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LAKESIDE star Davey Watt has stressed his ambition remains to become a full-time Grand Prix competitor.Watt is one of the big-name riders to appear at Berwick on Saturday in the World Championship qualifying meeting, and the 34-year-old is desperate to add to a handful of GP appearances as a stand-by rider and make his own impact on the series.Watt said: “Grand Prix speedway is extremely tough, but if you don’t want to be a part of it then you’re barking up the wrong tree in this sport.“How far I can go on a World stage is yet to be determined. I won’t really know how good I can be until I get there, and I’ve been touching the edges of it for a long time now.”
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SCUNTHORPE are on the look-out for a new rider after the decision was taken for Tom Armstrong to return to Australia.The winter signing has recently returned after a serious first-night crash, but has struggled to regain his confidence. Better news for the Scorpions is the return from injury this weekend of Tero Aarnio and Thomas Jorgensen.Promoter Rob Godfrey said: “It’s one of the hardest things that I’ve ever had to do. But I had to say to Tom: ‘Look, at the moment, I don’t want you riding a speedway bike.’“It was a terrible accident he had and he suffered some bad injuries, and I just don’t want him becoming a danger to himself and other riders. For the sake of everyone, I think it’s best that he just takes a break.”(SPEEDWAY 3)
DUDLEY gave a dominant display in the first leg of their National League KO Cup semi-final to run up a 60-32 home win over the Isle of Wight.Heathens provided 14 of the 15 heat-winners and scored 5-1s in five of the last six races, with Adam Roynon scoring a paid maximum and Ashley Morris recovering from a first-ride fall to win his remaining four outings.Morris said: “We had a discussion at the interval about the bikes and the track, and to look at how much we were leading by, and we talked about keeping the points ticking over to make sure we got a good lead, and that’s what we did.“No-one knew how we would be when we started, but it does look like we’re one of the strongest teams now all the way through, and we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with at the end of the season.”
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MATTHEW Wethers has commenced preparations for his Testimonial at Edinburgh on August 17 – with former Monarch Rory Schlein set to be one of the star attractions.Schlein started his career at Premier League level with Edinburgh and rode alongside Wethers in 2003-04 before moving up to the top flight, where he now captains Belle Vue.Schlein said: “I’ve probably got more memories of Matt from the junior days back in Australia. I was fortunate enough to win an Australian Under-15 Best Pairs, and that was with Matthew. We weren’t even rated to get on the podium but we ended up cleaning up, and then the next night I won the Under-16 individual.“We had some really good races in the junior days. When he came over for Edinburgh in 2003 he was pretty much thrown in at the deep end, and I thought he handled himself very well. We picked up league winners’ medals that year and obviously he’s established himself as a heat leader for Edinburgh.”
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BIRMINGHAM captain Danny King is determined to take his World Championship chance having been called up for Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifier at Berwick.King joins Chris Harris as Great Britain’s representatives at Shielfield Park, having replaced the injured Tai Woffinden, and home duo Lee Complin and Ricky Ashworth are the meeting reserves.King said: “You never like to see other riders hurt and I wish Tai well in his recovery but I intend to take full advantage of the call-up.“I was down as first reserve and now I want to put on a good show up at Berwick. I don’t see why I can’t get through to the next stage which would put me five rides away from the Grand Prix Challenge and a shot at the series for next year.”
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CHRIS Holder’s sensational Heat 15 effort ensured Poole maintained their winning run after coming back from the brink against King’s Lynn.The Stars stormed into a 31-17 lead at Wimborne Road but Holder’s tactical ride brought the Elite League leaders back into contention – and he then passed both Niels-Kristian Iversen and Maciej Janowski on the last lap of the last race for a match-winning 5-1 with Darcy Ward.Holder said: “Full credit to King’s Lynn. They were a solid side and looked as though they might have outdone us, but I just had to go for one of those moves that when it comes off it feels good.“But all our team battled hard tonight, Dennis (Andersson) played a major part in that 8-1. It’s not just about me and Darcy but we are pretty stoked to have pulled that one out of the bag.”
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ISLE Of Wight boss Chris Hunt has delivered a scathing assessment of his team’s performance in their KO Cup defeat at Dudley on Tuesday.Hunt has threatened changes for the Islanders following the 32-60 loss in the first leg of the semi-final, and is demanding an immediate improvement.He said: “Quite frankly what we saw from the team was simply not acceptable to both myself and joint manager Kevin Shepherd, club chairman Brian Ginders and, most importantly our fans. The fact that we only produced one of the fifteen heat winners speaks for itself. “We've made our feelings known to the team and made it clear that we won’t hesitate to make changes if performances don't improve - and quickly!”(FIXTURES)
THURSDAY JUNE 14:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Lakeside 7.30, Peterborough v Belle Vue 7.30, Swindon v Wolverhampton 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Glasgow 7.30, Redcar v Edinburgh 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Sheffield v Berwick 7.45
FRIDAY JUNE 15:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v King’s Lynn 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30, Scunthorpe v Plymouth 7.30, Somerset v Glasgow 7.30
SATURDAY JUNE 16:GRAND PRIX QUALIFIER: Berwick 7pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Plymouth v Newcastle 7.30, Rye House v Somerset 6pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Rye House v Dudley (follows PL fixture), Stoke v Mildenhall 7.30EAST MIDLANDS BOWL: Leicester Cubs v Long Eaton 7.30
SUNDAY JUNE 17:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Workington 4pm, Newcastle v Leicester 6.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Dudley 3pmBRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 3: Northside 2pm
