(SPEEDWAY 1 – TUESDAY REVIEW)
RYE House snatched a dramatic 46-44 win at Peterborough in the opening League Cup group fixture of the season.Edward Kennett and Steve Boxall were the Rockets’ heroes in the final heat with a 5-1 over Ryan Fisher and Ulrich Ostergaard, after the Panthers had turned around the deficit they faced for much of the meeting with their own maximum in the previous race.Kennett scored 13 and Boxall added 11+3 in a hugely successful return to Premier League level racing, despite a heavy crash with home man Lewis Blackbird in Heat 6.Boxall said: “To finish with paid 14 in my first match back at this level was really good, although it could have been even more if I hadn’t written off my first bike. I took a really heavy tumble in that one, and was bent over backwards in the fall, so I will definitely be feeling sore.“But I was really pleased that we got this result; pleased for the team, pleased for the management and pleased for the fans.”Peterborough co-boss Blayne Scroggins said: “We were given a lesson in gating, and the one team you don’t want to come up against when you can’t gate is Rye House. We’ve got to put it behind us and move on.”(SPEEDWAY 2 – WEDNESDAY PREVIEW)
BIRMINGHAM have appointed Jack Lee as their new team manager ahead of their opening meeting of the season at Perry Barr on Wednesday.Lee, who has been with Buxton for almost 20 years, will run the rule over his riders ahead of the Elite League campaign in the Selco Classic individual event which also features the likes of Peter Kildemand, Chris Harris and Freddie Lindgren.He said: “Making the play-offs has got to be the main aim, and with the solid team we’ve got I think that’s achievable. We may not have any outstanding, star man so to speak but we’ve got strength all the way through with riders who should be able to score points wherever we go.”Meanwhile King’s Lynn will have the World’s top three riders on show as a Stars select team take on Polish giants Zielona Gora in the first-ever International Pre-Season Cup.World Champion Tai Woffinden guests for the Stars alongside 2013 bronze medallist Niels-Kristian Iversen, with runner-up Jarek Hampel joining the likes of Andreas Jonsson and Piotr Protasiewicz for the visitors.Hampel said: “In my opinion the King’s Lynn track is very nice and we can have good entertainment there. The most important thing is putting on a good show and I think we will because of the level of riders who will be racing in this meeting.” (SPEEDWAY 3)
COVENTRY skipper Chris Harris says winning the Elite Riders’ Championship would be the perfect way to kick off an important season.Harris lines up on his home track at Brandon on Sunday (6pm) in a meeting which brings together no fewer than eight Grand Prix riders – a group Harris has rejoined after a year out of the competition.And he believes the ERC stakes will have been raised by the decision to switch the meeting to March, prior to the major international campaign, rather than the traditional October date.Harris said: “I think it’s a really good move to bring it to the start of the season. Hopefully the weather will stay good for this one and we’ll get a good crowd. I’m really looking forward to it.“I’ve come close to winning it before, so this time I want to go out and win it, and that would get the season off to a really good start.”ERC ADMISSION PRICES: Aduts £25, Concessions £20, Juniors (12-15) £5, Under-12s Free. Programmes £4. Please note that production of a 2013 ELRC re-admission ticket will permit a free programme to the holder.
(SPEEDWAY 4)
PETER Karlsson admits he faced a major battle for fitness to get back on a bike for the 2014 season.The evergreen 44-year-old Lakeside star made a sensational return by winning the Banks’s Olympique Classic at Wolverhampton on Monday - just over six months after suffering a broken vertebra in an horrific crash at King’s Lynn.Karlsson said: “It was a new thing for me really having to come back from that bad injury over the winter. I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve not been injured too much during my career and this was probably the worst one I’ve had.“But I knew in myself and in my body I was OK and I’m pleased that’s put behind me now. I’m just looking forward to this season now and looking to keep going after getting off to a good start.”(SPEEDWAY 5)
WORKINGTON boss Tony Jackson says the club go into their second season under the current promotion determined to maintain a positive team spirit.The Comets have recruited Josh Grajczonek from Premier League champions Somerset along with Ricky Wells from Sheffield, whilst Mason Campton finally lines up at Derwent Park after missing the 2013 campaign due to visa issues.Jackson said: “We had a great team spirit here last season and with four of last years’ septet, plus Mason who would have been in the side but for his visa problems, then we had a pretty good starting point for this year.“If you then throw in Josh, who is big mates with Mason but lives with Kyle’s (Howarth) family when he is over here and Ricky, who is a popular guy that they all know having made several guest appearances for us in the past, then the blend of the team feels right. We see it as a young, improving and exciting team.”
(FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY MARCH 19:SELCO CLASSIC: Birmingham 7.30INTERNATIONAL PRE-SEASON CUP: King’s Lynn v Zielona Gora 7pm
FRIDAY MARCH 21: TRAVEL PLUS TROPHY 1st leg: Coventry v Cradley 7.30GARY HAVELOCK FAREWELL: Poole 7.30
SATURDAY MARCH 22:BRITISH U21 SEMI-FINAL: Plymouth 7.15IAN THOMAS SHIELD 1st leg: Workington v Newcastle 7pmCHALLENGE: Leicester v Peterborough 7.30JOONAS KYLMAKORPI TESTIMONIAL: Eastbourne 7.30MORTEN RISAGER TESTIMONIAL: Ipswich 7.15
SUNDAY MARCH 23:ELITE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Coventry 6pmIAN THOMAS SHIELD 2nd leg: Newcastle v Workington 6.30BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 1: Scunthorpe 3pm
