BIG EVENT LATEST…
EDINBURGH claimed their first Pairs victory of the modern Premier League era with Sam Masters and Max Fricke triumphant at Somerset.The Monarchs had not won the event since 1986 but former Rebels rider Masters and youngster Fricke defeated the home pairing in the Final with Nick Morris disqualified.Edinburgh had overcome Redcar in the first semi-final whilst Somerset, the highest scorers in the group stage, got the better of Workington in the second.But Morris came to grief in the decisive race as he tried to round Fricke on the second bend, meaning the Monarchs were able to pack in behind Olly Allen in the re-run to secure victory under the 4-3-2-0 scoring system.Somerset boss Garry May said: “It was a bitterly disappointing way to lose the meeting, but the referee had to make a decision and unfortunately it didn't go our way.“But, that apart, both Nick and Olly rode fantastically well, and the fans were treated to an excellent night's racing. It was just a shame that they did not have the Final the meeting deserved, but we cannot change things and congratulations to Edinburgh on their victory.”
GREAT Britain have named their starting line-up for the Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup clash with Australia, USA and Italy.Alun Rossiter’s men are looking for top spot at King’s Lynn on Saturday, July 26, with a place in the final on the line.World Champion Tai Woffinden will skipper the side and he is joined by vastly experienced Chris Harris.New boss Alun Rossiter has gone for more experience to join them with Sheffield and Leicester man Simon Stead gaining a call-up just a year after suffering a badly broken leg – and Danny King of Birmingham and Newcastle makes a welcome return to the side. Rossiter has also included Craig Cook of Edinburgh and Belle Vue as a travelling reserve.The manager said: “There’s too much doom and gloom surrounding speedway and the British team in general. We’ve got the World Champion in our team and in Harris, Stead and King they will represent their country with pride.“I’ve picked the team on current form and Simon deserves to be in there, it’s as simple as that.“Danny has experience and is a very good rider, he can score well at King's Lynn and I have great faith in his ability.“Tai and Bomber really picked themselves, and I wanted to include Cookie in some way because he deserves some involvement – and he will travel with us and be a part of the squad.”SPEEDWAYGB EVENTS SERIES 2014:
ELITE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Re-staging TBCBRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: JOSH BATESBRITISH FINAL: TAI WOFFINDENPREMIER LEAGUE PAIRS: EDINBURGHPREMIER LEAGUE FOURS: Peterborough, August 3PREMIER RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Sheffield, September 21NATIONAL LEAGUE MAJOR EVENTS:NATIONAL LEAGUE PAIRS: STOKENATIONAL LEAGUE FOURS: Coventry, August 10NATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Rye House, September 28BRITISH SPEEDWAY FIM EVENT DATES:WORLD UNDER-21 CHAMPIONSHIP Semi-Final: MIKKEL BECHGRAND PRIX QUALIFIER: LINUS SUNDSTROM
ELITE LEAGUE LATEST…
BELLE VUE skipper Scott Nicholls is hoping a consistent run of home fixtures can still see the Aces make progress up the Elite League table this season.Nicholls said: “Our away form has really gone against us this year, especially with Craig (Cook) missing a handful of meetings. It’s not his fault, but there's not many guests of equal ability who can cover for him.“We've got a good run of home meetings now which can only be good for us, so that's what we have to concentrate on. Kirkmanshulme Lane is a tricky little place to come for visiting teams, but we all feel very comfortable here which is why we’re so strong.”COVENTRY reserve Jason Garrity says he is enjoying his racing with a busy diary of meetings for the Bees and his Premier League club Rye House, a bumper 17-point haul in the top-flight at Wolverhampton last week and a position as track reserve in last weekend’s British Grand Prix.Garrity said: “I’ve learnt a lesson, if you have a bad night you have to forget about it and move on. I’m just loving my speedway. “Last year I broke my leg and things went wrong – this year it took a while to get back on it, but now I’m on it and I hope to end the year like this. I know I’ve got a big future in speedway and I’m just doing everything I can to dedicate myself to make sure I get everything perfect.”EASTBOURNE have booked Scott Nicholls to guest for Mikkel Michelsen in their South coast clash with Poole at Arlington on Saturday.Eagles boss Trevor Geer said: “Scott has been on fire this year and has already put in some memorable rides at Arlington for Belle Vue. More of the same will go down well on Saturday.“There’s a real scrap going on beneath King’s Lynn for the final three places in the play offs. This really does count as a ‘must win’ match for us and, preferably, we do need all three league points.”KING’S LYNN boss Rob Lyon will urge no complacency in the Stars camp when they face Leicester this week, with extensive Norfolk Arena track knowledge in the Lions’ ranks.Lyon said: “Make no mistake, this one will be no pushover as the Lions boast some riders in their top five who rank King’s Lynn as one of their favourite tracks so our boys will need to be on their game.”LAKESIDE have parted company with Swedish veteran Peter Karlsson after two-and-a-half years in Hammers colours, with fellow countryman and club asset Kim Nilsson recalled in his place.Co-promoter Jon Cook said: “We are delighted to welcome Kim back to the Raceway. He's coming back in at a great time for him as he's riding and scoring well. We are very aware that in the past when Kim has a good meeting away we invariably win, and that's going to be crucial over the rest of the season.