(SPEEDWAY 1)
POOLE made light of the absence of new signing Greg Hancock to sweep past Coventry 56-38 at Wimborne Road and move into the Elite Leagues play-off places.With Hancocks arrival delayed by work permit issues, the Pirates still dominated the meeting with Maciej Janowski piling up 17 points, Darcy Ward scoring a five-ride paid maximum and a back-to-form Tomas H Jonasson adding paid-14.Poole promoter Matt Ford said: Its been a difficult few couple of days with frustrating red tape preventing us seeing Greg in Pirates colours for the first time. However I was very proud of the character shown by the rest of the team in his absencebrilliantly led by skipper Darcy Ward.There is a lot of work still to do to cement our place in the play-offs but if we can ride with the same attitude then its going to take a big effort from the other clubs to stop us.
(SPEEDWAY 2)
PLYMOUTH have signed 19-year-old Dane Rasmus Jensen who is lined-up to make his Premier League debut in the Devils home clash with Redcar on Saturday.Jensen, who is set to come in on an assessed 7.00 average, will take the place of the injured Ty Proctor, whilst Mikkel Bech becomes the clubs new No.1Jensen is also a team-mate of Plymouths Simon Nielsen at Holsted in Denmark, and promoter Seemond Stephens hopes he can adapt to the St Boniface Arena in similar fashion to Bech.Stephens said: There is still a lot of hard work ahead. We must target taking maximum points from our home meetings for the rest of the season, starting with the fixture against high-flying Redcar.
(SPEEDWAY 3)
SIMON Lambert is to return to regular Premier League racing having joined Somerset as a replacement for Tom Perry.Lambert recently stepped down from his position at Rye House but now comes in for the Rebels with his debut pencilled in for their home match against Redcar on Friday.Co-promoter Debbie Hancock said: We felt that Tom has been struggling for some time now and have advised him when fully fit to concentrate on his National League racing with the Isle of Wight to regain his confidence and the ability that we all know he is capable of but has not really shown in 2013.Simon joins us on a low average and we hope that with all the fixtures we have in August that he will certainly increase that and help us reach those all-important play-offs.
(SPEEDWAY 4)
LEICESTER have made a change at reserve by releasing Robert Branford and replacing him with James Sarjeant.Ironically, Branford and Sarjeant are team-mates for Coventry at National League level but Sarjeant has now received the nod for the Lions, starting at home to Scunthorpe on Saturday.Leicester co-promoter Alan Jones said: James has ridden for us as a guest on three occasions this season and his five points at Sheffield went a long way towards helping us achieve a win at Owlerton. He has showed up well whilst guesting for other teams in the Premier League and we have been impressed with his attitude. I believe that with regular racing at a higher level James will make the transition. Unfortunately, it means that we have to say goodbye to Robert, who has not lacked effort since we signed him in April.(SPEEDWAY 5)
RYE House have received bad news on their injury problems ahead of a weekend Northern tour which includes fixtures at Workington and Glasgow.Neither Olly Allen (arm) or Jason Garrity (leg) will be fit to make their hoped-for comebacks, whilst Tyson Nelson will also miss the fixtures after suffering a broken bone in his left hand when he crashed in last weeks Test match at Sheffield.Manager John Sampford said: Hopefully, we will have all three back for the following weekends home and away matches against Leicester.Maybe, possibly, wishing on a star, we will finally have seven riders of our own on-track.
(FIXTURES)
THURSDAY AUGUST 1:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Peterborough 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Berwick 7.30, Sheffield v Newcastle 7.45
FRIDAY AUGUST 2:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Birmingham 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Berwick 7.30, Somerset v Redcar 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Coventry v Buxton 7.30SCOTTISH OPEN: Edinburgh 7.30
SATURDAY AUGUST 3:PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Edinburgh 7pm, Leicester v Scunthorpe 7.30, Plymouth v Redcar 7.15, Workington v Rye House 7pm
SUNDAY AUGUST 4:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Rye House 3pm, Newcastle v Sheffield 6.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Kings Lynn 4.30, Stoke v Dudley 7pmNATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Buxton v Dudley 3pm
