BIG EVENT LATEST…
THE battle for the British Under-21 title later this month could be one of the fiercest in years.
Several of the competitors for the Cradley-staged event, which takes place at Monmore Green on Tuesday April 15, are gaining top-level experience thanks to the fast-track development programme, and there is plenty of depth in the line-up.
British Youth co-boss Neil Vatcher said: “Out of the seeded riders, eight of the current top ten go into the 2014 season riding in the top flight of British Speedway - either being chosen to represent an Elite League club through the fast track system, or in the case of Kyle Howarth and Robert Lambert being selected for a top five team spot for their respective clubs.
“It was also pleasing to see all but one National League club being represented in the semi-final, which goes to show that there is a good selection of young British talent across the country.”Howarth and Jason Garrity were both on the rostrum in last year’s British Under-21 Final, losing out in the Final to Robert Branford in a spectacular deciding race.Branford is unavailable to defend the title as he will not be in the UK at the time of the meeting, but his absence has come as a boost to Cradley’s Nathan Greaves who is now called-up to the main event after qualifying as reserve from the Plymouth semi-final.
That means the staging club have two riders in the meeting as Greaves joins Tom Perry, whilst last year’s Heathens skipper Ashley Morris will be amongst the favourites.Amongst the other seeds, Stefan Nielsen will look to add to his double of British Under-19 title wins with success at the higher level, whilst Joe Jacobs and Adam Ellis have both made impressive starts to life in the Elite League with Wolverhampton and Lakeside respectively.
BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL (Cradley, April 15): Kyle Howarth (Coventry & Workington), Jason Garrity (Coventry & Rye House), Stefan Nielsen (Belle Vue & Coventry Storm), Adam Ellis (Lakeside & Ipswich), Ashley Morris (Wolverhampton & Workington), Joe Jacobs (Wolverhampton, Peterborough & Mildenhall), Tom Perry (Leicester & Cradley), Robert Lambert (King’s Lynn), Josh Bates (Sheffield & Mildenhall), James Sarjeant (Coventry & Coventry Storm), Jack Kingston (Mildenhall), James Shanes (Devon), Darryl Ritchings (Swindon & King’s Lynn Young Stars), Dan Greenwood (Coventry Storm), Connor Coles (Mildenhall), Nathan Greaves (Cradley). Reserves: Marc Owen (unattached) and Ryan Terry-Daley (Coventry Storm).
*BRITISH Youth bosses Phil Morris and Neil Vatcher have confirmed a Training Day will take place at Leicester on Tuesday April 22 (10am).
This is open to any under-16 riders who have their own equipment and follows on from the biggest-ever round of the British Youth Championship at Scunthorpe last month.Leicester and Sheffield star Simon Stead will be on hand alongside Morris and Vatcher to give assistance to the riders. Any riders that would like to attend are asked to contact Morris or Vatcher or send an email to younglionsspeedway@hotmail.co.uk .
They said: “We would like to go on record to thank the promotion at Leicester for holding this event for us, Simon Stead for agreeing to come along for the day and also to the BSPA for their continued support for British Youth Speedway.”SPEEDWAYGB EVENTS SERIES 2014:ELITE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Re-staging TBCBRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: Cradley, April 15BRITISH FINAL: Wolverhampton, June 16PREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS: Somerset, July 11PREMIER LEAGUE FOURS: Peterborough, August 3PREMIER RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Sheffield, September 21NATIONAL LEAGUE MAJOR EVENTS:NATIONAL LEAGUE PAIRS: Mildenhall, June 15NATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: Coventry, August 10NATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Rye House, September 28BRITISH SPEEDWAY FIM EVENT DATES:WORLD UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP Semi-Final: Leicester, May 10
ELITE LEAGUE LATEST…
