BIG EVENT LATEST…

NEWCASTLE boss George English believes the Worrall twins are on the verge of a big breakthrough in the sport.Both Steve and Richie, who are on loan to the Diamonds from Premier League rivals Scunthorpe this season, are named as seeds for the opening SpeedwayGB event of the season, the British Under-21 Final at Dudley on April 24.Steve finished second in the event last year, a performance described by English as “outstanding” as he ended as runner-up to Tai Woffinden, who is no longer eligible for the event.English said: “Some of our fans seemed a bit concerned when we announced the signing of Steve Worrall. “I don’t know why because if any of them had seen Steve in the British Under-21 Final at Lakeside last year, they would have known exactly why we wanted him as he was outstanding, finishing second to Tai Woffinden.“That performance earned him a trip to Ukraine for the next stage. Steve will benefit from having Richie here with him, and I dare say it will work the other way too.“Richie had a tremendous first year in the PL with, at times, some outstanding performances that belied his inexperience at this level.“Hopefully, Richie’s time in Australia will have broadened his experience and he will continue to progress and make the step-up that some don’t seem to manage.”Former Champion Joe Haines is another seed for the event at Monmore Green, a venue where he has completed plenty of laps as he is an asset of Elite League Wolverhampton.Haines has joined Sheffield this year as he looks to put his career back on track after a pre-season crash in Australia last winter.He said: “I need to start banging some points in. I need to move on from everything that happened last year.“I feel perfectly fit and healthy now and I’m looking forward to getting on with it. I want to get back to where I was before the injuries.“I want to have a really solid season and perhaps do something individually as well as doing it with Sheffield.”The other seeds for the British Under-21 Final are Jason Garrity, Ashley Morris, Jerran Hart, Kyle Newman, Kyle Howarth, Robert Branford and Ben Morley. The remaining six places will be decided via the semi-final at Stoke on April 7.

SPEEDWAYGB EVENTS SERIES:BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: Dudley, Tuesday April 24PREMIER LEAGUE FOURS: Peterborough, Sunday July 15BRITISH FINAL: Wolverhampton, Monday July 30PREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS: Somerset, Friday August 24PREMIER LEAGUE RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Sheffield, Sunday September 23ELITE LEAGUE RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Swindon, Saturday October 20

NATIONAL LEAGUE MAJOR EVENT DATES:NATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: Stoke, Sunday June 10NATIONAL LEAGUE PAIRS: Mildenhall, Sunday July 22NATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Rye House, Saturday September 15