“PK and the club have mutually agreed that now is the time to make this change. Working with PK has been an absolute delight, he leaves with our best wishes and we thank him for some terrific moments over the last two-and-a-half seasons.”LEICESTER secured a remarkable turnaround win over Eastbourne in Monday’s televised contest at the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium – despite trailing by seven points with three heats to go.Promoter David Hemsley said: “Both teams lost points through falls and exclusions and on balance I am sure that Eastbourne will have felt robbed of a win, but we had the resolve to keep believing we could do it and we delivered. “From where I was standing it looked as though Bjarne Pedersen had caught Jason Doyle on the line and so too did the Eastbourne team, but on the replay I could see that there was something like nearly a bike's length difference. It was a wonderful advert for speedway.”POOLE reserve Kyle Newman collected his first paid maximum in Elite League speedway with four unbeaten rides in the Pirates’ 57-37 win over Belle Vue at Wimborne Road.Newman said: “I owed the Poole fans a decent performance as I've not been on it recently. I promised that I would go out and chase the points and I was making some good starts tonight. “It feels good to get the maximum and it’s good that we got the result we were looking for too.”SWINDON manager Alun Rossiter says the strength of Poole on their visits to Blunsdon made the Robins’ three-point win on Thursday – from which they secured two league points – a good result.Rossiter said: “It would have been nice to get all three points but I was happy just to take the win really.“Poole are a good side around here and they have plenty of strength all the way through, so it was a good performance from us to just come out on top.”WOLVERHAMPTON boss Peter Adams was left to reflect on another dropped point at home as his team held out for a 48-45 victory over Belle Vue at Monmore.Adams said: “We're obviously very disappointed, as we need to be taking all three points from our home meetings."It's a blow to drop more points at home, and the fact Tai (Woffinden) was clearly completely worn out and ill cost us in the end. The points he dropped were the difference unfortunately for us, and it's frustrating we couldn't get all three points."PREMIER LEAGUE LATEST…
BERWICK kept up their impressive away record with a 50-42 success at Redcar having dominated the race wins at the South Tees Motorsports Park.Manager John Anderson said: “This was an excellent four Premier League points to take with the League total now 23 points, putting us into fourth place, but with only eight matches raced, five in hand over Edinburgh the leaders. All the lads can justly be proud of a spectacular performance.”EDINBURGH will welcome back Premier League Pairs champions Sam Masters and Max Fricke when the Monarchs host Workington in the Premier League on Friday.Masters and Fricke secured the Pairs title for the Armadale club for the first time since 1986 despite No.1 Craig Cook being absent due to his British GP Wild Card call-up.GLASGOW boss Stewart Dickson estimates he gets through around 20 tonnes of shale each month with the Ashfield circuit receiving high praise from riders.Dickson said: “The riders had said that the track was a bit slick, and I was packing the dirt too hard. I started just to half-pack it and ordered 20 tonnes of dirt, which I managed to put on over three meetings of speedway. I think I'm going to go through 20 tonnes every four weeks, because in the racing at Ashfield, you're on the fence a lot and you're losing a lot of dirt.“It's quite rewarding when you hear the riders or the referee saying: by the way, the track was excellent today.”IPSWICH co-promoter Chris Louis expects a tight battle for Premier League play-off places over the next two months.Louis said: “The league is shaping up to be the most competitive ever with at least nine teams searching for a top six spot. We have the advantage of having plenty of home fixtures left to race, but of course they will stand for nothing if we don’t go out and score points!”NEWCASTLE boss George English says the Diamonds urgently need away wins as they attempt to take a play-off spot despite early-season home defeats – but is optimistic that their target can be achieved.English told Speedway Star: “You’ve got to go back to 2011 for the most recent instance of a team finishing in the top six with an even worse blemish on their home record. That was when Newport ended up fifth despite losing six, yes six, home fixtures, proving it can be done.”PETERBOROUGH supporters will get the opportunity to wave farewell to club legend Ryan Sullivan prior to his return to Australia, when he makes a special appearance at this Sunday’s showdown with Edinburgh.Panthers co-promoter Trevor Swales said: “Hopefully the fans will take advantage of their last chance to say goodbye to the greatest rider in Peterborough history. Ryan was not only a terrific performer on the track, he has always been a top guy off it."It goes without saying that everyone at Peterborough wishes him a very happy move back to Australia in the next few weeks."PLYMOUTH are looking to make a couple of new signings in time for their Premier League match against Glasgow at the St Boniface Arena on Friday evening.Co-promoter Ashley Taylor said: “We are re-declaring our team and hope to complete the changes in time for the match against Glasgow. But the changes have to be approved by the BSPA before we can make any official announcement.”REDCAR boss Jitendra Duffill admits his team’s play-off chances have taken a big hit with their home defeat to Berwick last Thursday.Duffill told Gazette Live: “Dropping another three points at home isn’t going to