SHEFFIELD have received a late call-up to the Premier League Pairs at Somerset on Friday August 24.The Tigers have taken the place of Berwick in the Oak Tree Arena showpiece after the Bandits dreadful luck with injuries intensified last weekend when Ricky Ashworth suffered a broken shoulder.With Lee Complin also ruled out and Sebastian Alden currently below full fitness, Berwick were unable to field two of their top three riders and offered to withdraw from the event. Discussions with the next club in-line, Rye House, also confirmed they would be unable to compete following talks with Charlie Gjedde, who crashed at Leicester last Saturday and suffered right-side shoulder and neck damage which could rule him out for a fortnight.Despite injury to Josef Franc, Sheffield are able to field two of their top three riders and will be represented by Richard Hall and Ricky Wells.SpeedwayGB Events Co-Ordinator David Hoggart said: We are sorry for both Berwick and Ricky, he's had a great season so far with the Bandits who have suffered intolerably with injuries in recent weeks.Rye House only missed the original cut by a whisker so it is disappointing for them that they are unable to field two of their top three eligible riders, Charlie Gjedde's injury on Saturday and Jordan Frampton's sudden retirement gives Sheffield the opportunity.Despite their own injury problems the Tigers will be represented by Richard Hall and Ricky Wells who are both eligible for the event.The ten competing clubs have all named two of their top three riders, with defending champions Glasgow making one change to the pairing which triumphed last year. Joe Screen will be back for the defence, but his partner on this occasion will be Josh Grajczonek who gets the nod over James Grieves.Hosts Somerset have plumped for James Wright to race alongside form man Jason Doyle, and another man-of-the-moment Craig Cook will be in action for Edinburgh. Injury to David Howe, meanwhile, means Scunthorpe will be represented by Josh Auty and Thomas Jorgensen.
Qualifying clubs: GROUP 1:PLYMOUTHBen Barker & Ryan Fisher.LEICESTERKauko Nieminen & Lasse BjerreWORKINGTONRichard Lawson & Rene BachNEWCASTLEStuart Robson & Mark LemonREDCARUlrich Ostergaard & Aaron SummersGROUP 2:SHEFFIELDRichard Hall & Ricky WellsGLASGOWJoe Screen & Josh GrajczonekSOMERSETJason Doyle & James WrightSCUNTHORPEJosh Auty & Thomas JorgensenEDINBURGHCraig Cook & Theo Pijper
SPEEDWAYGB EVENTS SERIES:BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: JOE HAINESPREMIER LEAGUE FOURS: BERWICKBRITISH FINAL: SCOTT NICHOLLSPREMIER 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 PAIRS: MILDENHALLNATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: Stoke, Sunday August 26NATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS CHAMPIONSHIP: Rye House, Saturday September 29
BRITISH SPEEDWAY FIM EVENT DATES:WORLD UNDER-21 TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL: AUSTRALIAGRAND PRIX QUALIFIER: CHRIS HARRISWORLD UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP Round 3: Coventry, August 17
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BELLE VUE star Craig Cook says his whole outlook on the sport has changed as he enjoys the best run of form in his career at both Elite and Premier League levels.Cook said: My dad quit his job to be with me full-time this season so he has been a mechanic and has been looking after my bikes, so everything is in pristine condition. I think I have changed too and although it was tough at the start of the season, I feel like I'm on a roll now. I just need to keep it going.I think it was better that I wasn't here at the start of the season. I wasn't happy at the end of last year so even if I had been asked to come back, I would have said no. For me to return to the Elite League I knew I needed to get myself fit and performing in the Premier League, which is what I've done.BIRMINGHAM have completed the signing of Italian Grand Prix Wild Card Nicolas Covatti, who will make his debut for the club at home to Coventry on Thursday.Co-promoter Graham Drury said: Phil Morris recognised Covattis potential and he has to take full credit for the signing.He came to me and asked what I thought and I agreed we should make the move. Phil then had dealings with Armando Castagna, who was a fine rider in his time, and we have now reached this point where the boy will ride for us for the first time on Thursday.COVENTRY boss Blayne Scroggins admits two recent defeats to Swindon and Wolverhampton, and injuries to Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls, have