(SPEEDWAY 1)
ELITE League leaders Poole have elected to face Coventry in the play-off semi-finals. The Pirates will travel to Brandon for the first leg next Monday, September 14 with the return at Wimborne Road the following Monday.Belle Vue and Swindon will contest the other semi-final with the Robins, who have finished above the Aces in the table, electing to travel to Manchester next Monday before hosting the return at the Abbey Stadium on September 21.(SPEEDWAY 2 - WEDNESDAY REVIEW)
THE Elite League’s two remaining regular-season matches take place on Wednesday with runners-up position and the wooden spoon to be resolved.Coventry lead Swindon by one point in the battle for second place, with both teams racing their final fixture on the night.Coventry host Lakeside at Brandon, with the Hammers needing a point to move off the foot of the table - whilst Swindon visit King’s Lynn, who dropped out of play-off contention in the closing days of the campaign.With Danish riders in action in their home country tonight, Coventry have Jacob Thorssell guesting for Hans Andersen; Lakeside bring in Josh Grajczonek for Mikkel Bech; King’s Lynn have Jason Doyle guesting for Niels-Kristian Iversen, and Scott Nicholls replaces Peter Kildemand for the Stars - who also bring in Ulrich Ostergaard for Vaclav Milik, as their initial choice Sam Masters is out with a shoulder injury.Coventry and Swindon are both looking for positive results to go into the play-offs in good shape, whilst King’s Lynn boss Rob Lyon has called on his side to end a troublesome run on a high.Coventry promoter Mick Horton said: “This is our last chance to get everything tuned up in time for the play-offs, and it should be a good opportunity to do that.“We still want to confirm second place in the table, which could be useful if we can get past Poole in the semi-final, and I’m sure Lakeside will be up for it as well. I know our supporters will give AJ (Andreas Jonsson) a great welcome back.”Swindon manager Alun Rossiter said: “The team is full of confidence at the moment, we had a great result at Poole on Monday and we are going to King's Lynn to try and win to keep that form going.“With the play-offs coming up we want to go there on a high, so hopefully we can put in a good performance to go into the Belle Vue meeting on the back of a win.”Lyon said: “It's going to be our last meeting and I am very disappointed about that, we have fallen short of the target we set at the start of the season. It will be nice to go out and win and that's what I and the team want to do.”In the City Gearboxes National League, Cradley take on in-form Rye House in a clash between the clubs currently third and fourth in the table.The Heathens will be without long-term injury victim Nathan Greaves but will otherwise be at full strength with Michael Neale recovering from a thumb injury to return to the side.Cradley boss Will Pottinger said: “It's been a tough run for us recently, and we were really disappointed with the performance at Buxton on Sunday, but we have to regroup and try to bounce back quickly against Rye House. "We've been riding well at home recently, so hopefully we can carry that on because we need to try and get back to winning ways and we want to end our league fixtures on a high.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
BIRMINGHAM and Perry Barr co-tenants Cradley will go head-to-head in the Gold Cup Semi-Finals. After clinching the National League title, the Brummies had the luxury of being able to choose their end-of-season competition opponents and have elected to face the Heathens with the ‘home’ leg on Wednesday September 16 and the return the following week.Eastbourne have also secured a top four place, with the remaining position to be resolved over the coming days.Birmingham boss Graham Drury said: “Cradley were always the ones I wanted regardless of who gets that fourth spot. We've had some outstanding meetings against them this year and now we've got a chance for two more as well! “What will make the first leg even more special is the fact that we will be presented with the National League trophy prior to that meeting in front of our fantastic home supporters and the Cradley fans will be there to see it all happen too!”(FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 9:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Lakeside 7.30, King’s Lynn v Swindon 7.30CITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Cradley v Rye House 7.30
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 10:PREMIER LEAGUE: Plymouth v Scunthorpe 7.15TEESSIDE SILVER HELMET: Redcar 7.30
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11:PREMIER LEAGUE: Scunthorpe v Plymouth 7.30TRAVEL PLUS TOURS KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Somerset v Rye House 7.30CITY GEARBOXES NATIONAL LEAGUE: Coventry v Buxton 7pm, Coventry v Rye House (follows previous fixture), King’s Lynn v Kent 7.30
