Young reserve rider Richard Sweetman is Brummie hero again

Jul 13 2009 by Nigel Pearson, Birmingham Mail

RESERVE sensation Richard Sweetman surpassed even his own recent efforts as the Brummies went level on points at the top of the Premier League last night.

Second and third-placed Birmingham and Workington were neck-and-neck going into the meeting, and the two sides served up an incident-filled fixture with drama almost from start to finish.

Sweetman, who recently scored a five-ride paid maximum against Stoke and then dropped one point out of 21 against Berwick on Wednesday, was paid for the lot from seven rides in an unbelievable run of form.

And skipper Jason Lyons was at his vintage best with a full 18-point maximum too, reeling off six classy wins with a number of expert moves on the first two bends.

The 38 points from Lyons and Sweetman combined were certainly required, because Tomasz Piszcz suffered a nightmare evening with mechanical trouble in his first ride and he then crashed heavily in Heat 10, suffering shoulder ligament damage in a fourth-bend spill.

But the Comets, too, were in the wars, with Adrian Rymel crashing yards from the flag in Heat 4, and though he took two more outings the Czech was unable to complete the meeting.

And visiting captain Kevin Doolan was involved in a bizarre end to Heat 11 when his throttle stuck as he completed the race.

Though he sensibly jumped off his machine, with its cut-out mechanism damaged, cartwheeled on to the centre green.

The Australian then received a shock when he attempted to shut the bike down, before taking a bow to the Perry Barr crowd on the home straight.

Brummies took control of the match with three 5-1s in the first six races, albeit the first of those was fortunate when Rymel crashed when he was ahead of Robert Ksiezak and Ludvig Lindgren.

Lyons then denied Rymel when the Workington star took a tactical ride in Heat 7, and the Brummies maintained an eight-point lead through six shared races – three of which were won by the inspired Sweetman, who superbly overtook Rymel to win Heat 10.

The home side made sure of their victory when the youngster completed his full house in emphatic style in Heat 14, with Lindgren salvaging third place from John Branney but then blowing his engine at the end of the race.

Workington could still have snatched a point in Heat 15 and the Brummies were struggling for men and machinery with Sweetman having completed seven rides – but his bike came to the rescue for an eighth unbeaten outing with Lindgren aboard.

Lyons rode a superb first bend to take Doolan wide, Lindgren read the move and held the inside line to shoot into second place, and the Brummies had their maximum points in front of another big and appreciative Perry Barr crowd.

BIRMINGHAM 53: Richard Sweetman 20+1, Jason Lyons 18, Ludvig Lindgren 8+3, Robert Ksiezak 5, Tomasz Piszcz 2+1, Jay Herne 0, Manuel Hauzinger r/r.

WORKINGTON 39: Kevin Doolan 10, Andre Compton 6+1, Craig Cook 6+1, Adrian Rymel 6, John Branney 4+4, Charles Wright r/r.