson gated but deemed to be an unsatisfactory start. Peter Carr followed Richardson for three laps before charging past to win.
Heat 7: Carl Stonehewer, Glenn Cunningham, Mick Powell [62.4]
Another re-run heat that ended Paul Thorp's chances as he crashed out and was taken to hospital with neck injuries. Stonehewer took the other riders wide and Thorp hit Powell and force Cunningham into the fence. Powell was also out of the meeting after the re-run of this heat.
Heat 8: Craig Watson, Nicki Pedersen, Paul Pickering, Paul Bentley [63.2]
Craig Watson had an outside pass of Pickering and Pedersen barged inside Pickering to take second.
Heat 9: Nicki Pedersen, Carl Stonehewer, Lee Richardson, Leigh Lanham [63.6]
Pedersen made the start this time to beat Stonehewer.
Heat 10: Paul Bentley, Peter Carr, Frank Smart, Derrol Keats [62.8]
Peter Carr proved to be human dropping his only point in the qualifying heats after Bentley had a scorching start.
Heat 11: Glen Cunningham, Craig Watson, David Walsh, Steve Masters [63.2]
Cunningham had a superb win after being left behind by Watson and Walsh. He swept past the pair of them as if they were in reverse.
Heat 12: Scott Smith, Paul Pickering, Martin Dixon, Derrol Keats [64.0]
Scott Smith had his first (and only win of the night.
Heat 13: Leigh Lanham, Paul Bentley, Derrol Keats [63.8]
Steve Masters was excluded for tape touching. Since Keats was already in the heat, it went with three riders only and Lanham had his second win.
Heat 14: Peter Carr, Craig Watson, Carl Stonehewer, Scott Smith [62.4]
Peter Carr was back to winning again as Stonehewer slipped to last and could only pass team mate Smith.
Heat 15: Glenn Cunningham, Nicki Pedersen, Frank Smart, Martin Dixon [62.3]
Cunningham passed Pedersen after a great second bend to record another win.
Heat 16: Paul Pickering, David Walsh, Derrol Keats, Lee Richardson [63.9]
Lee Richardson appeared to have the race won when his engine failed on the last lap and he coasted home in last place as Pickering had a rare win.
Heat 17: Leigh Lanham, Craig Watson, Derrol Keats [64.0]
Leigh Lanham had his third win to add to two zeros after Martin Dixon fell on the second bend.
Heat 18: Peter Carr, Nicki Pedersen, David Walsh, Derrol Keats [63.1]
Peter Carr qualified for the final with a win over Nicki Pedersen.
Heat 19: Glenn Cunningham, Paul Bentley, Scott Smith, Lee Richardson [62.8]
Cunningham joined Carr in the final with a third successive heat win.
Heat 20: Carl Stonehewer, Paul Bentley, Scott Smith [63.3]
Stonehewer was now certain of a place in the Semi-Final but won this heat ahead of Bentley and Smith after Lee Richardson was excluded for unfair riding.
|
Scores |
|||||||
|
Peter Carr (Edinburgh) |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
14 |
|
Glenn Cunningham |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
13 |
|
Carl Stonehewer (Sheffield) |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
12 |
|
Nicki Pedersen (Newcastle) |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
11 |
|
Craig Watson (Newport) |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
10 |
|
Leigh Lanham (Arena Essex) |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
9 |
|
Paul Bentley (Hull) |
1 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
8 |
|
Paul Pickering (Stoke) |
1 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
|
7 |
|
Frank Smart (Exeter) |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
7 |
|
Scott Smith (Sheffield) |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
|
6 |
|
Lee Richardson (Reading) |
3 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
X |
|
6 |
|
David Walsh (Berwick) |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
4 |
|
Paul Thorp (Hull) |
3 |
R |
|
|
3 |
||
|
Martin Dixon (Berwick) |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
F |
|
3 |
|
Steve Masters (Isle of Wight) |
1 |
1 |
0 |
T |
1 |
|
3 |
|
Derrol Keats (Sheffield) [Reserve] |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
Mick Powell (Glasgow) |
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
|
1 |
With Carr and Cunningham going straight through to the final, Stonehewer, Pedersen, Watson and Lanham were fighting for the last two places in the final.
Semi-Final: Nicki Pedersen, Carl Stonehewer, Craig Watson, Leigh Lanham [63.8]
Pedersen was ahead from the start but Stonehewer delighted the home crowd by passing Watson to clinch a final place.
Final: Glen Cunningham, Carl Stonehewer, Peter Carr, Nicki Pedersen [62.8]
Carr took gate 1, Cunningham gate 2, Pedersen gate 3 and Stonehewer gate 4. Cunningham got the drop and was never going to be caught after Carr missed the start. Stonehewer came round from the 'bad' gate 4 to pass Carr and take second place.
The battle of the three foremost Owlerton specialists in the Premier League ended with Cunningham a deserved winner. Peter Carr had the edge on the others in the qualifying heats beating Cunningham in heat 1 and Stonehewer in heat 14. However he missed out in the sudden death final.
John Lowe