15 June 2011
Posted in
Birmingham Brummies
This was a better performance from Danny, back at his former Peterborough track, but there is still improvement to come from him and the Brummies as they were defeated 53-41 at the East of England Showground.
Speed is still an issue for King, although there is no problem with his gating illustrated in heat seven as he jetted from the gate to win the race; a shared 3-3 keeping the scores tight at 23-19. Either side of that Danny posted third places, having good battles with Troy Batchelor in heat three and Linus Sundstrom in heat ten before having to settle for a solitary point each time.
By heat 14, the battle was on for the Brummies to rescue a single match point, and at 46-34 in arrears, team manager Graham Drury opted to give Danny a tactical double points ride in a bid to reduce the deficit. Danny managed a second place for four points behind Troy Batchelor, which combined with Claus Vissing’s third place, meant another 5-3 heat result, the same as Ben Barker achieved earlier in the meeting.
The lack of speed problem reared its ugly head for Danny again in the nominated heat as although he missed the gate, he was on the pace. A mistake by Nicki Pedersen put the Brummies pairing of King and the impressive Daniel Nermark on a 5-1 which, if held, would have secured that match point. Batchelor went by the pair as the race progressed however and Pedersen recovered to pinch third place ahead of Danny.
Once again a frustrating night!
It now has to be onwards and hopefully upwards for Danny with his all important Grand Prix qualifier next on the agenda in Esbjerg, Denmark on Friday evening (17th June). His next team action is Birmingham’s return clash with Peterborough next Thursday (tapes up 7.45pm).
Peterborough 53 Nicki Pedersen 13, Linus Sundstrom 7+1, Kacper Gomolski 3+2, Troy Batchelor 13, Krzysztof Buczkowski 7+1, Norbert Kosciuch 10+1 and Richard Lawson 0
Birmingham 41 Krzysztof Kasprzak 2, Ulrich Ostergaard 3, Ben Barker 7, Danny King 9, Daniel Nermark 12, James Wright 2 and Claus Vissing 6+3