Comets snatch Pairs title
Last updated 08:01, Friday, 04 July 2008
WORKINGTON Comets Daniel Nermark and Kauko Nieminen produced a remarkable performance to win the Premier League Best Pairs championship at the Oak Tree Arena, Somerset.
The home duo of Jason Doyle and Emil Kramer had taken the majority of the points in all the races they had contested - apart from the final.
It was a terrific effort by the Comets pair to give Workington their fifth win in the competition since 1999.
They had finished behind Somerset in the group with 23 points - Nermark 12, Nieminen 11 - as a 7-2 over the Isle of Wight in their last race clinched their semi-final place.
The Rebels won with 26 points (Doyle 13, Kramer 13) followed by the Comets, the Isle of Wight 14 (Glen Phillips 2, Jason Bunyan 14), Redcar Bears 12 (Gary Havelock 3, Ty Procter 12), Newcastle Diamonds 12 (Josef Franc 2, Christian Henry 10).
In the other group Sheffield Tigers led the way with 26 points (Ricky Ashworth 13, Andre Compton 13) and were followed by Reading Racers (Ulrich Ostergaard 16, Mark Lemon 5), Rye House 20 (Chris Neath 11,Tommy Allen 9), Edinburgh Monarchs 15 (William Lawson 3, Matthew Wethers 12), Birmingham Brummies 10 (Jamie Birkinshaw 0, Craig Watson 10).
Workington scored a 6-3 over Sheffield to book their place in the final as Compton split Nermark and Nieminen.
In a controversial second semi-final many people thought Lemon had pinched third on the line for Reading but the verdict by referee Graham Flint went Somerset's way for a 5-4.
Video evidence later showed that Lemon, had in fact grabbed third sport for the Racers, but that replay facility was not available to the referee who had to make his decision on what he saw.
Reading beat Sheffield in the third-place play-off and then the Workington duo became the first to lower Somerset's colours as they snatched a magnificent win.
Doyle led throughout, pursued strongly by Nieminen and Nermark with Kramer adrift and out of the points.
That would have been good enough under the competition’s scoring system for the Comets to win so Doyle had to try and do something.
He opted to try and slow things down on the final turn to allow his partner to come through and get into the points but it backfired on him.
Nermark nipped through to win the race and Nieminen held off Kramer to finish third and the points margin of 6-3 meant the silverware was heading back to Derwent Park.
Throughout the meeting there were some outstanding duels with the racing fast, furious and always exciting - a tribute to the riders and to the Somerset track staff.
Workington team manager Ian Thomas, a stalwart of the speedway scene for 40 years, thought it was the second best meeting he had seen in all that time.
Thomas said: “I’m not just saying it because Workington won but it was sensational, a credit to the Premier League because some of the racing was just breath-taking.
“I’ve always thought that a meeting at Wimbledon in 1980, when I managed England for the first time in a match with the USA which ended in a draw, was the best meeting I had ever witness but this one ran it close.”
Popular Workington skipper Nieminen said: “It was the greatest moment of my career in British speedway. It was a bit special and one I will always remember.”
Nermark, Workington’s new number one this season and a leading rider in the Premier League, added: “It was always going to take a bit of winning and I’m glad we were able to get there in the end.”
Nieminen had already ridden in Denmark and Sweden during the week before rushing back to Britain to ride in the Pairs.
No sooner was he finished there than it was off to Slovenia to contest a World Team Cup match for Finland, alongside his Workington team-mate Tomi Reima.
They finished second with 40 points behind the winners Czech Republic (59) while the hosts Slovenia were third on 35 and Italy, including ex-Comet Mattia Carpanese who scored three, fourth with 16 points.
Nieminen scored 12 points for his country while Reima, currently back home while he sorts out a family health care problem, notched six.
Workington’s Carl Stonehewer was guesting again on Sunday for Glasgow Tigers at Mildenhall in a Premier League match and scored nine and two bonus points in a 56-35 win.
Second string Joe Haines was also riding on Sunday as he top-scored with 14 points and a bonus in Boston’s 62-25 home win in the Conference League over Sittingbourne.
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