Post by Mr X on Jun 2, 2005 22:37:08 GMT
Thursday 2nd June 2005. Elite League (A)
Oxford Silver Machine 50
1. Greg Hancock 3-2*-1*-3-3-3 = 15+2
2. Travis McGowan 1-2*-3-0-2 = 8+1
3. Jesper B Jensen 3-3-2-2-3-2* = 15+1
4. Mikael Makovsky 2*-2*-0-0-1 = 5+2
5. Stefan Andersson R/R
6. Tomas Bajerski 1-3-0-1-2*-0-EF = 7+1
7. Henrik Gustafsson Fx = 0
Wolverhampton Wolves 45
1. Mikael Max 2-0-1-1-1* = 5+1
2. Ronnie Correy 0-EF-4*-EF = 4+1
3. Fredrik Lindgren 1-6-3-3-1*-Tx = 14+1
4. Steve Johnston 0-EF-1-0-2* = 3+1
5. David Howe R/R
6. Magnus Karlsson 3-1-1-2-0 = 7
7. Krzysztof Pecyna 2*-1-3-2-3-1 = 12+1
Match report compiled from the Sky Sports Coverage.
Track Conditions: grippy starts, hard packed inside and grippy outside on the rest of the track.
1. Hancock, Max, McGowan, Correy. 4-2, 4-2
Oxford take gates 1 and 3 and make the start. Hancock tries to team ride but McGowan is not quite quick enough around the outside. Mikael spots his chance and drives inside McGowan for 2nd on lap 2, a good ride from Mike. Ronnie is well behind at the back.
2. Karlsson, Pecyna, Bajerski, Gustafsson (FX) 1-5, 5-7
Wolves pairing make a superb start but Henka goes straight on and hits the fence on the first bend (he’s excluded). Henka is riding as number 11(!) made up of two straight pieces of sticky tape, with his name written on the back of the shirt in biro. How professional are Oxford? He walks back to the pits holding his left hand and there’s a long delay… eventually it is announced that he is out of the meeting with the injury. In the rerun, Magnus gates again with Bajerski 2nd but Tomas has forgotten to turn his fuel on (D’OH!) and slows, allowing KP past for the Wolves 5-1!
3. Jensen, Makovsky, Lindgren, Johnston. 5-1, 10-8
Freddie is moving at the start and is caught out badly when the tapes go up. Jensen is away for the win with Makovsky in second. Johnno tries the outside but Makovsky clatters into him on lap 2 bend 1 and Johnno’s race is effectively over. Freddie makes the ground up but somehow Makovsky hangs on to second as Freddie can’t quite pass him. The track is quite rough and it’s more by luck than judgement that he hangs onto second.
4. Bajerski, McGowan, Pecyna, Max. 5-1, 15-9
Bajerski’s bike stops before the start and he has to jump onto Hancock’s machine. Mikael is in as R/R off the unfavoured gate 4. Once again it’s the riders on 1 and 3 (the home pair) who fly out of the start. Mikael tries the outside line on bend 2 but is taken wide by McGowan and goes to the back. He is unable to find a way past Pecyna(!) and although McGowan makes a huge mistake at the front he still hangs on in second for the Oxford 5-1.
5. Jensen, Makovsky, Max, Correy(EF). 5-1, 20-10
Jesper gates and Ronnie’s bike expires on the 1st bend, stopping dead in front of Mikael and gifting Oxford the 5-1. Mikael is unable to pass Makovsky and it’s another home 5-1. Aaarrrggghhh!
6. McGowan, Hancock, Karlsson, Johnston(EF). 5-1, 25-11
This is getting ridiculous now. Oxford gate yet again… Johnston has McGowan under pressure for 2nd place but Hancock waits to help out his partner. Johnno’s bike expires on the last lap and it’s a 4th successive 5-1 for Oxford. Wolves are falling apart against half an Oxford team.
7. Lindgren (TS), Jensen, Johnston, Bajerski. 2-7, 27-18
Freddie’s nominated as a tactical from gate 1 and gates first. He rides a wide line for a couple of laps and is put under huge pressure from Jensen. Freddie holds on and with Johnno 3rd, it’s a Wolves 7-2 and the deficit is down to “just” nine.
