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SEVEN-TIME champion Scott Nicholls won the second British semi-final at King’s Lynn on Wednesday.Nicholls led a host of riders on eleven points with countback required to separate the Belle Vue skipper from Danny King and Leigh Lanham, who completed the top three on the night, along with Craig Cook and Kyle Howarth, all on the same total.The other automatic qualifiers for the British Final at Wolverhampton on June 15 were reigning champion Tai Woffinden, who scored ten, and Carl Wilkinson who edged out Adam Roynon on countback after both scored nine.Robert Lambert was forced to withdraw suffering from hip pain after a crash in Heat 5 when he hit the fence whilst attempting to pass Stefan Nielsen.The British Final line-up will be made up of the seven qualifiers from the Sheffield and King’s Lynn semi-finals along with two Wild Card entries to be declared.
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BIRMINGHAM fought back from four points down to claim a 47-42 victory over Eastbourne in the first leg of their Knockout Cup clash.The Eagles still led by three with four heats to go at Perry Barr but the Brummies finished the meeting with four successive 4-2s as Adam Ellis completed a full maximum and reserve Zach Wajtknecht piled up 15+1 from seven rides.Birmingham boss Graham Drury said: “We ideally wanted a double figure lead from the meeting and to only come away being five points in front is disappointing; I expected more, but this cup tie is far from over."It was a good spirited fightback and it was good to keep our unbeaten run going. As seems to be the case in every meeting, I thought Adam, Tom (Perry) and Zach were all superb, but we had a long tail end tonight and it's something we need to look at.”
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SWINDON go into the first of two home matches in six days when they host Leicester in the Elite League at the Abbey Stadium on Thursday.And in-form Aussie ace Nick Morris insists nothing less than two wins will do with league leaders Coventry in town next Tuesday.He said: “We had a tough start with injuries, but we’ve come back and been riding pretty well. We’ve got a lot of potential in the team this year and we know what we are capable of.“Obviously like everyone else we want to be in the play-offs. It’s going to be tough but we know we are capable of it. Hopefully we can have a bit more luck with injuries and stuff like that over the rest of the season.“We need to have a good home record, and we’ve been riding well at home recently, so hopefully we can win our next two against Leicester and Coventry to get six more points on the board.”Leicester hand a debut to new signing Lewis Bridger, whilst Rory Schlein and Kyle Newman are named as guests for the Lions.In the Travel Plus Tours KO Cup, Ipswich have to pull back a four-point first leg deficit against Berwick at Foxhall, with the Bandits having three former Witches riders in their ranks.Ben Barker, Kevin Doolan and Claus Vissing all line up against their old side but they are missing Richard Hall (illness) and Alex Edberg (Swedish fixture clash) and bring in Ashley Morris and Dan Halsey as guests, whilst the home team operate rider replacement for broken wrist victim Cameron Heeps.Ipswich boss Phil Hilton said: “We cannot afford to be complacent as Berwick have very capable riders in Barker, Doolan and Vissing in their ranks but I feel it is about time for the boys to start firing on all cylinders! “We welcome back Gino Manzares, who has been itching to get back on track, but unfortunately we will not have Cameron back for a while.”Berwick co-promoter Dennis McCleary said: “Thursdays aren't good for Swedish riders over here, and although we've tried to keep Alex clear of Premier League fixture clashes, the KO Cup match kind of snuck up on us. Then Richard phoned in sick!"Meanwhile Sheffield boss Jack Lee is targeting a double-figure lead from Tigers’ first-leg tie against Edinburgh at Owlerton.Lee says a positive frame of mind will be vital from his patched-up side with Lasse Bjerre covering for the injured Simon Stead and rider replacement used for Ty Proctor.“We’re going to need at least a 12-point advantage from the home leg, that’s the target,” he said. “If we can ride as hard as we did down at Plymouth then we have a strong chance. The riders have to think positive but there is a good mood in the camp and we want to build on some strong performances, especially when we go at Armadale (on Friday).”
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THE qualifying clubs and group draws have been confirmed for the 2015 National League Fours.The meeting takes place at Coventry on Sunday June 14 (4pm start) and each club will be represented by four riders, to be declared in the near future.Holders Cradley have been drawn in semi-final Group B, whilst league newcomers Birmingham and Eastbourne are in Group A along with the host club.Each semi-final takes place over eight heats with the top two from each group proceeding to the Final, again over eight heats.GROUP A: Coventry, Eastbourne, King’s Lynn, Birmingham.GROUP B: Rye House, Mildenhall, Cradley, Kent.(FIXTURES)
THURSDAY MAY 21:ELITE LEAGUE: Swindon v Leicester 7.30TRAVEL PLUS TOURS KO CUP 1st round 2nd leg: Ipswich v Berwick 7.30; 1st leg: Sheffield v Edinburgh 7.30
FRIDAY MAY 22:PREMIER LEAGUE: Somerset v Scunthorpe 7.30TRAVEL PLUS TOURS KO CUP 1st round 2nd leg: Edinburgh v Sheffield 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Plymouth v Ipswich 7.15
SATURDAY MAY 23:PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Redcar 7pmCITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Rye House v Coventry 7pm
SUNDAY MAY 24:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Newcastle 3pmCITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Mildenhall 3pm, Eastbourne v Cradley 3.30
MONDAY MAY 25:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v King’s Lynn 7.30, Leicester v Poole 7.30, Wolverhampton v Lakeside 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle v Glasgow 6.30, Rye House v Redcar 2pm, Scunthorpe v Somerset 3pmTRAVEL PLUS TOURS KO CUP 1st round 1st leg: Peterborough v Plymouth 2pmLEAGUE CUP: Workington v Berwick 3pmCITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Kent v King’s Lynn 3pm4TT: Scunthorpe Stags v Halifax v Belle Vue Colts v Exeter (follows PL fixture)
