(SPEEDWAY 1)
KYLE Bickley retained his British 125cc Championship title with an unbeaten performance at Peterborough on Sunday.The reigning champion triumphed in each of his four heats before speeding clear in the Final. Harry McGurk, unbeaten until facing Bickley in their final heat, finished second with Jordan Jenkins third, whilst Joe Thompson was fourth.GB Youth co-boss Neil Vatcher said: “The event was a great success, and it’s got bigger each time since we first ran it at Eastbourne in 2011.“The quality of racing was first class on a track excellently prepared by the Peterborough staff. There were some outstanding individual performances, none more so that the winner Kyle Bickley who was unbeaten going in to the Final and made no mistake to retain his title.“There were also some great overtakes from runner-up Harry McGurk, the Thompson twins Joe and Dan, Jordan Jenkins and Sam Stead. “Everyone watching was impressed with the high quality of racing and the fast race times. If these 12 British hopefuls can continue their progress British Speedway has a very bright future.“The success was proven as there were no fallers and no re-runs, all the riders were professionally turned out, and all credit to the families of the riders and the Peterborough promotion for allowing us to put on a great show.”
(SPEEDWAY 2 – SUNDAY REVIEW)
EDINBURGH’S incredible unbeaten run during the entire 2014 season so far is finally over – after the Monarchs were beaten 50-43 at Peterborough on Sunday.The six-man Panthers team scored solidly as a unit, led by Ales Dryml with 13+1, as they recovered from the setback of conceding a 5-1 in the opening race, whilst Craig Cook led the way for the Monarchs with 16+1.Dryml ensured the Panthers would take maximum points from the meeting with second place in Heat 15 after partner Ulrich Ostergaard retired due to visibility with rain moving in.Peterborough chief Mick Horton said: “It was a great result in front of a great crowd. I’m delighted with the response to our first Sunday meeting and if that doesn’t bring the fans flooding back, nothing will.“Edinburgh are having a brilliant season, but this win shows we can beat any team at this level.”Monarchs boss John Campbell said: “Peterborough were the better team on the day. The pressure has been growing on us to win every time because of the incredible run we’ve had. It’s been some achievement to stay unbeaten till our 25th match.”Newcastle moved level on points with Berwick – albeit having ridden eight more matches – with a 51-37 win over the Bandits at Brough Park.Diamonds No.1 Danny King scored a 15-point maximum whilst Lewis Kerr won all four of his rides, and reserve Matej Kus was top-scorer for the visitors with 10+1 in an incident-filled local clash.Newcastle boss George English said: “We knew what we had to find to get back to winning ways after two abysmal away matches, with two of the lads, Danny and Lewis K, taking maximums.“But what we now have to do is keep up this form and make sure we make as good a push for the play-offs as we can, even though it will be a big ask.”Berwick manager John Anderson said: “We held our own to the mid-point and still led by one point after Heat 9, but Newcastle seemed to go up a gear from that point onwards and we didn’t help ourselves either on several occasions. Prior to that we were impressive and I do think we were worth a point or two for our efforts, but we lost too much direction at the end.”Glasgow got the better of Sheffield 55-40 at Ashfield in a meeting which saw the visitors lose Leigh Lanham with bruising to his back after a crash, whilst Ty Proctor withdrew due to the effects of a leg injury suffered at Owlerton last week.Rusty Harrison scored 14+1 for the home side whilst Simon Stead and Andre Compton picked up all five of Sheffield’s race wins between them as they contributed 27 of their team’s points.Glasgow star Kevin Wolbert said: “We have the win, and that is good. The track was a bit different today - there was much rain yesterday - but everybody scored points and that is what we need.”Sheffield boss Joe Screen said: “After Thursday we had a good team spirit and we were all high on confidence again. We went up to Glasgow with a real buzz and believing we could get at least a point, so the way things turned out was disappointing.”In the National League, Mildenhall picked up all four points from their trip to Buxton with a 55-39 win, Dan Halsey leading the way with a paid maximum from five rides – whilst veteran Tony Atkin piled up 18 for the Hitmen.Buxton boss Jayne Moss said: “We have made progress though each meeting this season but today we suffered with a few machine problems and missed a solid performance in the middle order but we will learn and come back stronger for this.”Fen Tigers chairman Kevin Jolly said: “It is never easy to come here and get the win and today the lads did so in some style with a great team display with everyone scoring well. I feel we are now seeing the team really coming together.”(SPEEDWAY 3 – MONDAY PREVIEW)
WOLVERHAMPTON have called up Chris Harris and Max Fricke to guest in Monday’s home clash with Lakeside at Monmore Green.Harris steps in at No.1 for World Champion Tai Woffinden, who is out due to illness, whilst Fricke replaces Ty Proctor who aggravated an injury when racing for his Premier League club Sheffield at the weekend.Ben Barker replaces Lewis Bridger for the Hammers, who go into the meeting second in the Elite League table, but with only eight points separating six clubs down to seventh-placed Wolves.Home boss Peter Adams said: “I think it's a very important meeting for both teams in the scheme of things. A month ago Lakeside's place in the play-offs looked assured, but there has been a lot of activity since which means their place now looks under threat.“With that in mind they really need a win, and obviously we need a victory to try and keep our hopes alive.”At Kirkmanshulme Lane, Belle Vue look to maintain their unbeaten home record when they face Swindon with both teams naming full-strength line-ups.The Aces are 14-points adrift of the top four, with ten of their last eleven matches to come at home, whilst the Robins trail fourth-placed Eastbourne by six points as they look for a third away win.Swindon boss Alun Rossiter said: “Belle Vue is always a tough place to go, they have riders who are very quick around there and it will be a hard meeting.“But we need to pick up points on the road and we will go there with a positive attitude and see if we can pick up a point at least.”Meanwhile Simon Lambert defends his Kent Laurels title at Central Park with the famous individual event returning for a 40th staging, with the WJ Cearns Trophy at stake.Former Kings skipper Steve Boxall returns for another attempt at the title – having also ridden in the 2003 event at Wimbledon – and other top visiting riders include Ben Hopwood and Jon Armstrong.
(FIXTURES)
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 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Berwick v Edinburgh 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 Q/F 2nd leg: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Coventry v Buxton 7pmNATIONAL LEAGUE: Coventry v King’s Lynn (follows NLKOC fixture)SELECT CHALLENGE: Arena-Essex v Kent (at Lakeside) 8pm
