Swanage slumped to their 2nd defeat of the season as the Redwings won 43-45 at Days Park in a welcome away win for the the Redwings. Brad Simpson led the way with 13pts but the pairing of Simpson with Darren Edwards continues to look very good. Between the 2 of them they bagged paid 25pts which included 2 5-1's in their first 2 races. All of the top 5 chipped in with points and Matty Preston looked good for his paid 6.
Tim Springfield made it into his 2nd British Final by winning his last race at Evesham to avoid a run off for the last places. In a tough meeting start and finished with a win on his way to 8pts and 6th place on a night world U21 Champion Will Norris crashed out.
The Redwings blew off any cobwebs with a comfortable 51-39 win in the end over the Evesham Stars that sent the home fans happy. Captain Lee Peron just back in the country was top scorer with paid 15pts but Darren Edwards looked good as well with paid 14pts. The Stars opened up well with the Tim Springfield picking just 1 point up from his first 2 rides before changing his bike and winning his last 2 races as the Redwings were first the flag in every race after Heat 10 as the Redwing team upped their game to see off Evesham.
Tipton have been advised that Tim Springfield will be in the Evesham round of the British SF and this will allow many Tipton fans to make the trip down the M5 to support the Tipton #1 rider.
Lee Peron is through to the European rounds of the World Championships after finishing 3rd in the Australasian Qualifier. Coming off his first Australian Championship win this was going to be a big test as so many top riders have failed to get past this round. However this time all the names made it with the Hawks Leigh Langley winning and Houston's Cane Richardson coming 2nd having beat Lee Peron in a run off for the podium places. Rory McMillan also made it through the tough match with a relatively easy 5th place on the night.
Lee Peron started the season flying with a undefeated 15pts to win his first ever Australian Championship Crown in Sydney. On a track that was helpful for passing Lee made the most of this with some fine passes, none better than over Cane Richardson. This seemed to please Lee after the clash last season which put Peron out of the meeting after clashing with the Houston rider. The 15pts put Lee 2 pts ahead of the Peter O'Brien in 2nd place and 5pts ahead of 3rd place Mark Palmar.
Brad Simpson took his first rides on the Tipton track under the eye of the Press and TV along side Tim Springfield for a media only session till 2 pm yesterday. After interviews with the press Brad spent 3 hours trying different set ups with his father before heading off to the Supporters club with the Management to be introduced to the fans.
Tipton Star Brad Simpson arrived in the UK today at Birmingham International with his father today and promptly headed to get some sleep after the long flight from California to the UK. After a few days recuperation Brad will be at the Royal Oak for his first practice on his new track and a meet the press and fans day.
Tipton have been advised that Lee Peron will miss defending the Scottish Open due to timing of the meeting which would have entailed 2 flights across the world to defend the title. Tim Springfield replaces the Tipton captain. Brad Simpson will be in town next week after family issues in the States put his trip back by a week. Tickets for the supporters meeting with Brad Wednesday evening are still on sale.
Tipton announced the first fixtures of the new season today for both the Redwings and the Tedz today, they are now up in the results pages for people to plan around. Tipton have again drawn a hard draw in the KOC with a first round tie with Aisha's Motor having had some close matches last year. Tipton also revealed the signing of 13yr old Andy Scott who comes into the Tedz line up for this season.
Tipton surprised a lot of people by breaking the Tipton transfer record and shelling out £350K for promising American Brad Simpson today. This years WWLS riders champion joins the Redwings from Costa Mesa and will be over next week to sort out his equipment and look around the Redwings home finishing with a evening with the fans after a press conference to officially introduce the rider and the first signings for season 7.It was also announced that Egil Sundsgot had been sold to the Boston Bees while Dave Dolan is now available for transfer due to the move for Simpson.
Egil Sundsgot is the unlucky man in this seasons team who has to make way in season 7. During meetings in the week the 26 yr old Norwegian was informed and his name has now been circulated. It is also known that Dave Dolan is being helped to find a loan spot next season.