left his side adrift of the Elite Leagues play-off pace.Scroggins said: Im pretty positive and Ill always say its never over until its over, but you have to be realistic looking at things at the moment, especially as its going to be really tough on Thursday.This was a team that when it was put together on paper, it should have made the play-offs, but for whatever reason it hasnt, so we've got to look at what is the best move now, and maybe switch a few things around to see how they go for next season.EASTBOURNE have been hit by a further injury to No.1 Joonas Kylmakorpi, who has joined Lewis Bridger on the sidelines after suffering neck and shoulder injuries in a crash in Poland.The Eagles have booked Edward Kennett to guest in Saturdays home match against Wolverhampton, and they will also stage the Wessex Marine 125cc British Championship as a second-half attraction.Manager Trevor Geer said: Naturally it is a big blow to lose our No 1 to injury again, although Edward Kennet will be an excellent replacement. It is going to be tough against Wolves in what really is a must win match for us.LAKESIDE maintained their push for a play off spot, snatching a point away at Belle Vue on Monday. With the scores poised at 37-35 after Heat 12, a 5-1 to the Aces in Heat 13 gave the home team the upper hand, but the Hammers saw out the remaining two heats with 3-3 draws, taking an away point for losing by six or less.The Hammers now face local rivals Eastbourne in a crunch clash at Purfleet on Friday, a meeting which will see the continuation of the popular August Kids for a Quid scheme.KINGS LYNN boss Rob Lyon admitted the Stars home win over a depleted Eastbourne side hadnt been a straightforward matter.Lyon said: It wasnt quite as comfortable as maybe we anticipated after all of Eastbournes team changes. Magic (Janowski), Mads (Korneliussen) and Daniel (Nermark) were down for us, and you rely on your reserves to pull you through.Rory (Schlein) was superb for us as a guest, like he always is. We have got a team capable of doing a job, but they have all got to do it at the same timeand that has been a problem this year.PETERBOROUGH moved closer to the play-off places with an impressive 55-38 win over league leaders Swindon on Mondaytheir third Showground victory in the space of a week.Co-boss Jan Staechmann said: Weve seen this all year, when our backs are against the wall we come out fighting. Im really pleased with how they performed.We didnt have our strongest team out tonight, but it bodes well and hopefully we can now make the play-offsthats what were aiming for anyway.POOLE promoter Matt Ford has explained why he has allowed Swedish star and Pirates asset Tomas H Jonasson to join Elite League rivals Peterborough.Ford said: The mathematics simply didnt allow us to fit Tomas into our side. But the fact we could not accommodate his average in our side doesnt give me the right to deny him the opportunity to earn a living in this country.When Peterborough enquired about using him there was no way I could stand in their way. At present, Tomas remains a Poole asset but I have agreement in place with Peterborough should I wish to sell him in the future.SWINDON boss Alun Rossiter said the Robins heavy defeat at Peterborough on Monday should be put down as a blip, but by no means a crushing blow to their title chances.Rossiter said: No excuses from me, we have been beaten by a better side and well done to Peterborough. Its one of those meetings which can be termed as a bad day at the office and its not a total disaster, it just reminds us that we have a lot of work to do to realise our ambitions.Peterborough rode very well and were the better team. I cannot say much more than that, but obviously Im bitterly disappointed and so is Gary (Patchett).WOLVERHAMPTON boss Peter Adams was relieved to turn the tables over local rivals Coventry with a 51-39 win at Monmore Green after the Brandon club had recently completed a league double.Adams said: Our ambition now is to finish higher than any other Midlands club, and we have gone a long way to achieving that by beating Coventry. We have still got to go to Brandon of course but we are focussing our attentions on Birmingham now who we have got to face home and away.It is never nice to lose to your closest rivals. We have had a good friendly rivalry with Coventry for a number of years and we have won at each others tracks many times, so as I say we were stung by the two losses to them recently but that has gone some way to repairing that because I thought we won pretty comfortably in the end.
