BRITISH SPEEDWAY WEEKLY BULLETIN 2012/26

BIG EVENT LATEST…EDINBURGH star Craig Cook will launch his defence of the Premier League Riders’ Championship in a mouth-watering first race at Owlerton on September 22 (5pm).Cook has been drawn on the outside gate position for Heat 1 and will go up against three other Sheffield track specialists – current Tigers ace Ricky Wells, former favourite Josh Auty and regular guest Richard Lawson, who has stood in on several occasions this year for the injured Simon Stead.The second-highest averaged rider behind Cook going into the event is Somerset’s Jason Doyle, who kicks off in Heat 4 and faces an immediate clash with Workington’s Rene Bach – both riders having crashed out of the Final in separate incidents in a dramatic conclusion to the 2012 event.The Owlerton event, which gets underway at 5pm (gates open 3.15pm), is always one of the most popular and best-attended meetings on the domestic calendar.Each of the 13 Premier League clubs are represented by their top available rider based on current declarations, and the remaining three places go to the next three highest-averaged riders in the league, subject to a maximum of two representatives per club. This means supporters of Somerset, Workington and Edinburgh will each have two riders to cheer.Sheffield co-promoter David Hoggart said: “It’s a very impressive field, and with the Sheffield No.1 (Stead) currently out injured it looks to be a wide-open event with no serious home track advantage.“We’ve recently seen riders such as Craig Cook, Richie Worrall and Jason Doyle excelling in both leagues, and they will be joint-favourites for the title but there are several others who could spring a surprise.”Admission prices for the showpiece event are unchanged from last year – adults £20, concessions £15, children (12-16) £5 and under-12s free – and any remaining re-admission tickets from the 2012 rained-off event will be honoured.Sheffield’s famous carvery restaurant will also be open and supporters are strongly advised to book their tables in advance by contacting the club on 0114 285 3142.PLRC DRAW: Richard Lawson (Workington), Ricky Wells (Sheffield), Josh Auty (Scunthorpe), Craig Cook (Edinburgh), Richie Worrall (Newcastle), Micky Dyer (Redcar), Nick Morris (Somerset), Theo Pijper (Edinburgh), Seb Alden (Berwick), Dakota North (Glasgow), Olly Allen (Rye House), Mikkel Bech (Plymouth), Rene Bach (Workington), Morten Risager (Ipswich), Jason Doyle (Somerset), Magnus Karlsson (Leicester).

*THE draw has been made for the British Under-19 Final at Coventry on Friday September 20.Mildenhall’s Stefan Nielsen defends his title but is sure to face tough competition from the likes of Kyle Howarth, Ashley Morris and Adam Ellis – whilst 15-year-old World 250cc Champion Daniel Spiller is also included.There is one change from the original line-up as Brandon Freemantle has failed a fitness test on his injured wrist and is now ruled out for the rest of the season, with Adam Kirby stepping up to replace him.DRAW: Stefan Nielsen, Nathan Stoneman, Ashley Morris, Nathan Greaves, Max Clegg, James Shanes, Liam Carr, Ben Morley, Darryl Ritchings, Adam Kirby, Josh Bates, Adam Ellis, Oliver Greenwood, Connor Coles, Kyle Howarth, Daniel Spiller. Reserves: Jack Kingston, Ryan Terry-Daley.

*KENT star Ben Morley is one of several riders set for a busy weekend with the British Under-19 Final followed by the National League Riders’ Championship at Rye House the following day – September 21.Morley has extensive experience of Hoddesdon as he has ridden for the club in both Premier and National Leagues, and has made a number of guest appearances for the Rockets this season.He said: “I’ve got one after the other, but it should be alright. I’ll prepare myself as I normally do and aim to make good starts, and just go from there.”NLRC – QUALIFYING RIDERS (Rye House, Sept 21): Charles Wright, Liam Carr (Buxton); Joe Jacobs, Robert Branford (Coventry); Paul Starke, Lewis Blackbird, Ashley Morris (Dudley); Steve Boxall, Ben Morley (Kent); Tom Perry, Adam Ellis (Isle of Wight); Robert Lambert, Lewis Kerr (King’s Lynn); Stefan Nielsen, Jon Armstrong (Mildenhall); Steve Worrall (Stoke). Reserves: Jack Kingston, Shane Hazelden.