BELLE VUE promoter David Gordon believes the Aces have the team this season to restore the Manchester club to the upper regions of the Elite League table.Gordon told Speedway Star: “We have always thought we have put together solid teams that are going to be able to compete, but through injuries and misfortune things have gone against us and things haven’t worked out for us.“This year I think we have a really good balance to the team, with riders with all sorts of experience. Theoretically we should do well.”BIRMINGHAM promoter Alan Phillips has hailed the unity behind the scenes at the club as the Brummies look to bounce back from away defeats in their first two fixtures of the campaign.Phillips said: “This is the best atmosphere I’ve known within the club since I arrived here. Yes, we’ve suffered a couple of defeats but they were at two of the toughest places in the league – Wolverhampton and Eastbourne.“We’ve got a cracking set of lads and everyone is working hard behind the scenes at Birmingham Speedway. Let’s get the points on the board!”COVENTRY newcomer Kenneth Hansen has confirmed his late-season appearances in 2013 were very much with a view towards securing a team place at Brandon for the present campaign.Hansen said: “I really wanted to come here, and that’s why I made contact with Coventry last year and they invited me to the Brandonapolis.“I was well pleased with that and I wanted to show I could still race around here! It was also pretty awesome to have a good meeting at Leicester as well, just to prove that I could do something away from Coventry as well.”EASTBOURNE are keen to maintain their early momentum from a big home win over Birmingham when they face Leicester this weekend – which would also set the Eagles up well for their away schedule.Co-promoter Mike Bellerby said: “Fortress Arlington is an absolute must if we are to challenge for honours. We have set out on the right foot and now we must continue.“It will mean we will go to Poole full of confidence, ready to cause an upset and start getting points on the board away from home.”KING’S LYNN boss Rob Lyon believes the inclusion of three locally-based youngsters – Robert Lambert, Lewis Kerr and Lewis Rose – will provide even more reason for supporters to get behind the side.Lyon told the Eastern Daily Press: “I think it will bring in the crowds because, like in any sport really, if you’ve got local competitors, fans like to see that. They like the interaction and the thought of local riders riding in their local team. “Funnily enough, all seven are pretty well locally based this year which is great. Having three Norfolk-based young riders is unusual but quite refreshing. Hopefully it will grab the attention of the public and they’ll come along and see these boys in action.”LAKESIDE ended Swindon’s impressive run of three straight wins on their previous visits to Purfleet with a hard-fought 47-44 success in their opening fixture.Promoter Jon Cook handed special praise to his reserves, with Adam Ellis featuring in a crucial 5-1 with Richard Lawson over Nicolai Klindt in Heat 12.Cook said: “Adam was awesome and to claim such a notable scalp on his home debut is a mouthwatering taster of what is to come in the seasons ahead. Praise too to Ben Morley for a terrific first Elite League meeting as a Vortex Hammer.”LEICESTER boss Norrie Allan is relishing his new challenge as he takes charge of the Lions in their debut Elite League season.Allan told Speedway Star: “I’ve always got on well with riders but really it’s up to them go out there and score points. I don’t think there’s any rocket science to management, but the most important thing is making sure the riders are happy and content.“I’ve always found from working with Mark Loram and Chris Harris that if a rider is happy in his environment then you normally get results out of them.”POOLE boss Neil Middleditch said there had been good signs from the Pirates’ opening Challenge win over Lakeside, despite a tough night for newcomer Vaclav Milik.Middleditch said: “It was a great shame that Vaclav blew his bike up in his first ride and had problems. But I’m happy for him to hopefully get all these gremlins out of the way before the league starts!“It’s good to know that he had a horror night with his machinery but the boys still won. Overall I know I have a very strong top three with Josh (Grajczonek) a very dependable support. And I know Vaclav will come good.”SWINDON manager Alun Rossiter was satisfied to take an Elite League point from the Robins’ first fixture at Lakeside, as they hit back from 11-points down to reduce the gap to three thanks to a last-heat 5-1.Rossiter said: “I took all the positives out of that – for me that result was as good as a win given how tough a place Lakeside is to visit.“Up until Heat 10 we hadn’t won a race but everyone dug deep and we came strong in the end. We are certainly happy with that result and it’s a very encouraging way to start our season.”WOLVERHAMPTON pulled off a dramatic 46-44 win at Leicester on Saturday with guest Chris Harris producing the goods in a re-started Heat 15 after World Champion Tai Woffinden had been ruled out by his third crash of the night.Promoter Chris Van Straaten said: “Tai was certainly in the wars with those crashes, the last one especially was quite spectacular and that mutes the celebrations a little bit.“That said it was a cracking victory all things considered, and we are very pleased with the team performance as a whole against a solid Leicester side.”