8. Pecyna, Correy (TS), Bajerski, McGowan. 1-7, 28-25
Ronnie’s nominated for double points. KP flies out of the start with Ronnie 2nd for 4 laps… Pecyna never looks back and wins the race. How can a rider known for looking over his shoulder far too much not bother to look for his partner when they are on double points? Peter Adams explains after the race that they made it perfectly clear to KP what was required but…
9. Lindgren, Jensen, Karlsson, Makovsky. 2-4, 30-29
Wolves make the start (1 and 3 again) but Jesper is flying. He rounds Magnus and has caught Fredrik by the end but Freddie holds on.
10. Lindgren, McGowan, Hancock, Johnston. 3-3, 33-32
McGowan gates but Freddie squeezes Hancock out on bend 2 and then powers around McGowan on the back straight… fantastic stuff from Freddie. Hancock tries everything around the outside as Johnno pushes McGowan hard on the inside. It stays that way until the very last bend when Hancock just catches Johnno on the line. It’s a photo finish and the referee Chris Gay initially gives it to Johnno but corrects himself on a second viewing of the replay! This was a great ride by Hancock… Johnno did little wrong as if he’d have gone wide to try to pass McGowan then Hancock would certainly have passed him on the inside.
11. Hancock, Bajerski, Max, Correy (EF) 5-1, 38-33
Ronnie’s bike stops again on the 1st bend. Easy win for Hancock and Mikael makes a very poor effort of racing Bajerski who holds him off easily. Terrible riding again from Mikael.
12. Jensen, Karlsson, Lindgren, Bajerski. 3-3, 41-36
Freddie’s off the dreaded gate 4 which offers nothing tonight. He’s stranded at the back but charges past Bajerski in aggressive fashion on the 3rd lap. Why can’t Mikael show this sort of aggression? Another fine win from Jesper… can we have him back now please?
13. Hancock, Pecyna, Max, Makovsky. 3-3, 44-39
Mikael’s off gate 1 but it’s another very poor effort from him. Pecyna is a genuine 2nd to Hancock as he passes Mikael easily.
14. Pecyna, Johnston, Makovsky, Bajerski (EF) 1-5, 45-44
Oxford off 1 and 3 but make a terrible hash of the start, moving and rearing at the start. Pecyna is away from the dreaded gate 4 for an easy 5-1 to set up a last heat decider.
15. Hancock, Jensen, Pecyna, Karlsson, Lindgren (Tx) 5-1, 50-45
Oxford win the vital toss for gates 1 and 3. Peter Adams nominates Lindgren… and Pecyna! My hopes sink… OK, you can argue that he deserves the ride more than Mikael or Johnno, but what chance of him beating Hancock or Jensen? At the start, Jensen is anxious and almost touches the tapes off the inside… Freddie off gate 2 follows him and touches them! The referee watches the replay and excludes Lindgren! I disagree with this decision totally – Jesper clearly moved – an unsatisfactory start if ever I saw one. Magnus comes out to replace him and actually gates over Jesper in the rerun. Hancock is away for an easy win with Pecyna and Karlsson filling the minor placings but they are too slow and Jensen sweeps around the outside of both of them coming out of the 4th bend. At least the lost point in heat 8 didn’t come back to haunt us.
How on earth did we lose that one? Will we ever get a better chance of an away win? Oxford are bottom of the league, have a PL rider in for Iversen, lose Stefan Andersson through illness and Henka Gustafsson in his first ride… and they still beat us! In truth only the extra tactical points made it a close match, the depleted home side scoring a genuine 50 points.
Five Star Ratings
Mikael: Zero. Nil. Nothing. Zilch. No gating, no speed, no aggression, no stars. An appalling performance for a number one rider to lose to riders like Bajerski (twice!) and Makovsky.
Ronnie: * How do you rate a night like he had? A very slow ride, a very good paid win in heat 8 and two engine failures on the first bend.
Fredrik: **** Another excellent away match from the young Swede. Apparently he seized his bike in his first ride and afterwards rode a bike set up for Peterborough… and still produced some excellent riding from the front or the back. Very unlucky to be tempted into the tapes in heat 15 and it should have been rerun.
