(SPEEDWAY 1) BIRMINGHAM reserve Claus Vissing faces a period on the sidelines after it was confirmed he broke his wrist on Thursday.Vissing came to grief in his final scheduled ride of the Brummies' season-opening clash with Wolverhampton, and his misfortune means an early opportunity for the club's No.8 stand-by rider Theo Pijper.Boss Graham Drury said: "Typically, Claus wants to be back on a bike as quickly as possible but he needs to get all the strength back in the wrist before he tries it."It's a great chance for Theo, I gave him the big build-up last week when I said he could turn out to be the best number eight rider in the league and he now has an opportunity to show it."
(SPEEDWAY 2) SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey insisted he would take the positives from a narrow opening-night home defeat against Sheffield.The Scorpions recovered from conceding 5-1s in the first two races but lost out 47-43 after a series of mechanical breakdowns and tape-breakings, whilst Josh Auty starred for the Tigers with paid-16.Godfrey said: "Sheffield are a good side on our track and they had a head start on setting their bikes up for the new silencers because they had used them on Thursday. "We improved as the meeting went on but suffered some bad luck in the closing stages. Of course we wanted to defeat Sheffield but the two meetings against them are our opportunity to get the set-ups right for Berwick's visit next Friday."
(SPEEDWAY 3) EDINBURGH have handed their final team place to 26-year-old Australian Jay Herne.The Monarchs moved for Herne, who has previous Premier League experience with Somerset and Birmingham, after William Lawson's decision not to race this season.Club director Mike Hunter said: "Jay had bad luck with injuries last year but made a highly successful comeback with his National League club Bournemouth at the end of the season."He faces a long weekly journey but was so keen to accept our offer that he has spent the last few days arranging transport for himself to get him to Scotland each week."
(FIXTURES) SATURDAY MARCH 19:ANGLIA CUP 2nd leg: Rye House v Ipswich 7pm TYNE/TWEED TROPHY 1st leg: Berwick v Newcastle 7pm PRINCE OF WALES TROPHY: Newport 7pm
SUNDAY MARCH 20:CHALLENGE 1st leg: Eastbourne v Poole 5pm TYNE/TWEED TROPHY 2nd leg: Newcastle v Berwick 6.30
MONDAY MARCH 21:BBC WM TROPHY 2nd leg: Wolverhampton v Birmingham 7.30
WEDNESDAY MARCH 23:NATIONAL LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Sheffield 7.30 CHALLENGE 2nd leg: Poole v Eastbourne 7.30 CHALLENGE 1st leg: King's Lynn v Birmingham 7.30
THURSDAY MARCH 24:PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Berwick 7.30 CHALLENGE 2nd leg: Birmingham v King's Lynn 7.30 CHALLENGE 1st leg: Swindon v Lakeside 7.30 CHALLENGE: Redcar v Leicester 7.30 STEEL TOWN TROPHY 2nd leg: Sheffield v Scunthorpe 7.45