SPEEDWAYGB EVENTS SERIES 2013BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: ROBERT BRANFORDBRITISH FINAL: TAI WOFFINDENPREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS: SOMERSETPREMIER LEAGUE FOURS: EDINBURGHPREMIER LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Sheffield, Sept 22ELITE LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Swindon, Oct 12NATIONAL LEAGUE MAJOR EVENTS:NATIONAL LEAGUE PAIRS: DUDLEYNATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: DUDLEYNATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Rye House, Sept 21BRITISH SPEEDWAY FIM EVENT DATES:WORLD UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP Round 2: PIOTR PAWLICKIGRAND PRIX CHALLENGE: NIELS-KRISTIAN IVERSEN

ELITE LEAGUE LATEST…

BELLE VUE stand-in skipper Magnus Zetterstrom backed the decision to abandon the Aces’ final home match of the season against Poole after ten races in difficult track conditions.Zetterstrom said: “We can’t beat the weather and all the rain we had this afternoon made the track very slimy, and adding the sawdust, then trying to blade it off, ended up making the bends very grippy; as the night went on track conditions became very inconsistent.“I would have liked the season at home to have finished on a much better note because it has been a difficult year for us, but at the end of the day, for me, it was more important to see all of the riders safe and nobody get seriously injured out there.”BIRMINGHAM have been given a big boost by the unexpected return from injury of Ben Barker, who had been expected to undergo an operation on his back but will now race against King’s Lynn on Wednesday.Brummies boss Phil Morris said: “What an opportunity this is to show off to the league what potential we have and the chance to build some form ahead of the play-offs“King’s Lynn are a tough side and although they’re missing Niels (Kristian Iversen), Kenneth (Bjerre) is no slouch round Perry Barr either so it’ll be tough – we’re more than aware of that. We’ve got a full side out so we hope to see a big crowd in like we have had for the past few months; it really does help with the team spirit.”COVENTRY rounded off a tough Elite League season with a narrow 48-46 win over King’s Lynn with the meeting going to a last-heat decider after the Bees’ earlier 13-point lead had been reeled in.Bees boss Gary Havelock said: “Heat 15 was a real toss-up with what to do with the choice of gates and Scott (Nicholls) wasn’t making the best of starts. Zengi (Grzegorz Zengota) decided he wanted to go off four, so Scott’s main job was to try to stop Rory (Schlein) off one, and he managed to do it.“The reserves were excellent, and Kyle (Howarth) got us a lot of points early on. He won Heat 1 and to get a 5-1 in that race and follow it up with another one in Heat 2 – I can’t remember us doing that all season.”EASTBOURNE No.1 Bjarne Pedersen has set his sights on a return to Arlington next season after a consistent campaign in Eagles colours.Pedersen told Speedway Star: “I felt on paper before this season started we had a good line-up from one to seven. It didn’t work out so I think it is a disappointing season, but that is how the sport is sometimes.“I’d love to come back next season. I was disappointed not to be here last season but I understood it. I put all the effort in I can here. Of course, I want to be better and improve my average.”KING’S LYNN face Elite League leaders Birmingham in home and away fixtures to wrap up their Elite League campaign this week, hosting the Brummies at the Norfolk Arena on Friday.The Stars gained an away point at Coventry last Friday but now need two wins against the Brummies and a significant points-difference swing in their favour in order to keep their play-off hopes alive, following Poole’s win at Belle Vue on Monday.LAKESIDE go into their re-arranged final Elite League match of the season needing to win at Swindon in order to overhaul Poole and make it into the play-offs, following the Pirates’ win at Belle Vue on Monday.Hammers boss Neil Vatcher told Speedway Star: “Our destiny is still in our own hands and to be frank after 28 matches whoever finishes in the top four deserves to be there in my opinion.“You can work out on paper all the permutations of what you need, but it’s on track where the points are won. So the simple message I’ll be giving to the boys is to try and collect as many points as possible.”PETERBOROUGH saw their play-off dreams ended by results elsewhere despite another victory on Monday as they defeated Wolverhampton 55-38 with Krzysztof Buczkowski scoring his third successive home maximum.Panthers co-boss Ryan Sullivan said: “We’re disappointed obviously, but we’ve fought hard after making hard work of it with a slow start to the season. We can look back and rue a lot of lost points, but nevertheless we can hold our heads up high.“The team have done well. They’ve got off the bottom and proved themselves to be a great team. The riders have been outstanding in the second half of the year. It’s disappointing at the moment but next week we’ll want to go out with a bang.”POOLE boss Neil Middleditch praised the efforts of his team in overcoming difficult conditions to collect a maximum four points from Monday’s curtailed fixture at Belle Vue to maintain their play-off hopes.Middleditch told the Daily Echo: “We came up here with a job to do. It wasn’t pretty but we got the job done. Due to the weather, it wasn’t the greatest spectacle.“I spoke to the boys on the track walk and we were up for it. It was very difficult to race on, but we adapted to it better. The problem was that it was getting worse throughout the meeting. As it got heavy, the track got sticker and sticker.”SWINDON co-promoter Alun Rossiter said the Robins had no alternative but to postpone Monday’s home clash with Lakeside, which was swiftly re-arranged for this Thursday.Rossiter said: “We had heavy rain overnight and then further rain until just after 1pm on Monday, and the problem was there was a dog meeting at the stadium all afternoon.“That meeting wasn’t going to finish until just before 6.30pm and it meant we simply wouldn’t have been able to get onto the track during the afternoon. I know we had a pleasant evening and had it been one of our normal Thursday meetings there wouldn’t have been a problem, we would have had the afternoon working on the track and it would have been okay.”WOLVERHAMPTON boss Peter Adams was pleased to see his side come through Monday’s trip to Peterborough unscathed and is now making preparations for the play-offs.Adams said: “There were some negative points and some positive points, but the important thing is we are all fit and raring to go for the play-offs.“Every time we come to Peterborough we seem to do either really well or really badly but this meeting was a bit in the middle really.”