Steve: * A poor score on a track he knows so well. Couldn’t gate but to be honest he tried really hard and was unlucky not to score a few more… but it should have been much better.
Magnus: *** Did his job very nicely. Beat Bajerski and Makovsky comfortably which was more than his brother managed!
KP: **** Very good performance, although heats 2 and 14 were gift wrapped for him by the home riders. Rode a wide, fast line and easily outperformed more experienced team mates.
Weather: **** Well it was dry… and warm in my living room!
Track conditions: ** Quite rough at the start. Passing was very difficult and the gates were VERY uneven, gate 1 was a huge advantage and gate 4 absolutely awful.
Attendance: *** Just the three of us tonight, though Gemma spent more time watching the TV in the other room. Oh sorry, I misunderstood… looked about average at Oxford.
Wolves’ performance: * Bloody awful… how on earth did we lose to that side?
Entertainment value: *** Close finish. We lost.
Man of the Match: Freddie Lindgren – the only Wolf to beat Hancock and Jensen and he dragged us back into the match with 3 successive heat wins mid meeting. Pecyna gets a very honourable mention though.
Referee (Chris Gay) * Didn’t have much to do… but he almost got the order wrong in heat 10 and he certainly cocked up the last heat which should have been rerun with all four after Jesper moved at the start.
Good reasons to watch on Sky
• It saved us the hassle of rushing there straight from work.
• It saved us £80.
• It’s not so far to go home when you lose
• It saved Lupus from getting banned after throwing something at Mikael. (She threw one of Gemma’s toys at the TV instead)
Good reasons to have gone to Oxford
• Jonathon “inane grin” Green.
• To avoid the shame of watching us lose to half a team on live TV.
• Jonathon Sodding Green talking rubbish about his beloved Grand Prix.
• The atmosphere (?). Well, OK, the shared misery and disappointment.
• Jonathon Bloody Green talking drivel with Billy Hamill.
What else can I say? How on earth did we lose that? Was this really the same Wolves side who rode so brilliantly at Peterborough last Friday? I’m off for a lie down…
Mark Rowe.
Oxford Silver Machine 50
1. Greg Hancock 3-2*-1*-3-3-3 = 15+2
2. Travis McGowan 1-2*-3-0-2 = 8+1
3. Jesper B Jensen 3-3-2-2-3-2* = 15+1
4. Mikael Makovsky 2*-2*-0-0-1 = 5+2
5. Stefan Andersson R/R
6. Tomas Bajerski 1-3-0-1-2*-0-EF = 7+1
7. Henrik Gustafsson Fx = 0
Wolverhampton Wolves 45
1. Mikael Max 2-0-1-1-1* = 5+1
2. Ronnie Correy 0-EF-4*-EF = 4+1
3. Fredrik Lindgren 1-6-3-3-1*-Tx = 14+1
4. Steve Johnston 0-EF-1-0-2* = 3+1
5. David Howe R/R
6. Magnus Karlsson 3-1-1-2-0 = 7
7. Krzysztof Pecyna 2*-1-3-2-3-1 = 12+1
Match report compiled from the Sky Sports Coverage.
Track Conditions: grippy starts, hard packed inside and grippy outside on the rest of the track.
1. Hancock, Max, McGowan, Correy. 4-2, 4-2
Oxford take gates 1 and 3 and make the start. Hancock tries to team ride but McGowan is not quite quick enough around the outside. Mikael spots his chance and drives inside McGowan for 2nd on lap 2, a good ride from Mike. Ronnie is well behind at the back.
2. Karlsson, Pecyna, Bajerski, Gustafsson (FX) 1-5, 5-7
Wolves pairing make a superb start but Henka goes straight on and hits the fence on the first bend (he’s excluded). Henka is riding as number 11(!) made up of two straight pieces of sticky tape, with his name written on the back of the shirt in biro. How professional are Oxford? He walks back to the pits holding his left hand and there’s a long delay… eventually it is announced that he is out of the meeting with the injury. In the rerun, Magnus gates again with Bajerski 2nd but Tomas has forgotten to turn his fuel on (D’OH!) and slows, allowing KP past for the Wolves 5-1!
