Diamond hopes to sparkle in riders' championship.

Byline: BARRY WALLACE

NEWCASTLE'S top Dane Kenni Larsen might not be among the favourites for the Premier League Riders' Championship at Sheffield tomorrow (5.00), but he can certainly make his presence felt and wreck the chances of some of the more fancied racers.

It was exactly a year ago Larsen came over to Britain to see what Premier League racing was all about, riding four matches for the Diamonds - in which he made a huge impression.

Now, towards the end of a successful year for both himself and the Sapphire Engineering Diamonds, Larsen represents the club in an event last won by a Newcastle rider in 1982 - when the legendary Joe Owen lifted the title for a second time.

Sheffield is not a track Kenni knows particularly well.

He has only been there twice this season with the Diamonds, whereas ex-Newcastle captain Andre Compton, now with Workington, returns to one of his former homes where he actually won the PLRC in 2004.

Compton only gets another crack at the major individual championship because both of Workington's top two men, Kevin Doolan (injured) and Adrian Rymel (riding abroad), are ruled out, but no-one should discount his chances.

Premier League champions King's Lynn have two riders in the field - and rightly so - as Darcy Ward and Tomas Topinka have occupied the top two slots in the averages for much of the year. Somerset are the other club whose fans have two men to cheer, as Steve Johnston and Emil Kramer have regularly appeared in the top 10.

Newcastle co-promoter Darryl Illingworth fancies Larsen for a place on the rostrum, but knows the Dane faces a tough task to get there against a strong line-up.

He said: "The way the event is structured nowadays, even if someone gets a 15-point maximum he still cannot be certain of winning the title as there is a semi-final and a final to consider before trophies are handed over.

"Kenni, therefore, needs to finish no lower than sixth to qualify for the semi-final, and who knows what might happen if he gets that far.

"He does not worry about other big names, so he will spoil a few people's chances at least."

The full PLRC line-up (in draw order) is : 1 Kenni Larsen (Newcastle); 2 Steve Johnston (Somerset); 3 Magnus Karlsson (Scunthorpe); 4 Ryan Fisher (Edinburgh); 5 William Lawson (Glasgow); 6 Jordan Frampton (Newport); 7 Andre Compton (Workington); 8 Jason Bunyan (Stoke); 9 Michal Makovsky (Berwick); 10 Ricky Ashworth (Sheffield); 11 Emil Kramer (Somerset); 12 Ty Proctor (Redcar); 13 Tomasz Piszcz (Birmingham); 14 Tomas Topinka (King's Lynn); 15 Darcy Ward (King's Lynn); 16 Chris Neath (Rye House).

CAPTION(S):

CHANCE: Kenni Larsen