(SPEEDWAY 1)
IPSWICH director of speedway Chris Louis says he particularly enjoys the team-riding element which should be prevalent in Saturday's Elite League Pairs.The prestigious meeting will be staged at the Foxhall circuit which Louis played a major part in re-shaping last winter to produce better racing.All nine Elite League clubs will be represented, the majority with their top two riders, and the 4-3-2-0 scoring system means avoiding last places will be imperative.Louis said: "I still feel the most exciting element of speedway is good, hard team-riding to keep the opposition behind, something we don't see anywhere near enough today."With the skills of the pairings on show, we should be in for a real treat of team-riding, and I hope the Witches fans get behind Scott (Nicholls) and Danny (King) as we look to put some silverware in the cabinet." (SPEEDWAY 2) RYE House star Kyle Hughes is hoping home advantage can help Great Britain when they complete in the World Under-21 Team Cup Final at Hoddesdon on Sunday.Hughes is in the GB side to take on Sweden, Denmark and Poland, and skipper Tai Woffinden and Joe Haines are former Rye House riders. The quintet is completed by Lewis Bridger and Josh Auty.Hughes said: "We've been wild-carded into the Final because it's our home track, but I think that we would have qualified anyway because we have a strong team. "We stand as good a chance as anybody else, and obviously this is a good British track because it is quite tight and technical. I'm not going to predict who is going to win the Final, but I just hope it is us and that we deliver our best out there."
(SPEEDWAY 3)POOLE will go into the Elite League play-offs with a one hundred per cent home record after surviving a scare against Peterborough on Wednesday.The Panthers remained in the hunt for an away point, which would have boosted their own play-off hopes, and may well have achieved it but for a last-race engine failure for Kenneth Bjerre.Bjerre led away in Heat 15 but ground to a halt and the Pirates took full advantage with a 5-1 for a 50-39 victory, and now await news on the other top-four finishers before choosing their semi-final opponents.Poole star Chris Holder said: "I wasn't really making too many starts tonight but I certainly had the speed and you needed that against some of these Peterborough boys tonight. "That Heat 10 race was a bit awesome and I would like to apologise to Rory(Schlein) for the sore ankle, it wasn't intentional, just a by-product of some hard and fast racing."(SPEEDWAY 4) WORKINGTON have signed Danish rider Casper Wortmann to cover for broken leg victim Kenny Ingalls.Wortmann recently lost his place during King's Lynn's major team shake-up, and he faces a baptism of fire for the Comets as he will make his debut in the KO Cup semi-final against Edinburgh.He is unable to ride in this weekend's Cumberland Classic at Derwent Park due to a prior engagement in Denmark.Manager Ian Thomas said: "It wasn't working just relying on National League riders so we decided to try and bring in one who was experienced in the Premier League."Obviously there aren't a lot around who fit the bill but Casper is keen to show that King's Lynn slipped-up when they let him go."
(FIXTURES) THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 2:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Ipswich 7.45, Swindon v Wolverhampton 7.30 PREMIER LEAGUE: Sheffield v Somerset 7.45 NATIONAL LEAGUE: Isle of Wight v Dudley 7.30 STARS OF TOMORROW: Redcar 7.30 FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 3:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Swindon 8pm, Peterborough v Coventry 7.30 PREMIER LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Glasgow 7.30, Somerset v Newport 7.30 NATIONAL TROPHY: Plymouth v Newport 7.30, Weymouth v Buxton 7.15 COCK O' THE NORTH 1st leg: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 4:ELITE LEAGUE PAIRS: Ipswich 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Stoke v Edinburgh 7.30, Newport v Glasgow 7pm TWEED/TEES TROPHY 1st leg: Berwick v Redcar 7pm CUMBERLAND CLASSIC: Workington 7pmSUNDAY SEPTEMBER 5:WORLD UNDER-21 TEAM CUP FINAL: Rye House 2pm PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Edinburgh 4pm NATIONAL TROPHY: Buxton v Newport 3pm