3. Jensen, Makovsky, Lindgren, Johnston. 5-1, 10-8
Freddie is moving at the start and is caught out badly when the tapes go up. Jensen is away for the win with Makovsky in second. Johnno tries the outside but Makovsky clatters into him on lap 2 bend 1 and Johnno’s race is effectively over. Freddie makes the ground up but somehow Makovsky hangs on to second as Freddie can’t quite pass him. The track is quite rough and it’s more by luck than judgement that he hangs onto second.
4. Bajerski, McGowan, Pecyna, Max. 5-1, 15-9
Bajerski’s bike stops before the start and he has to jump onto Hancock’s machine. Mikael is in as R/R off the unfavoured gate 4. Once again it’s the riders on 1 and 3 (the home pair) who fly out of the start. Mikael tries the outside line on bend 2 but is taken wide by McGowan and goes to the back. He is unable to find a way past Pecyna(!) and although McGowan makes a huge mistake at the front he still hangs on in second for the Oxford 5-1.
5. Jensen, Makovsky, Max, Correy(EF). 5-1, 20-10
Jesper gates and Ronnie’s bike expires on the 1st bend, stopping dead in front of Mikael and gifting Oxford the 5-1. Mikael is unable to pass Makovsky and it’s another home 5-1. Aaarrrggghhh!
6. McGowan, Hancock, Karlsson, Johnston(EF). 5-1, 25-11
This is getting ridiculous now. Oxford gate yet again… Johnston has McGowan under pressure for 2nd place but Hancock waits to help out his partner. Johnno’s bike expires on the last lap and it’s a 4th successive 5-1 for Oxford. Wolves are falling apart against half an Oxford team.
7. Lindgren (TS), Jensen, Johnston, Bajerski. 2-7, 27-18
Freddie’s nominated as a tactical from gate 1 and gates first. He rides a wide line for a couple of laps and is put under huge pressure from Jensen. Freddie holds on and with Johnno 3rd, it’s a Wolves 7-2 and the deficit is down to “just” nine.
8. Pecyna, Correy (TS), Bajerski, McGowan. 1-7, 28-25
Ronnie’s nominated for double points. KP flies out of the start with Ronnie 2nd for 4 laps… Pecyna never looks back and wins the race. How can a rider known for looking over his shoulder far too much not bother to look for his partner when they are on double points? Peter Adams explains after the race that they made it perfectly clear to KP what was required but…
9. Lindgren, Jensen, Karlsson, Makovsky. 2-4, 30-29
Wolves make the start (1 and 3 again) but Jesper is flying. He rounds Magnus and has caught Fredrik by the end but Freddie holds on.
10. Lindgren, McGowan, Hancock, Johnston. 3-3, 33-32
McGowan gates but Freddie squeezes Hancock out on bend 2 and then powers around McGowan on the back straight… fantastic stuff from Freddie. Hancock tries everything around the outside as Johnno pushes McGowan hard on the inside. It stays that way until the very last bend when Hancock just catches Johnno on the line. It’s a photo finish and the referee Chris Gay initially gives it to Johnno but corrects himself on a second viewing of the replay! This was a great ride by Hancock… Johnno did little wrong as if he’d have gone wide to try to pass McGowan then Hancock would certainly have passed him on the inside.
11. Hancock, Bajerski, Max, Correy (EF) 5-1, 38-33
Ronnie’s bike stops again on the 1st bend. Easy win for Hancock and Mikael makes a very poor effort of racing Bajerski who holds him off easily. Terrible riding again from Mikael.
12. Jensen, Karlsson, Lindgren, Bajerski. 3-3, 41-36
Freddie’s off the dreaded gate 4 which offers nothing tonight. He’s stranded at the back but charges past Bajerski in aggressive fashion on the 3rd lap. Why can’t Mikael show this sort of aggression? Another fine win from Jesper… can we have him back now please?
13. Hancock, Pecyna, Max, Makovsky. 3-3, 44-39
Mikael’s off gate 1 but it’s another very poor effort from him. Pecyna is a genuine 2nd to Hancock as he passes Mikael easily.