PREMIER LEAGUE LATEST
BERWICK crashed to a heavy home defeat against Somerset having been left short-handed by the first-bend, first-race accident which ruled Ricky Ashworth out with a broken shoulder.Manager Ian Rae said: We just cannot show our potential with this sort of evil luck thats striking our every effort at the moment. We will continue to fight for as good a league position as possible, but the fates are doing their damndest to stuff us up at every opportunity. But we will beat this jinxwe will not give up!EDINBURGH have confirmed recent signing Jozsef Tabaka will remain with the club for the remainder of the season after impressing since re-joining the club.Co-promoter John Campbell said: He gave a thrilling performance on Saturday and has been a pleasure to deal with. Because he has been picked as a Wild Card for the European Championships there is a chance he will miss one or two meetings in September but we feel we can cope with that.GLASGOW co-promoter Stewart Dickson believes mid-season signings Filip Sitera and Charles Wright could play a big part for the Tigers in the closing stages of the campaign.Dickson said: They are certainly experienced enough but they are lacking consistency. But I have a sneaky feeling that they are going to have good finishes to the season. They are key, and if both can find some level of consistency then I think we will have a team very much on the up.IPSWICH gave a solid team performance to overcome Plymouth 53-40 at Foxhall, despite an impressive 17-point haul from Devils No.1 Ben Barkeralthough Cameron Heeps now faces time out with a broken wrist.Witches boss Pete Simmons said: I'm pleased with the team tonight; Morten (Risager) picked up where he left off at Plymouth last Friday and the rest of the boys all did their bit to bring home the win.LEICESTER boss Glyn Taylor knows Saturdays trip to Berwick is a vital one for the Lions as they look to take much-needed points on the road to maintain their top six position.Taylor said: Were still not firing on all cylinders, but were definitely getting better. Our away performances are nowhere near up to the mark yet, we are lacking a bit there, but at home were doing okay.NEWCASTLE gained revenge over Redcar for a defeat at South Tees four days earlier, by overcoming the Bears 54-39 at Brough Park to remain top of the Premier League table.Diamonds boss George English said: This was more like it and we really got back onto top form again, but I have to thank our guest at reserve, Robin Aspegren who excelled to take a paid-16 points from his seven rides, it was a superb effort.PLYMOUTH mascot David Abraham will compete in his first-ever senior meeting when he takes part in the clubs Westernapolis event on Friday.Promoter Mike Bowden said: This will be our first individual meeting of the season and there will be an interesting line-up for the evening. In addition to taking a look at some promising young riders we also have a good mix of Premier League riders along with some top men from the National League.REDCAR will showcase several stars of the future on Thursday with the second staging of the Julie Lewis Memorial Trophy, in honour of the clubs former Office Manager who passed away in August 2010, with adult admission down to 10 and kids at 2.Promoter Brian Havelock said: Most of the line-up will not have competed on our circuit before so the racing and outcome will be unpredictable and that makes for an entertaining evening. Obviously like any club at our professional level we are looking out for gold nuggets and we thank Laurence Rogers for organising the Australian input.RYE HOUSE boss John Sampford has been delighted with the early signs from recent recruit Kasper Lykke, who made an impressive debut at Leicester and again scored well at home on Monday.Sampford said: This is not the best circuit to come to for your first match, and people should realise he will be going through a steep learning curve and not expect too much, but he has already shown in one night that he has bags of potential. It is so important at this circuit to get out of the gate, but he just never gave up and it showed in his results. He is tenacious to say the least.SCUNTHORPE star David Howe said he had no option but to call time on his 2012 season as he continues to suffer from shoulder problems.Howe said: Its not an easy decision to call it quits for the year. Being selfish for a moment, what makes it worse for me is seeing that the team is obviously going on to bigger and better things for the rest of the season. I really wanted to be part of that, but sadly itll be from the pits only. I tried my best to race again this year, but I couldnt make it.SHEFFIELD owner Neil Machin has called on his experienced riders to up their game in the closing weeks of the