(SPEEDWAY 1 – THURSDAY REVIEW)
KING’S Lynn’s Fast Track reserve Lewis Kerr scored a five-ride paid maximum as the Elite League leaders defeated Coventry 54-35 at the Norfolk Arena.Kerr was joined in double-figures by Danish rider Nicklas Porsing (10+1) as the Stars eased to victory in a meeting heavily delayed for attention to Darren Mallett and the Bees’ James Sarjeant after a Heat 9 crash. Both were taken to hospital for further examination.Coventry captain Chris Harris enjoyed a fine evening, dropping just one point from four completed outings after failing to make the time allowance for his first ride.Harris said: “King’s Lynn is one of my favourite tracks and we were trying something different with some new frames and I enjoyed it. I haven’t felt that comfortable on the bike for a long time, so hopefully those changes will work.“The team kept battling but King’s Lynn are a good side, they aren’t top of the league for nothing and I can’t see them being beaten here this year.”Meanwhile Edinburgh’s winning run finally came to an end against Ipswich – but the Monarchs are still unbeaten in 2014 after a thrilling 45-45 draw at Foxhall.The visitors led the early stages but the Witches levelled in Heat 9 and then turned the meeting around to lead by four thanks to a 5-1 from Ritchie Hawkins and Gino Manzares.But the visitors hit straight back and both sides took turns to lead with Edinburgh going into the last race two points up with a 5-1 in Heat 14 from Steve Worrall and Derek Sneddon.Richie Worrall won the last race for the Witches, and although team-mate Rohan Tungate could not pass Craig Cook he did keep Steve Worrall at the back for a drawn scoreline.
(SPEEDWAY 2 – FRIDAY PREVIEW)
COVENTRY race their first home Elite League match in three weeks when Birmingham visit Brandon in a hastily re-arranged fixture at Brandon.The Bees will be without Kenneth Hansen and the injured James Sarjeant but skipper Chris Harris has re-arranged his travel plans and will miss practice for the Czech Republic Grand Prix in order to line up for his club.Harris said: “As well as entertaining the crowd this is my living, it’s what I get paid to do and when I miss meetings for Coventry I don’t get paid for that.“Coventry is close to my heart, I’ve been here for a long time now and the response I’ve had from the fans has been overwhelming really so I’m pleased with that.”Birmingham have stated new signing Bartosz Zmarzlik is unavailable, whilst they will be using guests for Ben Barker and Paul Starke who both have Premier League commitments.Zmarzlik has start permission issues with the Polish authorities, and promoter Alan Phillips said: “We are the innocent party in this situation and we can confirm Bartosz is unavailable tonight, so we will revert back to Adam Skornicki in the declared line-up. It's an unfortunate situation and we are working hard to rectify it in time for Monday.”In the Premier League, leaders Edinburgh host Glasgow in a Scottish derby at Armadale – and the visitors include three former Monarchs No.1s with Kevin Wolbert, Theo Pijper and Rusty Harrison all in their ranks.Somerset take on Scunthorpe in the clash of the last two clubs to win the Premier League title, with the Rebels looking to take revenge from a narrow 44-46 defeat at the Eddie Wright Raceway earlier in the season.Boss Garry May said: “Scunthorpe may have had an inconsistent start to the season, but the recent signing of (Nicolai) Klindt has seen an upturn in their fortunes.“But in saying that the boys are itching to get back out on track and make up for that last heat defeat we suffered at Scunthorpe back in April, so the fans can look forward to what I believe will be a cracking match.”Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We’ll go into this meeting with the same attitude as we always do, which is to take something out of the meeting. We’ve kept Somerset close in our last few visits around there, and we’ll be looking to do that again.”Plymouth will operate the rider replacement facility for Adam Roynon with Tim Webster replacing Roland Benko as the Devils look for their third successive home win as they host Berwick.Co-promoter Ashley Taylor said: “We need to continue what we did last week against Scunthorpe and avoid having too many last places.“But we must be ready to treat Berwick with full respect because they showed their ability recently by winning away to the highly-rated Workington side.”Berwick, meanwhile, will be relieved to get back into action after seeing yet another match postponed on Thursday when they were due to visit Redcar.Co-promoter Dennis McCleary said: “We have already lost (to the weather) an amazing TEN matches – two at home and eight away!“In a normal season, we might expect to have four or five matches washed out over the full eight months of the term – but in 2014 that’s us been sidelined ten times between March 27 and the end of May!”(SPEEDWAY 3)
PLYMOUTH’S latest signing Adam Roynon faces a spell on the sidelines after suffering a back injury in a crash at Rye House last Saturday.Roynon left the circuit as normal on the afternoon of the meeting but subsequent hospital tests have shown up the problem.Co-promoter Ashley Taylor said: “Adam suffered a nasty-looking accident at Rye House and it was surprise that he was able to walk away from it and even take his next ride.“But he has been to hospital this week and learned that he has injured his vertebra, which means he is not able to ride at the moment and we will use rider replacement against Berwick.”
(SPEEDWAY 4)
NEWCASTLE have signed Chris Mills at reserve after a successful recent guest appearance for the Diamonds.Mills, recently released by Workington, scored five points in the narrow win over Ipswich last weekend and he is now set to replace Dan Greenwood in the team – although the club have stated they hope to see Greenwood return in the future.Co-promoter George English said: “We thank Dan very much for his efforts, they have certainly not gone un-noticed, but I think it's fair to say that the time isn't right for him just yet, and particularly so with our current situation. “Perhaps if Chris (Schramm) had been with us, then we might have been able to carry Dan for a bit longer and give him more of a chance to settle in and find his feet but, as we know, Chris is on the injury list at the moment and the team are not in a position to carry anyone right now.”
(SPEEDWAY 5)
KENT have confirmed the signing of Aaron Baseby on a full transfer – and he is set to make his debut in the Kings’ visit to his former club Mildenhall on Sunday.Baseby actually began his career in his home county, racing for the then Sittingbourne Crusaders at Iwade in 2005-08.He said: “I am very happy to be signing for my local club and looking forward to the challenges ahead. I’ve ridden the Central Park track a number of times since actually appearing in the very first race in the first meeting there last year and I’ve done well, so am confident that this will be a good move for me and for the Kings.“I’m determined now with Kent to prove myself and show I’m still able to compete at National League level and do much better than I did last year.”(FIXTURES)
FRIDAY MAY 30:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Birmingham 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Glasgow 7.30, Plymouth v Berwick 7.15, Somerset v Scunthorpe 7.30
SATURDAY MAY 31:ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Leicester 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Rye House v Ipswich 7pm, Workington v Redcar 7pmNATIONAL TROPHY: Stoke v Mildenhall 7pm
SUNDAY JUNE 1:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Scunthorpe 3pm, Newcastle v Edinburgh 6.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Kent 3.30NATIONAL TROPHY: Leicester v Stoke 4pm