ELITE LEAGUE LATEST…

BELLE VUE have signed Adam Skornicki as a replacement for the injured Patrick Hougaard, along with fellow Pole Marcel Kajzer to stand in for Travis McGowan due to his visa issues – and Hugh Skidmore replaces Claus Vissing as a doubling-up rider.Aces boss Jim Lynch said: “We moved for Skornicki because he is extremely experienced on British tracks. He was very keen to help out in the short term. He recommended Marcel and we could fit a rider of his average into the team so we decided to give him a chance. “We have made these changes until the end of the month, by which time we hope to have Hougaard and McGowan with us.”BIRMINGHAM skipper Danny King says the Brummies are working hard ahead of their Elite League openers after suffering a home defeat at the hands of Coventry in the Midland League last week.King said: “As a team it was very disappointing, we all know that it wasn’t good enough and we’ve had a meeting afterwards to talk about what needs to be done. We know we have to get it right against Swindon.“We will work hard to put this right. I know the boss (Graham Drury) wasn’t happy with Thursday and I don’t blame him, hopefully we can put it right and make a good start in the league.”COVENTRY co-boss Colin Pratt praised the lower-order riders in his team as the Bees completed a clean sweep of Midland League wins with a resounding 55-40 triumph at Wolverhampton.Pratt said: “I think they’ve come through the test very well, and they’ve all shown very good signs – Henning (Bager) at Birmingham, Adam (Roynon) again tonight, and Aaron (Summers) as well remembering that he’s riding in the top five, which is a harder position.“With the way the top boys went tonight I think we can give Wolverhampton a good run when we come back in the league because we’ll also have Bomber (Chris Harris) back in the team, so it proved tonight that we've got something we can build on.”EASTBOURNE have kicked off the season with maximum points at home despite a stern test from King’s Lynn on Monday – and team boss Trevor Geer says their form at Arlington will be crucial to their aspirations.Geer said: “Our first aim this year is to get into the Elite League play-offs and to do that you need a solid home record.“We are still at an early stage of the season and we must aim to take advantage of these early meetings to get points on the board so the other teams have to play catch up. It worked in 2011 and there’s no reason why it should not this year.”KING’S LYNN doubling-up reserve David Howe expressed his delight with a 16-point haul in the Stars’ first home meeting of the season, a total he followed up with 12 in the return fixture at Eastbourne on Monday.Howe said: “The meeting went really well and it ended up a good win for the team, I'm delighted to start my Elite season with such a good performance.“Over the winter I have invested a lot of time and effort into my racing and I’m really pleased it's paying off.”LAKESIDE co-promoter Jon Cook says the Hammers’ opening-night 61-32 win over Belle Vue, with Kim Nilsson scoring a maximum at reserve, was the perfect way to start the season.Cook said: “We were all very nervous before the start of the meeting and we didn’t want to let our fans down, particularly after the huge crowd we had last week for our open evening.“We’ve worked very hard tonight and this is a fantastic way to start the season. We are all very much looking forward to our next meeting to build on what we have achieved tonight.”PETERBOROUGH co-boss Jan Staechmann insists he is unconcerned by his side being largely ignored by the play-off predicting pundits ahead of the start of the Panthers’ Elite League programme.Staechamnn said: “Some people will always be quick to judge, but we're not overly concerned what the 'experts' think and we hope to do our talking on the track. We can’t be too concerned with what other teams are doing, we can only do our own job and the potential for us is certainly there.“The riders like the Showground and it is important we again make it a fortress – plus of course also pick up some points on our travels.”POOLE boss Neil Middleditch believes Ricky Kling is set to be a key figure in the defending Elite League champions’ line-up as he finally gets the chance to race for his parent club.Middleditch said: “For the last couple of seasons he has been our asset, but we had never been able to include him. He made it quite clear that he intends to make up for lost time.“Without doubt he was the match-winner at reserve at Wolverhampton, and produced solid support in his home debut. I hope that joining the Pirates can be a springboard for Ricky to take his career up another couple of rungs on the ladder.”SWINDON boss Alun Rossiter says optimism is high in the Robins camp as they kick off their Elite League programme against Birmingham this week.Rossiter said: “It’s going to be a tough meeting, and we’ve got to perform and hit the ground running. The good thing is the team atmosphere which has quickly developed. “The boys are all comfortable around each other, and there’s already some camaraderie and plenty of banter, which I like. Whilst I expect riders to do a professional job, I always like a bit of banter between them, and that always helps to relax everyone.”WOLVERHAMPTON boss Peter Adams admitted that the in-form Tai Woffinden lacked top-end support in the Midland League defeat against Coventry, and is looking forward to captain Freddie Lindgren’s return.Adams said: “Tai was very good, we keep saying that he’s riding brilliantly and it’s a good job that he was. But Freddie was a big miss and you can’t take on a team as good as that with only four riders doing something, there’s only going to be one result.“You can perhaps afford to carry one rider out of seven, but if you’re going to be successful in the overall scheme of things you need everyone contributing. But we start in the Elite League against Belle Vue and we’ll see how we go in those meetings.”