PREMIER LEAGUE LATEST…
BERWICK will take a 20-point lead to Redcar next month for the second leg of the Tweed/Tees Trophy following an impressive display against the Bears in their opening home meeting.Bandits star David Bellego said: “That was a very good meeting and I have to say thank-you to our track guys Razor (Ian Rae) and Heppy (George Hepburn) for making the track the best it has even been, even better than last year - and more amazing is this is just the first meeting of the new year. They have made this track in superb condition and I thank them for their efforts.”EDINBURGH made a positive start to the new campaign with home and away wins over Glasgow in the Air Fence Challenge – with Craig Cook unbeaten in both legs of the event.Monarchs boss Alex Harkess said: “We did our job very well, and several of our riders were going very well. It’s hard to see who in our league will beat Craig, and the bonus was probably Stevie Worrall with his 11 points (at Glasgow), in spite of having a fair bit of trouble with his bikes.”GLASGOW manager Stewart Dickson says he expects French newcomer Dimitri Berge to quickly adjust to the demands of racing in the UK.Dickson said: “Dimitri is a man of few words in English and I think he’s also a quiet boy by nature. But he just looks a total, natural motorcyclist. I wouldn’t even say speedway rider – because I know he’s done the grasstrack, the longtrack. His style is incredible.”IPSWICH reserve Adam Ellis led the scoring for the Witches with 11+2 in their opening-night 50-40 home win over Rye House in the League Cup, with new No.1 Richie Worrall also collecting 11 on his debut for the club.Ellis said: “I really enjoyed racing tonight. I feel better prepared and more relaxed this season and I hope I can carry on as I've started.”NEWCASTLE continued to show all-round strength at the start of the season as they opened their League Cup defence with a 60-29 home win over Redcar after poor weather had put the meeting in doubt.Diamonds boss George English said: “The first congratulations have to go to our track staff who worked miracles right through Sunday to get that match up and running after some appalling conditions through the week.“The performance certainly showed what a solid side we have this season - full of strength-in-depth from top to bottom and give us a sign this season could be a good one.”PETERBOROUGH boss Trevor Swales says there is plenty more to come from the Premier League newcomers, who were set for a convincing home win over Plymouth last week before electrical failure forced the match to be abandoned.Swales said: “We’ve started okay, but we have a lot more to offer. Two of our top men, Ales Dryml and Lasse Bjerre, have not fired on all cylinders yet but they are raring to go.”PLYMOUTH co-promoter Ashley Taylor has told his side to “stop the excuses” after an indifferent start to the season.Taylor said: “We know we have a battle on our hands against Rye House and we have to be all in it together. It is up to the team to get their act together and turn in a better performance than they did against Somerset.“It is time to stop the excuses and get on with the business in hand.”REDCAR have confirmed the re-arrangement date for the twice rained-off Tweed/Tees Trophy clash with Berwick has been set for May 15.The Bears now launch their home campaign with a League Cup clash against Scunthorpe on Thursday.RYE HOUSE boss John Sampford says he will ensure his team do not under-estimate Plymouth ahead of home and away clashes this weekend.Sampford said: “We certainly know what Ben Barker is all about – he has topped or been second in the national averages in two of the last three seasons – and I am looking forward to seeing Rasmus Jensen for the first time after hearing very good reviews. And Kalle Katajisto has enjoyed some tremendous meetings at Rye in the past when he was with Edinburgh. “So we are not going to under-estimate them at all. We remember that they came to us twice and beat us last year, and I am fully expecting a real scrap in both this weekend’s fixtures.”SCUNTHORPE boss Dave Peet said there were still positives to take away from a home defeat in the Scorpions’ opening meeting as his side lost out to local rivals Sheffield.Peet said: “Ashley (Birks) rode like he’d never been away. He showed no ill effects from the injuries he sustained at the end of last season. Anders (Mellgren) rode well – and he’s only going to get better each week once he gets used to riding here every week. “Josh (Auty) looked very fast; he was a bit unlucky to be excluded from the re-run of Heat 13. But we did miss Ryan Douglas in the final stages of the meeting – we will be stronger once Ryan is here.”SHEFFIELD made a flying start to their League Cup campaign with a 48-42 away win at Scunthorpe – to make it a perfect for new team boss Joe Screen.He said: “The lads were magnificent and all the team spirit built up over the last few weeks really paid off. It’s a great start – and the best bit is I don’t have any dirty bikes to wash in the morning now I’m on this side of the fence!”SOMERSET boss Garry May is eager to secure silverware this weekend when the Rebels face Newcastle in the Premier Shield, with the home leg taking place on Friday.May said: “In an ideal world we would have liked to have had at least one home match under our belts before meeting Newcastle, but that’s not to be, but in truth I don’t see that as being a major disadvantage.