Brummies 48 Isle of Wight 42

Jun 21 2007 By Mike Berry, Birmingham Mail

MERCOM Brummies secured a Premier League victory at Perry Barr last night - despite a peerless maximum from Aussie prospect Chris Holder.

Birmingham had no individual to match the untouchable Holder, who rattled off a classy 15-pointer, but their greater strength in depth saw them home.

With Holder's only consistent support coming from ex-Coventry rider Jason Bunyan, the Brummies established an early eight point lead, and it gave them enough to defend for the rest of the meeting.

Emiliano Sanchez repassed Bunyan in a classic duel in heat seven, while reserve Ben Powell shared in 5-1s in his first two outings, and also came through for second place off a 15-metre penalty after he touched the tapes in heat eight.

Birmingham's lead hovered between eight and 10 points for a time, but the plucky Islanders launched a comeback in the second half of the meeting when Holder helped Aussie colleague Cory Gathercole home to a 5-1 in heat 11.

But skipper Jason Lyons got the better of Bunyan in heat 12 to put the Brummies back in charge, and shared points in the next two races were enough to secure victory.

There was no way past Holder in the last race, but Birmingham's better team performance saw them through, with Powell and reserve partner Lee Smart prominent throughout and Sanchez winning his first two rides.

Tonight the Brummies travel to Sheffield looking for a big improvement on their first visit to Owlerton in the Premier Trophy in April. On that occasion they were thumped 62-31.