do our play-off hopes any good and now it’s looking like a bit of impossibility unless we pick up three points from every home meeting. There’s cause for concern.”RYE HOUSE star Luke Bowen issued public thanks to all riders, supporters and officials who helped make his Testimonial event at Hoddesdon on Sunday such a success.Bowen said: “I also want to thank my family and fiancé for tolerating me these last few months – and especially these last few weeks - in the build-up. There has been a lot of planning involved, and a lot of stress too, but I promise I will get back to being the normal ‘me’ again now. And from now on I will leave the promoting to the promoters!”SCUNTHORPE boss Dave Peet feels the Scorpions’ current team configuration makes the Scorpions a potent force – with their play-off hopes further enhanced by last week’s home win over Sheffield.Peet said: “Ashley Birks and Josh Auty have made a fine pairing, since we’ve put them together at numbers 3 & 4. They do seem to be good for each other, look out for each other, and seem to push each other on. We have clicked at home, but we also need more away points on the board.”SHEFFIELD star Simon Stead says he is proud to have received a call-up for the Great Britain World Cup team, who start their campaign at King’s Lynn later this month.Stead said: “The first thing to say is how delighted, thrilled and honoured I am to have been handed this call-up. I put a lot of hard work in during the winter and I believe this is some reward for that. I’ve scored well for Sheffield and I’ve been doing well for Leicester in the Elite League as well so I’m delighted.”SOMERSET will welcome Swedish star Pontus Aspgren back into their team after injury for Friday’s clash with Newcastle at the Oaktree Arena as the Rebels return to home league racing for the first time in a month.Manager Garry May said: “Whilst losing out in the Final of last Friday’s Pairs Championship is an obvious disappointment, we must put that behind us and concentrate on picking up maximum league points from our home match against Newcastle before we head up to Workington the next day to face the Comets.”WORKINGTON are aiming to put the disappointment of losing out to Peterborough in the League Cup semi-final behind them as they face a hectic spell of three league fixtures in three days this week.Comets manager Tony Jackson said: “It was extremely disappointing to miss out on a place in the final but unfortunately the second leg proved to be one of those nights where we were too inconsistent and not at our sharpest from the gate. But, take nothing away from Peterborough, they came to defend their lead and they did more than that.“We have to put that behind us and aim to get our minds back on the league, where we have a lot of matches to catch up on. The league is very solid, with no easy matches and it is proving to be a season where, Edinburgh apart, results have shown that almost anyone is capable of getting a result anywhere. With away fixtures at Redcar and Edinburgh plus a tough home match against Somerset on Saturday the lads know we will have to dig deep, especially as we are still without the injured Kyle Howarth and Ashley Morris and utilising guests and rider replacement.”
FIXTURE PICTURE…
WEDNESDAY JULY 16:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Wolverhampton 8pm, King’s Lynn v Leicester 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 17:ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Leicester 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Glasgow 7.30, Redcar v Workington 7.30, Sheffield v Newcastle 7.30
FRIDAY JULY 18:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Belle Vue 7.30, Lakeside v Eastbourne 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Workington 7.30, Plymouth v Glasgow 7.15, Scunthorpe v Rye House 7.30, Somerset v Newcastle 7.30
SATURDAY JULY 19:ELITE LEAGUE: Eastbourne v Poole 7.30, Leicester v Lakeside 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Rye House v Peterborough 7pm, Workington v Somerset 7pmPREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Berwick v Edinburgh 7pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Stoke v King’s Lynn 7pm
SUNDAY JULY 20:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Sheffield 3pm, Newcastle v Berwick 6.30, Peterborough v Edinburgh 5pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Mildenhall 3pmBRITISH 125cc FINAL: Peterborough 2.30
MONDAY JULY 21:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Swindon 7.30, Wolverhampton v Lakeside 7.30THE LAURELS: Kent 6.30
TUESDAY JULY 22:NATIONAL LEAGUE: Cradley v Coventry 7.30
WEDNESDAY JULY 23:ELITE LEAGUE: Poole v King’s Lynn 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 24:PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Somerset 7.30, Redcar v Scunthorpe 7.30, Sheffield v Peterborough 7.30
FRIDAY JULY 25:PREMIER LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Redcar 7.30, Somerset v Plymouth 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: Coventry v King’s Lynn 7.30SELECT CHALLENGE: Arena-Essex v Kent (at Lakeside) 8pm
SATURDAY JULY 26:WORLD CUP EVENT 1: King’s Lynn 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Rye House 7pm, Plymouth v Somerset 7.15
SUNDAY JULY 27:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Berwick 3pm, Newcastle v Rye House 6.30, Workington v Sheffield 3pmNATIONAL TROPHY: Leicester v Mildenhall 4pmBRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 4: Eastbourne 3.30
MONDAY JULY 28:PREMIER LEAGUE: Sheffield v Somerset 7.30NATIONAL TROPHY: Kent v Leicester 6.30
TUESDAY JULY 29:PREMIER LEAGUE: Somerset v Sheffield 7.30F.A.S.T GOLDEN HAMMER: Cradley 7.30
WEDNESDAY JULY 30:PREMIER LEAGUE: Rye House v Redcar 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Devon 7.30