14. Pecyna, Johnston, Makovsky, Bajerski (EF) 1-5, 45-44
Oxford off 1 and 3 but make a terrible hash of the start, moving and rearing at the start. Pecyna is away from the dreaded gate 4 for an easy 5-1 to set up a last heat decider.
15. Hancock, Jensen, Pecyna, Karlsson, Lindgren (Tx) 5-1, 50-45
Oxford win the vital toss for gates 1 and 3. Peter Adams nominates Lindgren… and Pecyna! My hopes sink… OK, you can argue that he deserves the ride more than Mikael or Johnno, but what chance of him beating Hancock or Jensen? At the start, Jensen is anxious and almost touches the tapes off the inside… Freddie off gate 2 follows him and touches them! The referee watches the replay and excludes Lindgren! I disagree with this decision totally – Jesper clearly moved – an unsatisfactory start if ever I saw one. Magnus comes out to replace him and actually gates over Jesper in the rerun. Hancock is away for an easy win with Pecyna and Karlsson filling the minor placings but they are too slow and Jensen sweeps around the outside of both of them coming out of the 4th bend. At least the lost point in heat 8 didn’t come back to haunt us.
How on earth did we lose that one? Will we ever get a better chance of an away win? Oxford are bottom of the league, have a PL rider in for Iversen, lose Stefan Andersson through illness and Henka Gustafsson in his first ride… and they still beat us! In truth only the extra tactical points made it a close match, the depleted home side scoring a genuine 50 points.
Five Star Ratings
Mikael: Zero. Nil. Nothing. Zilch. No gating, no speed, no aggression, no stars. An appalling performance for a number one rider to lose to riders like Bajerski (twice!) and Makovsky.
Ronnie: * How do you rate a night like he had? A very slow ride, a very good paid win in heat 8 and two engine failures on the first bend.
Fredrik: **** Another excellent away match from the young Swede. Apparently he seized his bike in his first ride and afterwards rode a bike set up for Peterborough… and still produced some excellent riding from the front or the back. Very unlucky to be tempted into the tapes in heat 15 and it should have been rerun.
Steve: * A poor score on a track he knows so well. Couldn’t gate but to be honest he tried really hard and was unlucky not to score a few more… but it should have been much better.
Magnus: *** Did his job very nicely. Beat Bajerski and Makovsky comfortably which was more than his brother managed!
KP: **** Very good performance, although heats 2 and 14 were gift wrapped for him by the home riders. Rode a wide, fast line and easily outperformed more experienced team mates.
Weather: **** Well it was dry… and warm in my living room!
Track conditions: ** Quite rough at the start. Passing was very difficult and the gates were VERY uneven, gate 1 was a huge advantage and gate 4 absolutely awful.
Attendance: *** Just the three of us tonight, though Gemma spent more time watching the TV in the other room. Oh sorry, I misunderstood… looked about average at Oxford.
Wolves’ performance: * Bloody awful… how on earth did we lose to that side?
Entertainment value: *** Close finish. We lost.
Man of the Match: Freddie Lindgren – the only Wolf to beat Hancock and Jensen and he dragged us back into the match with 3 successive heat wins mid meeting. Pecyna gets a very honourable mention though.
Referee (Chris Gay) * Didn’t have much to do… but he almost got the order wrong in heat 10 and he certainly cocked up the last heat which should have been rerun with all four after Jesper moved at the start.
Good reasons to watch on Sky
• It saved us the hassle of rushing there straight from work.
• It saved us £80.
• It’s not so far to go home when you lose
• It saved Lupus from getting banned after throwing something at Mikael. (She threw one of Gemma’s toys at the TV instead)
Good reasons to have gone to Oxford
• Jonathon “inane grin” Green.
• To avoid the shame of watching us lose to half a team on live TV.
• Jonathon Sodding Green talking rubbish about his beloved Grand Prix.
• The atmosphere (?). Well, OK, the shared misery and disappointment.
• Jonathon Bloody Green talking drivel with Billy Hamill.
What else can I say? How on earth did we lose that? Was this really the same Wolves side who rode so brilliantly at Peterborough last Friday? I’m off for a lie down…
Mark Rowe.