PREMIER LEAGUE LATEST…

BERWICK will host Sheffield in a Benefit Meeting for the seriously injured Ricky Ashworth at Shielfield Park on September 28.Bandits director George Hepburn said: “Since we announced details of the meeting it has progressed forward at a pace. Our Supporters Club quickly came in to sponsor the meeting which is just great. Many clubs and organisations across the country immediately pledged to sponsor a heat or a rider and we are well on our way in that area but I stress we still have races and riders available so please email club@berwickbandits.co or Tel@ 01289 307707. It is £100 a heat or the same for a rider.”EDINBURGH skipper Derek Sneddon celebrates his Testimonial meeting at Armadale on Friday with several big names joining the event.Amongst the star guests will be Elite League regulars Kenenth Bjerre, Ryan Fisher and Tomas H Jonasson – the latter pair both being ex-Monarchs – whilst former Edinburgh favourite Frede Schott makes a comeback at the age of 42.GLASGOW finally found the winning formula with a 58-35 Scottish Cup home win over depleted rivals Edinburgh at Ashfield.Tigers boss Stewart Dickson said: “Josh Grajzconek did like for like what (Joe Screen) should do; David Bellego came in and certainly gave us help - I'm not going to kid on it didn't make a difference. But you look through our own riders' scores as well - very impressive.”IPSWICH co-promoter Chris Louis is delighted with the news that Ben Barker will not miss the rest of the season and is available for the Witches’ important upcoming schedule.Louis said: “Having Ben back at No.1 as we head to the play-offs and the League Cup Final will lift everyone from his team-mates to the Ipswich fans that have been thrilled by his racing at Foxhall this season. People do need to be aware that he may take a couple of meetings to get back to his best but he is back and that's the main thing.”LEICESTER will have six regular Elite League riders, including Rory Schlein, Danny King and Lewis Bridger, competing in the speedway section of their Freestyle Show at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium on Saturday afternoon (1pm), followed by a stunt show featuring motocross tricks.Co-promoter Alan Jones said: “If you haven’t seen Freestyle Motocross before then you are in for something very special. The riders will jump from portable ramps placed on the centre green, reaching heights of around 40 feet and performing a fully choreographed stunt show. The riders will often take off one after another and perform stunts which involve completely letting go of the bike.”NEWCASTLE confirmed their play-off place with a resounding home win over Leicester, hitting the 62-point mark despite some controversy – to maintain their strong run at this stage of the season.Diamonds boss George English said: “Ignoring the issues we had with the official control of the meeting - we were in magnificent form to defeat a good side by a good-sized score, and more importantly we have the league points getting us closer to the play-offs.”PLYMOUTH round off their away Premier League programme with a mini Northern tour this weekend, travelling to Glasgow on Sunday and then Newcastle on Monday – and a win at Glasgow could see the Devils climb into the top ten.Co-promoter Ashley Taylor said: “We have already had a couple of away wins this season and we will be going to Glasgow with every hope of getting something from that meeting.”REDCAR need to avoid defeat by more than 23 points when they visit Rye House on Saturday if they are to remain ahead of Leicester and confirm a place in the Premier League play-offs.Bears boss Jitendra Duffill told Speedway Star: “We’ll go back there knowing exactly what we have to do, and if there was a positive to take out of (the KO Cup) loss, it was that we have recent experience of the Rye House track and hopefully we’ll get dialled in quicker.”RYE HOUSE asset Ben Morley played a vital role in a drawn fixture against Workington last weekend as he covered for the injured Jason Garrity, with his night including an exciting Heat 8 battle with Rusty Harrison.Morley said: “I kept going wider and wider every lap because I knew that Pontus (Aspgren) was inside me. Fortunately I came back to the inside on the last bend. I looked across and I could see Rusty’s front wheel, but I knew I’d got it!”SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey is desperate for former Scorpions rider Tai Woffinden, who was born in the town, to wrap up the World Championship and become the first British winner since 2000.Godfrey said: “It’s no longer a big deal for just speedway fans in Scunthorpe; it’s becoming a big deal for everyone in this town full-stop. If a lad born in his town becomes World Champion, that’s a massive thing. We’re just all so proud of Tai and just hope he keeps it going for the last two rounds.”SHEFFIELD suffered yet another injury setback when recent signing Simon Lambert crashed out of last Thursday’s defeat at Ipswich and suffered a broken ankle.Tigers boss David Hoggart said: “It’s devastating for Simon and we’re gutted for him. It was such a tough night, we were riding with three riders by the end and that’s an impossible situation.”SOMERSET made light of tracking a somewhat depleted line-up to defeat Berwick 57-34 at the Oaktree Arena with recent signing Charles Wright impressing by scoring paid-13 on his home debut.Rebels boss Garry May said: “It took us a while to come to terms with having no Kyle (Newman) in the side and the late loss of Lewis Rose, but the second half of the match saw us exert our authority on the match. Wrighty put in some excellent rides which saw him involved in no less than three of our five maximum heat wins to keep us in contention at the top of the Premier League.”WORKINGTON are taking a break from Premier League action this weekend with their place in the league title play-offs is assured, as they re-stage the final Great Britain v Australia Test Match - and they will be using the afternoon leading up to the meeting to hold a ‘fund-raising fun day’ at Derwent Park towards their new compulsory safety barrier that is required for next season.Comets co-promoter and team manager Tony Jackson said: “Rider availability has certainly strengthened the Australian side this time around compared to the line-up for the initial staging and the two sides appear to be very evenly matched, so a great meeting seems in prospect for the fans to enjoy. The Aussies are certainly looking to end the series strongly.“From 1pm in the afternoon we will also be holding our fund-raiser at the stadium, with help from our hard working Supporters Club. There will be a number of riders present and plenty of activities for the fans to have a bit of fun with while raising funds at the same time and any fans arriving early for the Test Match are more than welcome to join in.”