PREMIER LEAGUE LATEST…

BERWICK boss Ian Rae admitted the task of replacing Michael Hertrich had been a tough one before agreement was finally reached with first choice Lubos Tomicek.Rae said: “We tried a phonebook full of contacts, but we were getting no, after no, after no coming back and we were beginning to wonder just where our No.7 would come from, then out of the blue we got an unexpected success. Right back at the start of our search we actually spoke to Lubos first of all.”EDINBURGH recovered from the disappointment of a twelve-point defeat at Glasgow by overcoming their big rivals 56-36 at Armadale to take the Spring Trophy on aggregate.Monarchs boss John Campbell said: “That was a first class display and exactly what we were looking for when we built the team. It’s nice to get a Trophy in the cabinet.”GLASGOW suffered a rare home defeat at the hands of Scunthorpe at Ashfield on Sunday and will look to gain ground in their League Cup group with a home-and-away double against Berwick. The Tigers travel to Shielfield Park on Saturday and then host the Bandits the following afternoon.IPSWICH put themselves in a strong position in the early stages of their League Cup campaign by following up a home win and then a point away against Somerset with an away win at Leicester on Saturday.Manager Pete Simmons said: “After picking up a point at Somerset last night I can only be happy with another three points tonight. It's been a good weekend on the road.”LEICESTER are hopeful of having Jari Makinen and Kyle Hughes back for the Easter programme after both were forced to miss the home defeat by Ipswich due to injury.Promoter David Hemsley said: “Those injuries just compounded the problems really, with facing such a strong side. When a team like Ipswich have R/R they can bring in reserves like (Cameron) Heeps and (Rohan) Tungate who are very talented young men.”NEWCASTLE mounted a dramatic fightback from eight points down with three races to go and edged out Workington 46-44 with a last-heat 5-1 from Stuart Robson and Mark Lemon at Brough Park.Manager George English said: “There were still a few weak points for us tonight but their determination and feverish work in the pits to get the best from the bikes paid off and we nicked a thriller of a win in the last heat.”PLYMOUTH promoter Mike Bowden says he is unlikely to arrange additional meetings to fill in any future open home dates when the team is not involved in competitive action.Bowden said: “We started earlier this season to avoid fixture congestion later in the year. But with Newport dropping out, it means we have a couple of additional blank dates in our fixture programme.”REDCAR will welcome their Czech Republic international Matej Kus back into the ranks for this week's fixtures away at Sheffield on Thursday and at home to the Tigers on Friday. Kus suffered a hairline fracture of his left wrist in the Bear's opening fixture on March 15th.Bears boss Brian Havelock said: “'We certainly missed the points contribution of Matej with a home draw against Scunthorpe and a heavy defeat at Workington in the League Cup. Now we can face our forthcoming matches with greater confidence.”RYE HOUSE skipper Chris Neath was delighted to be able to attend the Rockets’ inter-league challenge fixture against Peterborough, although he faces a long road to recovery following his crash at Ipswich in mid-March.Neath said: “This fixture has meant so much to me since it was first announced. I wanted so much to ride in it, and obviously that wasn’t to be, but at least I was able to be here with the lads. At the moment, I just don’t know when I’ll get back on a bike. I’m slowly getting the feeling back in my left side, but it’s still really weak. I’ll get through it, but it’s a long road ahead.”SCUNTHORPE boss Richard Hollingsworth says the Scorpions are going to be a force at every venue this year – a view backed up by impressive away results at Redcar and Glasgow already.Hollingsworth said: “We can travel anywhere with everyone believing we have a chance of winning. In previous seasons we have known that some trips were a case of damage limitation but not now. We’ve now put ourselves in an excellent position in the northern section of the League Cup, with three wins and one draw from our opening four meetings.”SHEFFIELD co-boss David Hoggart insists the Tigers’ management will not be putting any undue pressure on their riders after seeing them defeated on their home circuit by Workington last Thursday.Hoggart said: “We let the riders do their job without them feeling under pressure. We have a reputation for looking after our boys and we will continue to do that. Everyone is putting in maximum effort and they need time to find their feet, which I am sure they will do. Of course we are disappointed to lose but I am not going to dwell on it.”SOMERSET will have Jason Doyle back in their side for the home clash with Rye House on Friday after the Australian’s season-start was delayed by visa issues – and promoter Debbie Hancock has thanked short-term signing Robin Aspegren.She said: “Although Robin only rode in two matches for us, he made an immediate impression and rode his heart out for the Rebels, and he leaves with our sincere thanks and gratitude for helping us out in what could have been a difficult situation while we waited for Doyley’s visa to come through.”WORKINGTON owner Keith Denham reported an excellent attendance for the Comets’ first meeting of the season, which saw the team pick up a big win in front of special guest Shane Lynch.Denham said: “It is the best crowd we have had for many years and everybody enjoyed themselves. Shane is a nice lad and very down to earth, and I don’t think there were many seats free in the grandstand. It was the perfect start to the season.”

