(SPEEDWAY 1)BIRMINGHAM boss Graham Drury has confirmed No.1 rider Krzysztof Kasprzak will line up for the club in their Elite League clash with Peterborough on Thursday.Speculation has been rife as to Kasprzak’s future following a series of below-par displays, but he believes recent engine problems have now been solved.Drury said: “I’ve been in regular contact with KK on his travels and he seems to have found the right set-up and obviously did well in Italy at the weekend.“Anyone who thinks the lad doesn’t care is mistaken. He has been hurting badly during this poor run of form because he knows he has cost us the chance of league points and cup progress, although we were poor as a team in the cup.”(SPEEDWAY 2)NEWCASTLE boss George English offered praise to opponents Plymouth after Sunday’s Premier League clash between the sides.The Diamonds came through 52-40 after a tough encounter in which the visitors were well-served by guest Craig Cook (15+1) and reserve Kyle Hughes (14), with English pleased with the return to form of home skipper Jason King.He said: “People expected us to take Plymouth apart, but they proved a tougher prospect than anticipated and they certainly adapted to the tricky surface left after torrential overnight rain better than we did.“But congratulations to them as they deserve a lot of credit for the spirited show they put on. From our point of view it was fantastic to see Jason King get a win and a good points return – his confidence has taken a real boost.”(SPEEDWAY 3)CHRIS Harris has joined the line-up for Steve Johnston’s Farewell meeting at Swindon on Thursday – taking the number of Grand Prix participants to six.Harris joins Greg Hancock, Jason Crump, Chris Holder, Freddie Lindgren and British GP Wild Card Scott Nicholls in the field just two days before they race at the Millennium Stadium, and Swindon manager Ronnie Russell has paid tribute to Johnston’s contribution to the sport.He said: “We have given him a date to stage his meeting when we could have staged something ourselves, but we believe that for the help he has been to us, to the club and to the sport, we have given him that date because the public will be heading towards Cardiff from across the country.“He is so respected and liked by the top riders that they will make the sacrifice to come and ride for him. We are only too pleased to give this to Johno to say his final farewell to the sport.”(SPEEDWAY 4)KYLE Howarth made an early return from injury as Belle Vue Colts made ground on the National League leaders with a 50-40 win at Buxton.Howarth had been due to come back from his collarbone injury in Monday’s return fixture, but he rode ahead of schedule at the Hi-Edge Raceway and picked up ten (paid twelve) from five rides.The Colts also benefited from an impressive display by recent signing Charles Wright who scored a full 15-point maximum, giving them the incentive of going top of the table if they can win the home match against the Hitmen.(FIXTURES)
MONDAY JUNE 20:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Eastbourne 7.30, Wolverhampton v Peterborough 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Buxton 7.30TUESDAY JUNE 21:NATIONAL LEAGUE: Dudley v Isle of Wight 7.30WEDNESDAY JUNE 22:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Wolverhampton 7.30ELITE LEAGUE KO CUP 2nd leg: Poole v Swindon 7.30THURSDAY JUNE 23:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Peterborough 7.30PREMEIR LEAGUE: Ipswich v Newcastle 7.30, Redcar v Rye House 7.30, Sheffield v Leicester 7.45STEVE JOHNSTON FAREWELL: Swindon 7.30
