(SPEEDWAY 1)
THE line-up has been confirmed for the Premier League Pairs at Somerset on Friday July 11.Start-time for the prestigious event is 7pm, 30 minutes earlier than in previous seasons, at the start of a huge weekend of speedway with the British Grand Prix taking place at Cardiff the following evening.The host club are the defending Pairs champions but have an all-new combination with Nick Morris and Olly Allen looking to follow in the footsteps of last year’s Rebels winners Josh Grajczonek and Jason Doyle – with Grajczonek now part of the Workington pairing.GROUP A: WORKINGTON – Josh Grajczonek/Rene Bach, PETERBOROUGH – Lasse Bjerre/Ulrich Ostergaard, REDCAR – Richard Lawson/Aaron Summers, IPSWICH – Richie Worrall/Morten Risager, NEWCASTLE – Stuart Robson/Lewis Kerr.GROUP B: EDINBURGH – Sam Masters/Max Fricke, SOMERSET – Nick Morris/Olly Allen, PLYMOUTH – Rasmus Jensen/Kalle Katajisto, BERWICK – Claus Vissing/David Bellego, SHEFFIELD – Simon Stead/Leigh Lanham.(SPEEDWAY 2)
EASTBOURNE’S current promotional team of Bob Dugard, Mike Bellerby and Trevor Geer will disband at the end of the current Elite League season.Dugard and brother Eric own the promoting rights at Arlington but following major heart surgery Bob does not wish to continue with the major financial responsibilities of running the club, whilst Bellerby has confirmed he will be standing down as a co-promoter.Dugard said: “The personal circumstances of the current promotion and difficult trading resulting in a projected large loss this year means we are unable to commit to running speedway at Arlington Stadium in 2015.“I am looking for someone, or a consortium, to take over the rights to run speedway here at Eastbourne.“We have worked extremely hard this year to promote speedway at Eastbourne and have put together a team which has enjoyed a long run of success on its own track with excellent performances this season at Arlington. The efforts of this promotion have met a disappointing response from fans.“New people at the helm will have the opportunity of doing things their way and effectively re-launch the sport at Eastbourne. They will have the opportunity to put their stamp on proceedings and ‘sell’ the sport to a new audience.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
REDCAR have confirmed the signing of experienced Australian racer Mark Lemon, who was recently released by Glasgow.Lemon is set to make his debut for the Bears at Peterborough on Tuesday and takes the place of British youngster Luke Crang.Manager Jitendra Duffill said: “Mark has struggled to match the heat leader status he held a couple of years ago but he brings a wealth of experience and he will certainly strengthen our side, especially as he pushes Jan Graversen back down to reserve. “I am sorry to see Luke leave the team, he is a rider that has a bright future in Speedway but unfortunately our team has not been strong enough to allow him the time he needs to develop into a proven points scorer in the Premier League. Speedway can be a cruel game at times but I'm sure everybody would agree that a change was needed.”
(SPEEDWAY 4)
BELLE Vue defeated Birmingham 56-39 in a meeting which could turn out to be the Brummies’ final outing in the Elite League.The future of the Perry Barr club is still uncertain and their home match against Leicester on Wednesday has been postponed.Aces guest Charles Wright scored a paid maximum (10+2) from four rides with Craig Cook top-scoring on 11+2 whilst Ben Barker led the way for the Brummies on 13, with emotional scenes following on the terraces.Belle Vue captain Scott Nicholls said: “Whether the points from tonight remain or not is still to be seen. But what mattered in the end was for us to get a big win to get our confidence back, and if all the boys continue to gel together then I'm sure we'll be stronger for our next meeting.“Hopefully this is a sign of better things to come, after all we desperately need to win all our meetings at home, and ideally pick up a few points away, if we still want to make a push for the play-offs.”Poole consolidated their third place in the table with a dramatic comeback to draw 45-45 at South coast rivals Eastbourne.The Eagles led by eight points with three heats to go, but Pirates skipper Darcy Ward was twice involved in 5-1s, first with Maciej Janowski in Heat 13 and then with Przemyslaw Pawlicki in the final race, as the visitors snatched two crucial league points.Fast-track reserve Lewis Blackbird again top-scored for the Eagles with 11 points, with Pawlicki picking up 10+3 for the Pirates.Meanwhile Wolverhampton gave their play-off hopes a boost by taking all three points from a 51-41 home win over Swindon at Monmore Green.World Champion Tai Woffinden scored a paid maximum and Piotr Pawlicki was only beaten in Heat 15 as the Robins lacked race winners, with fast-track reserve Steve Worrall their top man on 11+2.Wolves boss Peter Adams said: “Swindon are a tough side but I think they were let down in one or two positions, and we were able to capitalise on that which was good."It keeps us right on the tails of the pacesetters in the top four and that's where we want to be, ready to pounce at the finish."Swindon manager Alun Rossiter said: “We gave it a good go but we had no answer for their top two really. Woffinden and Pawlicki were superb, and although we gave it our best shot they made the difference in the end.“The play-offs are still our aim and we aren't giving up yet that's for sure. It would have been nice to come away with a point but there are still plenty more points up for grabs.”In the National League, Kent and King’s Lynn proved inseparable with a 45-45 draw at Central Park from a meeting where there were never more than two points between the sides.Ben Morley top-scored for the Kings with 14+1 and also got the better of the Young Stars’ Marc Owen in the Bronze Helmet match race.Kent boss John Sampford said: “You don’t want to do anything else other than win at home but in the end I must admit it was a fair result. It was more than anything though, a quite outstanding meeting and a terrific advert for National League Speedway. “A draw was certainly better than a defeat and it showed again the quality of the top six in this league, I’m sure there will be plenty more close encounters before the season is out.”
(SPEEDWAY 5)
PETERBOROUGH boss Carl Johnson is targeting a revenge win over Redcar in Tuesday’s Premier League clash at the Showground.The Panthers were edged out in the reverse fixture last week and were unhappy with the withdrawal of heat-leader Lasse Bjerre from that meeting with injury.Johnson has called up Ipswich’s Rohan Tungate to guest for injured No.1 Ryan Fisher who has a collarbone injury, but Ales Dryml returns.Johnson said: “We picked up a good number of points even though we know we could have had more, especially at Redcar when we had Lasse ruled out of the meeting by the medics – a decision we did not agree with.“We’ve got a little score to settle on that front and we also need to continue to build the momentum. It’s important we turn the Showground into a fortress again and the big win over Sheffield last Wednesday was really pleasing in that respect.”Bears boss Jitendra Duffill said: “Peterborough are a pretty solid team and are in a good run of form. They managed to run league leaders Edinburgh pretty close on their home track last week, even though they lost Ryan Fisher to injury and then beat Berwick away from home by 17 points. “This will be one of our toughest away meetings this year and will open what is going to be our most challenging week of the season so far with Edinburgh home and away still to come.”
(FIXTURES)
TUESDAY JULY 1:PREMIER LEAGUE: Peterborough v Redcar 7.30
WEDNESDAY JULY 2:ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Leicester OFF, King’s Lynn v Coventry 7.30, Poole v Wolverhampton 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 3:ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v King’s Lynn 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Redcar v Edinburgh 7.30, Sheffield v Rye House 7.30
FRIDAY JULY 4:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Swindon 7.30, Lakeside v Wolverhampton 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Redcar 7.30, Plymouth v Ipswich 7.15, Scunthorpe v Sheffield 7.30, Somerset v Workington 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Coventry 7.30
