(SPEEDWAY 1 – SUNDAY REVIEW)
EASTBOURNE moved up to second place in the National League table with their second emphatic home win of the season.The Eagles defeated Stoke 65-27 at Arlington with four riders in double figures, led by Bradley Wilson-Dean on 15+2, with Marc Owen scoring a five-ride paid maximum. Jon Armstrong, who scored 9, was the Potters’ sole race winner.At West Row, Mildenhall overcame Coventry 48-42 with two mid-meeting 5-1s for the Fen Tigers proving crucial in a competitive encounter.Dan Halsey led the way for the home side with 11+2 before team-mate Jack Kingston (10+1) collected the Bronze Helmet in a match race with previous holder Dan Greenwood. Darryl Ritchings (11+1) was the top-scorer for the Storm, who secured a point from the match with a 3-3 in the final heat.Kingston said: “Things really seem to be going well now and I am enjoying my racing so much. It wasn’t the usual Mildenhall track today after all the rain, it was very slick, but once I changed my set-up I really felt I was going well. “I am getting great help in the pits and being given good advice and this is all helping me progress. I can honestly say I have never had things working so well so early in the season.”Coventry boss Laurence Rogers said: “It’s disappointing because we threw away a lot of points in that meeting.“At least we came away with one league point. I told Dan and Darryl that it had to be a 3-3, and Darryl had to go for it in Heat 15 to get the point, but really we should have had three if you look at the misfortunes.”
(SPEEDWAY 2 – MONDAY PREVIEW)
SIX of the eight Elite League clubs are in action in a busy Bank Holiday Monday at all three levels of the sport.Top-flight leaders Coventry are chasing a quickfire double over Lakeside with a home match against the Hammers, having snatched a dramatic 47-42 win at Purfleet on Friday thanks to a last-heat 5-1 from Danny King and Chris Harris.King said: “We’re definitely looking forward to the return fixture, and I’m enjoying my speedway at the moment.“It’s nice to be on the bike a lot more, as I said in the winter, and I feel it’s paying off so things are good.”At Monmore Green, the teams in third and second places respectively meet as Wolverhampton host Poole with both teams on twelve points.The Pirates welcome back Davey Watt are without injured skipper Maciej Janowski and plan to track Josh Grajczonek as a guest, should he make it to the Black Country venue in time after an earlier meeting at Rye House. Lewis Rose stands in for Paul Starke at reserve.Pirates promoter Matt Ford explained: “Josh feels that he has a chance to get there in time but it is a gamble and one that we wouldn't have been able to afford to take with Paul and so we have called on Lewis to cover at reserve. “If traffic prevents Josh from getting there on time we have the fallback position to revert to rider replacement for Magic's rides, but that wouldn't be the case for Paul and so we had to build the side for Monday around that contingency and I am grateful for Lewis to agree to stand in.”Wolves reserve Lewis Blackbird said: “I’m really looking to try and hit some good form now. I’ve probably let Wolves down a little bit with a couple of my performances, so I want to try and put together some form starting against Poole.“I want to get back to scoring double figures like I was with Eastbourne last year, and I know I’ll get there so I just hope things come together sooner rather than later.”Leicester enter a period of three matches in six days with the visit of King’s Lynn to the Jordan Road Surfacing Stadium.The Stars have struggled away from home so far but Lions boss Norrie Allan is not reading anything into that form.He said: “It is early days yet and they are too good a team not to be performing better so we will give them the respect they deserve. “It is another big match for us and most of their team ride our track really well and four of them have already been here this season so I can envisage that at the very least we will need to perform as well as we did against Lakeside last week.”In the Premier League, there is afternoon action at Foxhall as Ipswich host Sheffield (1.45pm) keen to hit back from a defeat at Owlerton in the reverse fixture last week which left boss Phil Hilton disappointed.He said: “We need to turn our attention to Monday and ensure that Sheffield are not allowed to take anything away from Foxhall. I will be having a team talk before the meeting to make it very clear what is required from everyone.”Sheffield manager Jack Lee said: “It’s going to be tough away from home, but we know we are capable of beating them and we are hoping everyone will be nice and sharp.“We are going there in a good frame of mind and hoping we can get something. It’s going to be a hard meeting as they are a strong team, but if we are at our best then we can definitely cause them some problems.”Rye House’s Anders Mellgren has been declared fit for the home clash with Somerset (2pm) after suffering bruising in a crash on Friday, whilst Steve Worrall is lined-up to guest for the injured Steve Boxall, and the Rockets will operate rider-replacement for Robin Aspegren who is on paternity leave.Meanwhile Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey is expecting a thriller when Edinburgh visit the Eddie Wright Raceway (3pm).The match forms the first part of a double header as a National League challenge match between Scunthorpe Stags and the Halifax Dukes follows, including a comeback for 2005 Scorpions captain Wayne Carter.Godfrey said: “There’s been some really thrilling meetings between us and Edinburgh down the years at the Eddie Wright Raceway, and I don’t expect today to be any different.“There’s going to be some mouth-watering clashes between our lads and the likes of Craig Cook and Sam Masters. It’s important that we get our Premier League home meetings off to a winning start, and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do. We’ll be fighting for every point.”In the National Trophy, Kent host Mildenhall (3pm) with home star Danny Ayres pleased to have made a successful return from injury in the Kings’ draw at Rye House on Saturday.Ayres said: “We did really well to get two points against a very good side with a bit of luck we could have won it. There’s a lot of positives to take from it to honest. I can’t wait to get back to Central Park on Monday and to see all the fans down there.”Also in the Trophy, Rye House host Eastbourne following the Premier League fixture at Hoddesdon – with Raiders man Brendan Johnson facing the team who intended to track him this season before making a change due to averages.Rye House boss Andrew Silver said: “Eastbourne, who have stepped down to the NL and are fast becoming the force in this league. You cannot deny they are a focused club down at Eastbourne and have always done things properly.”“Our boys will be out to prove a point, especially Brendan who was dropped from Eastbourne side just before the start of the season.”(SPEEDWAY 3)
BERWICK have moved to strengthen their team by signing Richard Hall to come into the line-up at reserve.The Bandits hope Hall’s experience will help improve their early-season fortunes as he joins in place of Luke Crang, who will concentrate on his National League commitments with Coventry.Club boss John Anderson said: “Richard been around a while but is only 30 and a solid, professional performer. Obviously we know he can score points in PL speedway and we felt it was best for the club, and our fans, to boost the squad by making this move while the available points allow it - and before another club made Richard an offer he couldn't refuse!“I should say at this time that Luke has been a joy to work with, and no-one is sorrier than myself he found points so hard to come by at Premier League level this year. He's a fine young man, and I know he'll be back in future to prove a point to us.”(FIXTURES)
MONDAY MAY 4:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Lakeside 7.30, Leicester v King’s Lynn 7.30, Wolverhampton v Poole 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Sheffield 1.45, Rye House v Somerset 2pm, Scunthorpe v Edinburgh 3pmNATIONAL TROPHY: Kent v Mildenhall 3pm, Rye House v Eastbourne (follows PL fixture)CHALLENGE: Scunthorpe Stags v Halifax Dukes (follows PL fixture)
TUESDAY MAY 5:LEAGUE CUP: Redcar v Sheffield 7.30
WEDNESDAY MAY 6:ELITE LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Leicester 7.30, Poole v Wolverhampton 7.30CITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Birmingham v King’s Lynn 7.30
