PLRC Disappoints
(Posted 02/10/07)

It may have been the Premier League Riders Championship but there was nothing first class about a rather poor meeting at Blunsdon on Sunday, probably more to do with the poor track than the riders.

Firstly though, Trent Leverington. Trent went down and tried his heart out as always. He tended to make the starts but struggled to find any grip on the slick surface particularly in the early stages. He may not have been up there challenging but he gave everything he had and we can ask for no more. At the start of the season many of us expected Trent to perhaps drop to reserve at some stage. Instead he has upped his average by almost 2 points excluding bonus and given his all in the P.L.R.C.

The meeting itself was not an advert for Premier League speedway with the early stages in particular being pretty processional and providing very little passing. From the early stages ex-Tiger Jason Lyons looked very comfortable with Edinburgh's Laukkanen surprising a few by being in contention. In fact had Laukkanen not suffered an engine failure in heat 12 and compounded that with a tapes exclusion in his final outing he would have made the semi and could have caused a surprise.

However it was Workington's James Wright who dominated the qualifying stages, dropping only one point when beaten by the fast gating Nermark. In many ways justice was done when he won the final from Lyons, the two having been by far the best riders on display.

Other than the last few heats however, the meeting was a bit of a damp squib and with a track so poor it was unlikely to do anything to enhance the reputation of Premier League speedway or encourage any non-premier fans to sample Premier League fare.