FIXTURE PICTURE…

TUESDAY APRIL 3:STAFFS CUP 1st leg: Dudley v Stoke 7.30

THURSDAY APRIL 5:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Birmingham 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Sheffield v Redcar 7.45

FRIDAY APRIL 6:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Wolverhampton 1pm, Birmingham v Swindon 7.30, Coventry v Poole 11am, Eastbourne v Lakeside 7.30, King’s Lynn v Peterborough 7pm, Lakeside v Eastbourne 1pm, Peterborough v King’s Lynn 2pm, Poole v Coventry 8pmLEAGUE CUP: Edinburgh v Newcastle 7.30, Ipswich v Leicester 2.30, Redcar v Sheffield 7.30, Somerset v Rye House 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP 1st leg: Rye House v Isle of Wight 7pm

SATURDAY APRIL 7:LEAGUE CUP: Berwick v Glasgow 7pm, Leicester v Rye House 7.30, Workington v Edinburgh 7pmBRITISH U21 SEMI-FINAL: Stoke 7.30

SUNDAY APRIL 8:LEAGUE CUP: Glasgow v Berwick 4pm, Newcastle v Scunthorpe 6.30NATIONAL SHIELD 1st leg: Mildenhall v Dudley 4.30

MONDAY APRIL 9:LEAGUE CUP: Rye House v Leicester 2pm, Scunthorpe v Sheffield 3pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Rye House v Stoke (follows LC fixture), Scunthorpe v King’s Lynn (follows LC fixture)

TUESDAY APRIL 10:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Wolverhampton v Belle Vue 7.30CHALLENGE: Isle of Wight v USA Tourists 7.30

WEDNESDAY APRIL 11:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Wolverhampton 7.30CHALLENGE: King’s Lynn v USA Tourists 7.30

THURSDAY APRIL 12:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v King’s Lynn 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Ipswich v Plymouth 7.30, Redcar v Workington 7.30, Sheffield v Berwick 7.45

FRIDAY APRIL 13:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v King’s Lynn 8pm, Lakeside v Peterborough 8pmLEAGUE CUP: Edinburgh v Redcar 7.30, Somerset v Plymouth 7.30

SATURDAY APRIL 14:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Wolverhampton 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Berwick v Scunthorpe 7pm, Plymouth v Somerset 7.30, Workington v Glasgow 7pmSTAFFS CUP 2nd leg: Stoke v Dudley 7.30CHALLENGE: Rye House v USA Tourists 7pmBRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 1: Leicester 7.30

SUNDAY APRIL 15:LEAGUE CUP: Glasgow v Workington 4pm, Newcastle v Edinburgh 6.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP 1st leg: Midenhall v King’s Lynn 4.30CHALLENGE: Buxton v USA Tourists 3pm

MONDAY APRIL 16:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Lakeside 7.30, Swindon v Coventry 7.30, Wolverhampton v Eastbourne 7.30

TUESDAY APRIL 17:NATIONAL SHIELD 2nd leg: Dudley v Mildenhall 7.30CHALLENGE 2nd leg: Isle of Wight v Stoke 7.30