Tipton dropped the curtains on the most successful season in the clubs history with the end of season dance last night. It was a great night with all bar 1 or 2 of the senior riders who have represented the team this year turned up along with the YDL guys to meet the fans and toast the end of season. Tim Springfield walked off with just about all the Fan Awards apart from the YDL which was awarded to Marcus Frazer and Matt Preston managed to scoop the "Most Improved" rider.
Tipton turned around the World Club Challenge final going from 6 down to win by 8 after a 2nd half revival which ensured that the Redwings picked up 1 more piece of silverware before the end of the season. Tipton ran out winners 49-41 at Coventry on the back of a marvellous performance by Lee Peron who sparked the revival that upset the London Jags cup hopes. Tipton become the first SL team to win the World Challenge Cup having knocked out the holders Vojens in the first round.
Tipton conceded defeat to the London Jags as the Redwings never really looked likely to pull back the 8pts deficit from the first leg of the contest. The Redwings won 47-43 but it looked like the Jags took their foot off the gas after the aggregate win was all but assured. The Redwings looked tired but in truth maybe the London team just wanted to win that bit more on the night. It was a sad way for such a good season to close at the Royal Oak but the last match for this years team is now tomorrow at Coventry in the final of the World Speedway Championship.
With the current hectic schedule it was a busy day for the Redwings as Tim Springfield and Lee Peron raced back from Denmark for the SLRC at Evesham and Thomas Ibbertson just made it back in time for the Division 1 Riders Championship to take his position at reserve. In the end it didn't do anyone at Tipton any good as Springfield ended up 6th after a first race EF and Lee Peron was 2 places behind him in 8th as both riders and machines didn't look in the top of their form they needed. From all the Championships only Marcus Frazer managed a podium place as Marcus lost a run-off for 2nd place with Steven Rea and ended up with a 3rd place medal in the YDLRC. The only good news for Tipton was the capacity crowd at the Royal Oak as 5,000 fans packed the stadium cheering on Dino Masserati as he took the Division 1 title at the same time as jeering Cradley's Ben Priestley who flopped big time after last years Division 2 title.
Tipton took on the WWLS champions on in their own backyard and came away with a win 47-43 in the World Challenge Semi Final last night. Led ably by the top 3 the team eased their way into the Final against London Jags who also saw off Gothenburg. Lee Peron, Tim Springfield and Rory McMillan showed the home heat leaders a clean pair of heels most of the time and good scores by Darren Edwards and Thomas Ibbertson were enough for the Redwings to go through. No celebrating as all the team rushed to catch the flight home while the mechanics had a tougher route driving the bikes back overnight and catching the ferry back home.
The Redwings headed straight from the London match to Stansted where they will be flying out at 6pm tonight for Copenhagen where they will be staying overnight before travelling down to Vojens for the match on Monday night.
The Redwings managed their best score ever at London by only losing 49-41 despite a last heat 5-1 by Jamie Simmons and Jan Kirsten in Heat 15 which doubled the Jags lead. Tim Springfield bounced back from the Huntingdon match with a fine 15 points despite the repeat of the rough track conditions that the Redwings saw last time they were in London. Lee Peron also scored 9+1 while Thomas Ibbertson again looked handy at reserve. The 2nd leg is back at Tipton on Wednesday.
1 Karasinksi, Andrzej Sheffield 8.99
2 Johnsen, Rune Coventry 8.91
3 Fossitt, Mark Seaton 8.67
4 Majors, Brandon Cradley 8.60
5 Oxley, Josh Leicester 8.24
6 Rayburn, Carl Bexwell 8.43
7 Mazzerati, Dino Lichfield 9.09
8 Kleinendorst, Karl Tayside 8.43
9 Preistley, Ben Cradley 8.32
10 Olsen, Mark Coalville 8.48
11 Gabovka, Tomas Tayside 8.26
12 Jedek, Jiri Seaton 9.20
13 Reiner, Rickard Evesham 8.16
14 Webb, Richard Lichfield 8.52
15 Harris, Hayden Evesham 8.19
16 McKeen, Scott Coalville 8.39
Reserves
17 Ibbertson, Harry Tipton 3.00
18 Ibbertson, Thomas Tipton 4.16
Preview
coming in Track Talk section.
