(SPEEDWAY 1)
WOLVERHAMPTON are awaiting a full medical report on injured Polish ace Tobiasz Musielak.The 2012 World Under 21 Team Champion crashed when riding for Leszno in their stunning 51-38 win at Gorzow on Sunday.Wolves promoter Chris Van Straaten said: “Tobiasz was on his way from Gorzow to his local hospital in Leszno when I spoke to him last night.“The early indications are he has suffered a collarbone injury and we should know the full extent soon.”
(SPEEDWAY 2 – SUNDAY REVIEW)
PETERBOROUGH continued their perfect start to the Premier League season when storming back to the top of the table on Sunday.The Panthers extended their hot streak by casting aside a highly-rated Workington side 56-36 at the Showground for their fourth successive victory, led by skipper Ulrich Ostergaard with 13 points – whilst a 16-point haul from Ricky Wells accounted for nearly half of the Comets’ tally.Peterborough boss Carl Johnson said: “I told the lads in the team-talk that Workington would want to be the first team to take points off us in the league.“The track wasn’t ideal in the early races, but we got on with the job in hand and did it very well indeed. We have beaten a very strong team in very convincing fashion and we are all delighted to keep the good start going.”Meanwhile Newcastle got off the mark with a 48-43 home win over Ipswich, who secured a league point with some late heat advantages.Steve Worrall scored 13 points for the Diamonds, a total matched by the Witches’ Nico Covatti in an eventful clash which started with a 5-0 to the home side as both Danny King and Leigh Lanham were disqualified for the visitors.Newcastle boss George English said: “I’m very relieved to get the meeting on because the track has been under water all week and the track staff deserve a lot of credit.“I’m delighted to pick up three league points but also a bit frustrated to give them a consolation point at the end.”In the National League, Stoke suffered a major blow with the loss of both reserves in Heat 2 of their clash with Buxton – who went on to claim a narrow 45-44 away win.Ryan MacDonald and Shaun Tedham were both forced to withdraw for the Potters, whilst the Hitmen secured victory in a last-heat decider as Tony Atkin held off Jon Armstrong for second place, but they too were hit by injury to Ben Hopwood (broken scaphoid) in the initial staging of that race.Stoke boss Malcolm Vasey said: “I’d like to thank the riders for their endeavours because we were up against it losing both Ryan, who was badly shaken up and Shaun, who sustained a suspected broken scaphoid, and we therefore had to run six heats with just one rider in. “The lads fought superbly and I could not have asked anything more from them.”Buxton manager Jason Pipe said: “Sure, we benefitted from Stoke’s misfortune in Heat 2 but during the season these things have a habit of evening themselves out and let’s not take anything away from my team, they rode sensibly and dealt with the conditions.“Unfortunately we have that injury to Ben which looks like keeping him out for a while just when he has scored the points return I was looking for. I will be speaking to Jayne Moss this week to discuss just how we cover for him. I’d like to wish Ben and the two Stoke guys a speedy recovery.”Mildenhall made it three home wins out of three in the NL with a 51-40 success over local rivals King’s Lynn, despite conceding a 5-1 in the first race.Danny Halsey hit back to score 13 points from five rides whilst James Cockle won a tactical ride for the Young Stars and also totalled 13.Fen Tigers promoter Kevin Jolly said: “The lads are getting there, week on week we are seeing the improvement I had hoped for and today was another good victory. “Having Danny really at the races makes such a difference, he led from the front and you can see how his performance breeds confidence through the rest of the team. I am getting lost for superlatives for young Connor Mountain who just rides with such maturity and skill for one so young.”In the National Trophy, Eastbourne were 56-36 winners over Rye House although there was a late scare when Bradley Wilson-Dean crashed in Heat 15 and was collected by the machine of team-mate Georgie Wood.Eagles chairman Martin Dugard said: “He's OK but he is going to be pretty sore. Brad's more concerned about his bike than himself.“Our fans are loving the National League. They are so enthusiastic about what they are seeing every week here at Arlington.”A total of 55 races were completed in under three hours at Scunthorpe as the first round of the British Youth Championship was a huge success.Jack Parkinson-Blackburn (500cc), Kean Dicken (250cc), Joylon West (150cc), and Dan Thompson (125cc) were the individual class winners.Scunthorpe Youth co-ordinator Richard Hollingsworth said: “It was a fantastic meeting. The British Youth Championship is going from strength-to-strength; it is really flourishing under the guidance of Neil Vatcher and it’s a delight to see.“It was a wonderful three hours’ racing, which surely gave anyone present a real belief that the future could be very bright for British speedway. It was great to see a round of this championship break the fifty rider barrier and hopefully, in twelve months, we’ll be talking about a sixty rider field.”(SPEEDWAY 3 – MONDAY PREVIEW)
BELLE Vue skipper Scott Nicholls says a strong home record is essential as they go into Monday’s Elite League clash with Swindon.The Aces suffered an early-season loss to Coventry at Kirkmansulme Lane but hit back next time out against King’s Lynn and have since taken points from recent trips to Poole and Swindon.Nicholls said: “The team has already had one disappointing defeat at home and we have no intention of surrendering anymore so we'll certainly be aiming to give a good, strong performance.“We've been very fortunate in the calibre of guests we've brought in since we lost Simon [Stead] but guests aren't the same as having your own riders week in week out.“Josh [Grajczonek] has been riding very well lately and it's great to have him in the team. He really got stuck in on Thursday and it was very unfortunate that he fell in his third ride while second.”Swindon boss Alun Rossiter is challenging his side to complete the double over the Aces following their 48-42 home win last week.He said: “It was good to have Peter back in the side and he got back into things straight away.“He’s at home at Swindon and he clearly enjoyed the night. Now we need more of the same along with an all-round team effort to try and get some points from the trip on Monday.”In the National League Knockout Cup, Coventry will hand a debut to No.8 Callum Walker for their first-leg trip to Kent, in place of Stefan Farnaby.Storm boss Laurence Rogers said: “Stefan has been struggling for form and confidence so we have decided to rest him and bring in Callum. He has nothing to prove and the experience will do him good. The lad has bags of potential but is a real rookie at speedway, but he has a good reputation on the grass and long tracks despite only being 16.“We will go to Kent looking to keep it as tight as possible, but aiming to come away with a win to set up an interesting second leg at Brandon next Friday.”
(FIXTURES)
MONDAY MAY 11:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Swindon 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Kent v Coventry 6.30
TUESDAY MAY 12:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Sheffield 7.30
WEDNESDAY MAY 13:ELITE LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Wolverhampton 7.30CITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Cradley v Mildenhall 7.30
THURSDAY MAY 14:PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Glasgow 7.30, Redcar v Workington 7.30, Sheffield v Peterborough 7.30
FRIDAY MAY 15:PREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Ipswich 7.30, Peterborough v Glasgow OFF, Plymouth v Sheffield 7.15, Scunthorpe v Rye House 7.30, Somerset v Berwick 7.30CITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Stoke 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Coventry v Kent 7.30