season.Machin said: The team has not performed the way they have been promising to perform and it is not good enough, simply. The three home meetings we have lost in the last month - Scunthorpe, Glasgow and now Edinburgh - we have lost the meeting, they havent won it. We have been our own worst enemies time and time again, and that showed on Thursday.SOMERSET promoter Debbie Hancock remains optimistic of a home win over Berwick on Friday despite three members of the Rebels team being on World Under-21 Final duty at Coventryregular series contender Sam Masters, and Wild Cards Tom Perry and Kyle Newman.She said: Obviously we would have preferred to have gone into Fridays match with Kyle and Tom in our line-up. In saying that, the team are on a high following their exploits over the weekend in bagging six points from the three-match Scottish Tour and will be looking to maintain the pressure on Newcastle at the top of the table.WORKINGTON are facing up to the prospect of being without two key riders for the remainder of the season with American ace Kenny Ingalls joining Kyle Howarth on the long-term injury list after suffering arm and back injuries in a horrific crash at Derwent Park on Saturday night.Comets boss Tony Jackson said: This is a real blow for Kenny as he always seems to be the innocent victim in these crashes. This one has seen him suffer a fractured upper left arm and damage to the T4 and T5 vertebrae. He has been transferred over to Newcastle for an operation to repair the damage but, like Kyle, his season is certainly over now. Naturally we wish him a full and speedy recovery and with regards to the team we will operate rider replacement in the short term while we assess our options. However, we will certainly be looking at making changes if we can as there are still too many important matches remaining to cope with a combination of guests and rider replacement.
FIXTURE PICTURE
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 15:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Kings Lynn v Belle Vue 7.30, Poole v Birmingham 7.30
THURSDAY AUGUST 16:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Coventry 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Sheffield v Workington 7.45SIMON STEAD TESTIMONIAL: Swindon 7.30JULIE LEWIS MEMORIAL: Redcar 7.30
FRIDAY AUGUST 17:WORLD UNDER-21 FINAL Round 3: Coventry 7.45SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Eastbourne 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Sheffield 7.30, Somerset v Berwick 7.30MATTHEW WETHERS TESTIMONIAL: Edinburgh 7.30WESTERNAPOLIS: Plymouth 7.30
SATURDAY AUGUST 18:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Wolverhampton 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Leicester 7pm, Rye House v Plymouth 7pm, Workington v Ipswich 7pm
SUNDAY AUGUST 19:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Ipswich 4pm, Newcastle v Edinburgh 6.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Leicester v Workington 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Dudley 4.30NATIONAL TROPHY: Buxton v Stoke 3pm
MONDAY AUGUST 20:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Kings Lynn 7.30, Coventry v Lakeside 7.30, Wolverhampton v Birmingham 7.30
TUESDAY AUGUST 21:NATIONAL LEAGUE: Dudley v Mildenhall 7.30NATIONAL TROPHY: Isle of Wight v Buxton 7.30
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Poole v Wolverhampton 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Plymouth 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Kings Lynn v Rye House 7.30
THURSDAY AUGUST 23:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Peterborough v Kings Lynn 7.30, Swindon v Poole 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Sheffield v Plymouth 7.45JASON LYONS FAREWELL: Birmingham 7.30
FRIDAY AUGUST 24:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Peterborough 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS: Somerset 7.30
SATURDAY AUGUST 25:BRITISH GRAND PRIX: Cardiff 6pm
SUNDAY AUGUST 26:NATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: Stoke 4pmPRIDE OF THE MIDLANDS: Leicester 2.30
MONDAY AUGUST 27:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Peterborough 8pm, Peterborough v Coventry 11am, Swindon v Lakeside 7.30, Wolverhampton v Belle Vue 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Rye House v Leicester 2pm, Scunthorpe v Somerset 5pm, Workington v Berwick 7pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Isle of Wight (follows PL fixture)NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP: Mildenhall v Stoke 6.30
TUESDAY AUGUST 28:NATIONAL LEAGUE: Dudley v Rye House 7.30
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 29:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Coventry 8pm Poole v Lakeside 7.30, Kings Lynn v Swindon 7.30
