SPEEDWAY News and Fixtures

(SPEEDWAY 1)

DATES and venues have been announced for two British Finals to he held in September.The British Under-19 Final will take place at Kent on Monday September 1 with a 6.15pm start, and will be run over the traditional 20-heat format with the rider with the most points at that stage winning the title.Kent promoter Len Silver said: “This very prestigious event awarded to our fine stadium is the first of what I hope will be many major events to be staged here. With the impressive facilities and outstanding viewing, Central Park is a venue worthy of fixtures of the highest calibre.“We have always said we are ideally set up to stage major championships and it is a great honour that in only our second season operating we've been awarded this BSPA-organised event with a national championship title up for grabs. “When one sees who has won this title before, it certainly shows what an important championship the Under-19s is, and we can be sure the meeting will be extremely keenly contested by a field packed with the country's finest young Speedway racing talent.”Meanwhile, after the great success of Peterborough hosting the British 125cc Final last month, the Showground will also be the venue for the first British 150cc Box Final. This will take place on Sunday September 28, and the rider line-up will be confirmed early next month.

(SPEEDWAY 2)

LEWIS Blackbird has suffered serious leg injuries on his debut in the Danish Super League on Wednesday.Blackbird, who has enjoyed a terrific season with Premier League Peterborough and also in the Elite with Eastbourne as a Fast Track reserve, sustained a spiral fracture of the fibula and a broken ankle, and is likely to be ruled out for the rest of the season.Panthers boss Carl Johnson said: “I've been in contact with Lewis and he is absolutely gutted as the crash was not his fault. He is going to have an operation (on Thursday) and I'm sure everyone connected with Peterborough and Eastbourne will join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.“Lewis has been terrific for both clubs this season and will be sorely missed while out injured.”

(SPEEDWAY 3 – WEDNESDAY REVIEW)

MACIEJ Janowski celebrated his 23rd birthday with a five-ride paid maximum as Poole overcame Swindon 56-35 at Wimborne Road.The Robins started the meeting with a 5-1 but that was as good as it got for the visitors as the Pirates took control, with Janowski providing a highlight with a last-to-second dash in Heat 5 after being penalised 15-metres for touching the tapes.Janowski also got the better of Swindon’s Peter Kildemand when the Robins’ No.1 went for double points in Heat 11, and Vaclav Milik and Darcy Ward were also paid for double figures.Swindon boss Alun Rossiter said: “It doesn’t matter who it is, we should perform better than that and I’m disappointed by the performance from some of the boys.“Troy (Batchelor) did come to me before the meeting and said he wasn’t feeling well, so that could be part of it, but it wasn’t a good performance from everyone.”

(SPEEDWAY 4 – THURSDAY PREVIEW)

SWINDON boss Alun Rossiter is calling on his riders to hit back when they take on play-off rivals Lakeside at the Abbey Stadium on Thursday.The Robins will move into the top four and also close the gap on the third-placed Hammers to just three points if they take all three from the match.Rossiter said: “It’s a home meeting which we need to win. We need to be taking maximum points from all of our home meetings now if we’re going to make the play-offs.”In the Premier League, Ipswich can move into second place with a positive result against Rye House, who are seeking their first away points of the campaign. The Witches return to full strength as they welcome back Gino Manzares who was away on World Cup duty with America last week and missed the emphatic home win over Berwick.Ipswich captain Ritchie Hawkins said: “We can't relax at all and need to keep working hard to score as many points as possible.”Redcar face a big home match against Berwick with Bears boss Jitendra Duffill knowing his side cannot afford to drop more points at the South Tees Motorsports Park.The home side have been beaten three times on their own circuit this season and face a Bandits team renowned as good travellers, with four away wins to their name – including one at Redcar last month.Duffill said: “Berwick are in a very good run of form at the moment and I'm sure they will be confident of picking up points against us, so we will have to be on top of our game. Our chances of reaching the play-offs are very slim but we still want to win every meeting we enter, especially at home. “Matej Kus will be their key man, he has found a lot of confidence and has regularly been scoring double figures since dropping to reserve and we will have to keep him quiet if we want to win.”Meanwhile injury-hit Sheffield take on Workington at Owlerton knowing a home win could take them off the foot of the table.The Tigers are without Andre Compton, Leigh Lanham and Ty Proctor, but Kevin Wolbert and former Sheffield man Ashley Birks are included as guests.Co-promoter Peter Mole said: “It’s been a hard week putting the team together with all the injuries, but we’ve done pretty well and I’m sure there will be some spectacular racing.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

GLASGOW and Newcastle are building up to a bumper day of Knockout Cup racing on Sunday – at both venues!The Tigers and the Diamonds will settle their quarter-final tie in the space of around eight hours, with the first match taking place in Scotland at Ashfield at 1.30pm, prior to a dash south to Newcastle for the return at 7.30pm.Glasgow co-promoter Colin Hamilton said: “This is one that the fans should hopefully look at as something different. In the past Glasgow and Newcastle have done this sort of thing in one day.“We're hoping for a smooth first meeting which will start quite promptly at 1.30pm so that enables people to get down the road to watch the second leg.”

(FIXTURES)

THURSDAY AUGUST 7:ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Lakeside 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Rye House 7.30, Redcar v Berwick 7.30, Sheffield v Workington 7.30

FRIDAY AUGUST 8:ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Poole 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Newcastle 7.30, Scunthorpe v Peterborough 7.30, Somerset v Rye House 7.30

SATURDAY AUGUST 9:ELITE LEAGUE: Leicester v Wolverhampton 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Sheffield 7pm, Rye House v Somerset 7pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Devon v Coventry OFF, Devon v Stoke OFF

SUNDAY AUGUST 10:PREMIER LEAGUE: Workington v Scunthorpe 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP: Glasgow v Newcastle 1.30, Newcastle v Glasgow 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: Coventry 2.30


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