FIXTURE PICTURE…

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 10:PREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Ipswich 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Dudley v King’s Lynn 7.30

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 11:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v King’s Lynn 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 2nd leg: King’s Lynn v Dudley 7.30KRZYSZTOF KASPRZAK TESTIMONIAL: Poole 7.30

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 12:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Lakeside 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Edinburgh 7.30, Sheffield v Somerset 7.45

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Belle Vue 7.45, King’s Lynn v Birmingham 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Somerset v Ipswich 7.30DEREK SNEDDON TESTIMONIAL: Edinburgh 7.15TONY SANFORD MEMORIAL TROPHY: Plymouth 7.15

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14:PREMIER LEAGUE: Rye House v Redcar 7pmTEST MATCH: Great Britain v Australia, Workington 7pmFREESTYLE SHOW: Leicester 1pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Plymouth 3pm, Newcastle v Edinburgh 6.30RETRO CUP: Scunthorpe v Sheffield 3pm

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE: Peterborough v Belle Vue 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle v Plymouth 7.30JOE HUGHES INVITATIONAL: Wolverhampton 7.30JOHN CEARNS CUP: Kent v Wimbledon 6.30

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 17:NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Isle of Wight v Mildenhall 7pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18:PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP S/F REPLAY 1st leg: Somerset v Edinburgh 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Dudley 7.30

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 19:LEAGUE CUP FINAL 1st leg: Ipswich v Newcastle 7.30

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 20:BRITISH UNDER-19 FINAL: Coventry 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP S/F REPLAY 2nd leg: Edinburgh v Somerset 7.30WESTERNAPOLIS: Plymouth 7.15

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 21:PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Rye House 7pmNATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Rye House 7pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 22:PREMIER LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Sheffield 5pmNATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 2nd leg: Mildenhall v Isle of Wight 4.30BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 6: Iwade 12pm

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 23:SKY SPORTS ELITE LEAGUE PLAY-OFF S/F 1st leg: Wolverhampton v TBC 7.30, TBC v TBC 7.30SILVER SKI HOLIDAYS CHAMIONSHIP: Kent 6.30

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 24:NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAY-OFF S/F 1st leg: Dudley v Isle of Wight 7.30