(SPEEDWAY 1)
POOLE skipper Maciej Janowski has given the club a major boost by declaring himself fit for tonight’s Elite League play-off semi-final against King’s Lynn.Janowski had been expected to miss the meeting with an arm injury after a motocross accident, but has recovered sufficiently to lead the Pirates, who have a one-point lead going into the second leg of the tie.Craig Cook, Danny King and Edward Kennett are named as guests for the home side who have Darcy Ward suspended, Josh Grajczonek injured and Vaclav Milik involved in his national championship, whilst Scott Nicholls continues to stand in for the injured Niels-Kristian Iversen for the Stars, and Charles Wright steps in at reserve with Lewis Kerr on the sidelines.Poole promoter Matt Ford said: “Magic said he would never want to let the club down and with the arm improving he could see no reason why he would have to sit it out after all, and I have always claimed that I would prefer to have my own riders riding for the club, riders that the fans can feel some allegiance to and so we are delighted to have him in the side.“It has been quite a build up to this meeting and without a doubt I am sure there will be more twists and turns before we learn which two sides will contest next week's play-off Final.”Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “We need to go out and enjoy it. The boys know what is on the line and we don’t want to put too much pressure on it. I am going to tell them to go out and enjoy it and make it a memorable night for themselves and go and do the job.“They know what is at stake and what has to be done. I just want them to express themselves, give maximum effort. We are quite confident we can go down there and get a result.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
SWINDON skipper Troy Batchelor insists the Robins are capable of overturning their first leg deficit when Coventry visit Blunsdon in the Elite League play-off semi-finals.The Bees built up an eight-point advantage at Brandon last week, although they were heavily beaten on their previous outing at Swindon last month.The home side are at full strength, whilst the visitors bring in Max Fricke to guest for the injured Ben Barker.Batchelor said: “We are only eight behind and that isn’t really too much – it’s obviously going to be tough but we have to believe we can overturn that deficit.“They probably went away from the first leg slightly happier and they seem to be feeling confident, but it’s only half time and it’s far from over yet. If you look at the scores we’ve been pumping out at home recently it’s certainly doable, so it’s all still to play for.”Coventry manager Gary Havelock said: “We’ll be going down there to try and win the meeting, there’s absolutely no doubt about that. When you look through our scorecard from the last time we were there, there are at least 15 points that I can see we would have got on any other given day.“The tie is wide open, we can definitely go down there and do it, but the boys will certainly have to be on top form and I think Hans (Andersen) is going to play a massive part for us as a former Swindon No.1.”(SPEEDWAY 3 – SUNDAY REVIEW)
EDINBURGH took the advantage from the first leg of the League Cup Final with a 46-44 win at Peterborough on Sunday.The Monarchs never trailed in the Showground encounter and in fact held a six-point lead into the closing stages, before a last-heat 5-1 from Panthers guest Todd Kurtz and captain Ulrich Ostergaard over the previously unbeaten Justin Sedgmen and Craig Cook brought the margin back to two.Kurtz scored 11+1 for the Panthers with Ostergaard adding 10+1, whilst Sam Masters (11) was also in double-figures for the Monarchs, for whom Sedgmen top-scored on 12+1.Cradley are through to the National League Grand Final with a 48-41 win at Mildenhall, setting up a clash with local rivals Coventry in the decider.The Heathens are already strong favourites as they took a 41-point advantage to West Row, but also won on the day with Paul Starke scoring 13 points as a 5-0 in Heat 14 proved decisive. Joe Jacobs collected 12+1 for the Fen Tigers.Cradley boss Will Pottinger said: “Although we had a big lead we wanted to concentrate on winning the meeting today, so we are delighted to have done that.“It’s a great result considering we were without Steve Worrall and Matt Williamson, so we are all going away happy after another terrific team performance.”Mildenhall chairman Kevin Jolly said: “I felt we made too many mistakes and were responsible for our own downfall again. Riders getting into good positions is no good if they cannot see out the race to its conclusion. “The track was difficult with the weather yesterday evening but that is no excuse as it is the same for both sides. I would like to congratulate Cradley who without doubt deserved their win over the two legs.”Meanwhile evergreen Tony Atkin scored a 15-point maximum as Buxton defeated Scunthorpe 51-40 at the Hi-Edge Raceway – and the 48-year-old revealed he is already making plans to race on next year!Atkin said: “It felt so good today. I have a whole new appetite for the sport, and after the year I have had with losing Dad I’m enjoying my speedway more than ever.“I’m going to buy a new bike in the winter and am committed to doing another two seasons – then I’ll hang up the kevlars!”Scunthorpe guest Ellis Perks top-scored on 11+1, and boss Richard Hollingsworth said: “I wasn’t surprised by our performance at Buxton. We having been improving and I knew we could push them close, and we did.“It’s easy to say, that but for a few falls, we could have won. But Buxton had a few falls as well and it was just speedway.”
(FIXTURES)
MONDAY OCTOBER 6:ELITE LEAGUE PLAY-OFF S/F 2nd leg: Poole v King’s Lynn 7.30, Swindon v Coventry 7.30
TUESDAY OCTOBER 7:CHALLENGE: Cradley v Birmingham 7.30
FRIDAY OCTOBER 10:PREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFFS: Somerset v Ipswich 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Edinburgh v Newcastle 7pmLEAGUE CUP FINAL 2nd leg: Edinburgh v Peterborough (follows PLKOC fixture)NATIONAL LEAGUE: Devon v Mildenhall 7.15CHALLENGE: Kent v Arena-Essex 6.30