“We had an exceptional meeting at Plymouth on Saturday night with all seven riding superbly and prior to Friday’s clash with Newcastle we have testing away League Cup matches at Peterborough and Ipswich, so the guys will be anything but race-rusty by the time the tapes are ready to go up on Friday night!”WORKINGTON got their League Cup campaign off to a winning start with a 60-31 victory over Glasgow at Derwent Park last Saturday and face Glasgow in the return fixture at Ashfield this Sunday. But before that, long-serving Comet Rusty Harrison, who is spending this season with Glasgow, stages his Testimonial Meeting at Workington this Saturday at 6:30pm.Comets co-promoter and team manager Tony Jackson said: “Over the years I have got to know Rusty really well, and telling him that we could not fit him in the Workington side in his testimonial season was one of the hardest things I have had to do in speedway. But, he understood that is just how speedway is sometimes. However, we are delighted that we are able to honour the promise we made to him and that he is staging his testimonial meeting at Workington.“This is where he lives, this is where his friends are and this is where he has spent the majority of his British racing career. He currently lies second in the list of all-time appearances for the Comets, just thirty-six matches behind club legend Carl Stonehewer, that’s how much a part of Workington Speedway Rusty Harrison is.”
FIXTURE PICTURE…
TUESDAY APRIL 1:LEAGUE CUP: Peterborough v Somerset 7.30TRAVEL PLUS TROPHY 2nd leg: Cradley v Coventry 7.30
WEDNESDAY APRIL 2:ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Lakeside 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: King’s Lynn v Scunthorpe 7.30
THURSDAY APRIL 3:ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Coventry 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Ipswich v Somerset 7.30, Redcar v Scunthorpe 7.30, Sheffield v Newcastle 7.45
FRIDAY APRIL 4:ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Leicester 8pmLEAGUE CUP: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30, Plymouth v Rye House 7.15PREMIER SHIELD 1st leg: Somerset v Newcastle 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Coventry v Scunthorpe 7.30
SATURDAY APRIL 5:ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Leicester 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Berwick v Edinburgh 7pm, Rye House v Plymouth 7pmRUSTY HARRISON TESTIMONIAL: Workington 6.30
SUNDAY APRIL 6:LEAGUE CUP: Glasgow v Workington 3pm, Scunthorpe v Redcar 3pmPREMIER SHIELD 2nd leg: Newcastle v Somerset 6.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Scunthorpe v King’s Lynn (follows LC fixture)NATIONAL TROPHY: Leicester v Kent 4pm, Mildenhall v Stoke 3.30
MONDAY APRIL 7:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Swindon 7.30CHALLENGE: Peterborough v Leicester 7.30
TUESDAY APRIL 8:NATIONAL SHIELD 1st leg: Cradley v King’s Lynn 7.30
WEDNESDAY APRIL 9:ELITE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Coventry 7.30, King’s Lynn v Lakeside 7.30, Poole v Eastbourne 7.30
THURSDAY APRIL 10:ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Belle Vue 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Ipswich v Plymouth 7.30, Redcar v Newcastle 7.30, Sheffield v Scunthorpe 7.45
FRIDAY APRIL 11:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v King’s Lynn 7.30, Lakeside v Birmingham 8pmLEAGUE CUP: Edinburgh v Workington 7.30, Plymouth v Ipswich 7.15, Somerset v Peterborough 7.30
SATURDAY APRIL 12:ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Belle Vue 7.30, Leicester v Lakeside 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Berwick v Glasgow 7pm, Rye House v Somerset 7pm, Workington v Edinburgh 7pmCHALLENGE: Stoke v Buxton 7pm
SUNDAY APRIL 13:PREMIER LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Somerset 3pmLEAGUE CUP: Glasgow v Berwick 3pm, Newcastle v Sheffield 6.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Cradley (follows PL fixture)
MONDAY APRIL 14:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Leicester 7.30, Poole v Coventry 8pm, Wolverhampton v King’s Lynn 7.30
TUESDAY APRIL 15:BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: Cradley 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Peterborough v Plymouth 7.30
WEDNESDAY APRIL 16:ELITE LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Belle Vue 7.30