For the first time since the SuperLeague
started the
format of the Steve Hodgson Memorial trophy has changed. No longer is
run between the winners of the SL and the Division 1 any more, now it's
a match up of the SuperLeague winners and the KOC champions. That means
Tipton run into the London Jags over 2 legs starting this Sunday in
London. The normally slick Clerkenwell Bowl is not usually a happy
hunting ground for Tipton as the home team are usually very good on the
dry and slick surface led ably by their only recognised star in Jan
Kirsten. Both teams come into this match on the back of losses to the
Huntingdon Hawks as Paul Rush's team blazed it's way to the SL
Divisional Cup, so it will be a big test for both teams to bounce back.
No doubt both promoters will be keen come back and win if nothing else
for the bragging rights over each other.
Traditionally both teams are pretty poor at each others track and last
time Tipton were at London the home team prepared one of the worst
tracks Tipton have had to ride on but the Redwings had the last laugh
as Tipton still did enough for the bonus and the SuperLeague title.
The Hawks certainly took revenge for the beatings the Redwings have dealt them this season by blitzing the Redwings in the last few heats for a convincing win in the SuperLeague Divisional Cup 40-49. The Redwings struggled all night to win heats and in the end it was an easy win for the Hawks as all 3 Tipton heat leaders struggled none more so than Tim Springfield but overall the team was not on best form in the match.
The Tipton Redwings nominated Marcus Frazer for the YDLRC next week, this wont come as a surprise to any fans of the YDL winning Tedz where Frazer has been the leading light most of the season. Word also is around that Michael Burns is on the verge of signing for the Redwings for next season, but this remains to be confirmed.
The Tipton Redwings showed they have not let up after winning the SuperLeague after a comfortable 8pt win over Yeovil in the Divisional Cup Semi Final on Sunday. Led by Tim Springfield and Rory McMillan the Redwings controlled the match from the off and with all the team contributing the Redwings eased into the Final in front of the biggest crowd of the season at the Royal Oak Stadium.
Tim Springfield scored paid 17 points as he led the Redwings to a crunching victory over Swanage as the Redwings turned over a 12 point Swanage lead with 3 5-1's in the last 3 heats to sneak past the Swans into the Divisional Cup Semi Final. Tipton were 12 down by Heat 5 and looked dead and buried until the storming finish.
Tipton team manager Aldous Toady announced changes in the team for the Divisional Cup matches this week with the recall of Dave Dolan and Thomas Ibbertson to the team. The Management also commented that the fact that Sundsgot and Buxton had been dropped should not be taken as an indication for next season.
Tipton team manager Aldous Toady has announced he will quit the Redwings after 5 years in the job at the end of this season. Toady told the team of his intentions the week before the final match at London although inside sources say that this comes as no surprise. No news at the moment of his replacement for next season.
All the management, riders and fans of the Redwings let their hair down as Mad Max's nightclub at the Royal Oak was jumping as all 3 trophies were brought together for the first time as the riders and fans had their pictures taken as the food and drink flowed during the night.In a record breaking season the Redwings have picked up 3 major trophies and become the first team ever to retain a National Trophy when they kept hold of the 4TT Trophy. In addition the Tedz scooped the national YDL trophy for the first time so it was easily the best season in the history of Tipton . The formal end of season Dinner and Dance is at the end of June but the club decided with next week being free of matches there was no need to wait that long to see the trophies.
The biggest cheer of the night came in the middle of Heat 14 as the texts started arriving telling the Redwings fans that Aisha's had lost at Yeovil and that Tipton were guaranteed the Championship. Despite a typically poor showing at London where the Jags showed Tipton the way home the fans kept cheering as the bonus point looked to be going down to the last heat but Rory McMillan and Darren Edwards split Heat 14 to save the bonus . After the race the 2 Redwings were met at the pits gate and given the bumps by the rest of the Redwings riders and pit crew as the the celebrations began in earnest after the last of the racing.