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GERMAN international Kevin Wolbert will step up to the Elite League full-time with King’s Lynn next season.Wolbert had a highly successful spell with Poole in late-2011, helping the Pirates to the League and Cup double and scoring heavily against his new club amongst others.Stars promoter Keith Chapman said: “I have kept an eye on Kevin ever since he was 16 years old, the same time we originally brought Tommy Stange over from Germany.“He has always had a lot of potential and thankfully he has now chosen to come and further his career at King’s Lynn. I would like to thank Edinburgh for their help and hope that this is the start of a long and successful career at King’s Lynn for Kevin.”
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EDINBURGH have named their intended side for the 2012 Premier League season – with Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers and Craig Cook the only men to return from this year.In addition Theo Pijper and Derek Sneddon are re-called from loan spells with Glasgow and Newcastle, whilst Charles Wright and Micky Dyer form a new-look reserve partnership. Cook is the only rider yet to officially sign due to family reasons, but he is expected to spend a second season at Armadale.Monarchs promoter John Campbell said: “Having a chance of winning the league in 2012 is all about finishing in the top six in the regular part of the season, and getting to the top six is all about winning home matches. “We've put a team together that is more than capable of winning every home match. We dropped too many home points at Armadale in 2011 and we’ve set out to stop a repeat of that in 2012.”
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SOMERSET have completed their line-up with the signing of 2007 Premier League Riders’ Champion James Wright – after a successful late-season spell with the club this year.Wright joined the Rebels at the end of August to replace former No.1 Travis McGowan, and promoter Debbie Hancock is excited to have the club’s 2012 team fully in place.She said: “It is quite amazing to think that given Wrighty’s pedigree, he ‘only’ comes into our 2012 line-up as our fourth-averaged rider.“Even though James has proved himself to be a No.1, we have not signed him for 2012 with this specifically in mind, but more because we feel that he compliments the make-up of the rest of the team. Any one of our top four has the credentials to be our No.1, which cannot be a bad thing!”
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SHEFFIELD have confirmed former skipper Ricky Ashworth doesn’t feature in their 2012 team plans.The Owlerton club are hoping to unveil two more new signings before Christmas as they completely revamp their team – although co-promoter David Hoggart admits the decision to release Ashworth was an agonising one.He said: “I have a lot of experience in business, dealing with various people, and I can honestly say the call I had to make to Ricky was one of the hardest I have ever made.“He’s a great lad and I regard him as a pal. Speedway is a numbers game when it comes to team building and sometimes people are unlucky. We will be doing everything we possibly can to try and help Ricky get fixed up elsewhere.”
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NEWPORT have added three currently unattached British riders to the line-up for the New Year Classic at Queensway Meadows on January 2.Ricky Ashworth, Carl Wilkinson and Chris Schramm are all without a 2012 team place at this stage, and they will be joined by James Wright who has recently signed for Somerset.Meeting co-ordinator Laurence Rogers said: “Added in to the four named who have all tasted success around Queensway Meadows, this quartet are out-and-out racers and all have something to prove. The ones without teams yet will want to put in a good showing to attract clubs who have not completed their line-ups.“We have four more spaces left to fill the line-up and Nick Mallett and I have spoken to a fair number of riders who want to do the meeting and we will make our final decisions over which four will complete the line-up soon.”
