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ELITE League clubs will select their reserves for the 2015 season at a Fast Track Draft meeting on Wednesday.The scheme moves into its second season with some enhancements as reported in the recent BSPA AGM statement, with two riders to be chosen by each of the eight clubs.There will be live coverage of the draft from around midday on Wednesday on the official British Speedway twitter feed, @SpeedwayGB, with a further press release to be issued after matters have been concluded.
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GLASGOW have announced three new signings for 2015 – with Australian star Nick Morris rejoining the club with whom he won the Premier League title three years ago.Morris has since been victorious with Scunthorpe and Somerset, and is joined at Ashfield by fellow countryman Kozza Smith and talented British youngster James Sarjeant.Dimitri Berge and Victor Palovaara return from the Tigers team which ended the last campaign, with two more riders to be signed to complete the side.Manager Stewart Dickson said: “Nick is someone that knows the track, he knows the script. He's well aware that it's going to be exciting times for the club and we're looking for big things from him.“Kozza is coming back on a 7.15 average. He's one of the characters of the Premier League, entertainment-wise, and he really mixes with the fans big-time. From that point of view, he'll be good.“Watching James ride Coventry, with the dirt around the fence, I thought: that boy is tailor-made for Ashfield with the way the track’s set up now. He's only young, he's going to improve, and I think we've got a youthful-looking team now. I thought the whole thing needed to be freshened up a bit and we've made wholesale changes.”
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BELLE Vue have appointed current Australian boss Mark Lemon as their new team manager.Lemon, who retired from domestic racing at the end of last season, was an Aces squad member in both 2003 and 2011, and the 41-year-old now takes over from Jason Attwood at Kirkmanshulme Lane.He said: “I met up with David Gordon and Chris Morton in Torun last month, and when they learned I was planning to retire they said they had something I might be interested in getting involved with.“I’ve always been keen on the project they’ve got going with the National Speedway Stadium and Academy, and that snowballed into them asking me if I wanted to be team manager.“I'm not going to change the shape of the wheel if you like but I believe I can bring a quality to the club that can help influence the riders and promote good performances on the race track.”
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ONE of the men spearheading the bid to save Peterborough has called for a late surge of backing.Ged Rathbone, who is working alongside Trevor Swales in an attempt to bring Panthers back to the tapes in 2015, reports they are now £7,000 short of reaching the £40,000 required to operate at Premier League level - but they only have until the close of business on Friday (November 28) to complete their rescue package.Rathbone said: “We're very pleased to see the amount of money raised going up and we are doing all we can to reach our target.“But if there are people out there thinking about helping financially, this is the time we really need them to come forward. We have to be in a position to declare our intention to race on by the close of play on Friday.”
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POOLE co-promoter Gordon Pairman has been elected as a BSPA representative on the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB).Pairman takes a role previously held by BSPA vice-chairman Chris Van Straaten, which is made up of two Auto Cycling Union (ACU) members, two BSPA members and an independent non-voting Chairman.Pairman said: “I am looking forward to representing the BSPA within the Speedway Control Bureau and I would personally, and on behalf of the BSPA, extend my thanks to Chris for the time he has expended previously in the role which has spanned a number of years.“I will join our chairman Alex Harkess within the SCB and strategically I think this is for the overall benefit of speedway.”
