(SPEEDWAY 1 - MONDAY REVIEW)
BELLE Vue will take a 14-point lead to Swindon for the second leg of their Elite League play-off semi-final next Monday.The Aces impressed on home soil to record a 50-36 win in the Manchester opener, with the meeting curtailed one race short due to heavy rain.Andreas Jonsson proved a wise choice of guest with 11 points whilst Josh Grajczonek added 9+1. Swindon captain Troy Batchelor scored 8 with the Robins suffering a nightmare start to the match as all three of their heat-leaders crashed in their opening rides.Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “If you had said to me beforehand that we'd be taking a six-point lead into the second leg I'd have been happy, so to be taking a 14-point lead down to Blunsdon is just tremendous.“We're in a play off situation where every point scored is as crucial as the next and the boys gave an exceptional performance tonight. They all did their job and we really hit the ground running.”Swindon boss Alun Rossiter said: “It's a big gap for us to overcome going into the second leg, but you can never say never. The reserves did a good job really, they battled hard and scored pretty well but it was our heat-leaders that let us down a bit.“We are going to need a big wake-up call for the second leg next week, but I'm sure we can do it. We won't give up, we'll pick ourselves up and keep believing we can overcome the deficit.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
COVENTRY are sweating on the fitness of skipper Chris Harris in the build-up to the first leg of their play-off clash with Poole on Friday.Harris suffered elbow, wrist and ankle injuries in a crash in Poland on Sunday and has returned to the UK to seek specialist advice.Bees boss Gary Havelock said: “You’re always worried about receiving a call saying one of your riders has crashed in another meeting, and now we have to wait and see with Bomber.“He’s massive to our team, and being without him is not really something I want to think about. It’s a huge concern for us. I will be looking at our options, of course, but we already know how limited they are and at the moment we just have to keep our fingers crossed.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
THE list of competitors has been announced for the National League Riders’ Champonship at Rye House.The Hoddesdon showpiece takes place on Saturday September 26 with all ten NL clubs represented.LINE-UP (not in riding order): Jon Armstrong (Stoke), Bradley Wilson-Dean (Eastbourne), Max Clegg (Cradley), Liam Carr (Buxton), Adam Ellis (Birmingham), Connor Mountain (Mildenhall), Danny Halsey (Mildenhall), Ben Morley (Kent), Kyle Hughes (Rye House), Rob Branford (Rye House), Lee Payne (Stoke), Zach Wajtknecht (Birmingham), Darryl Ritchings (Coventry), Tom Stokes (King’s Lynn), Danny Ayres (Kent), Marc Owen (Eastbourne). Reserves: Alfie Bowtell & George Hunter.
(SPEEDWAY 4)
STOKE promoter Dave Tattum has apologised to supporters after a power failure saw Sunday’s National League match between the Potters and Cradley abandoned after thirteen heats.Tattum said: “We have been updating the electrics within the stadium and it seems there is a glitch somewhere which we are attempting to identify and then rectify as quickly as possible. “I would like to stress the cause was in no way down to the generator which some people seem to be saying was the problem as the generator was running throughout the evening. The RCD (Residual-current device) is getting extremely hot and then fails, cutting the power out to the stadium. “We are attempting to find what is causing the problem as it’s not happened at any of our stock car meetings and therefore we have narrowed it down to a few things that speedway uses during a meeting that the stock cars don’t, and hopefully once we have identified the issue we will then rectify it.” (FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 16:GOLD CUP S/F 1st leg: Birmingham v Cradley 7.30
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 17:PREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF Q/F 1st leg: Sheffield v Peterborough 7.30
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18:ELITE LEAGUE PLAY-OFF S/F 1st leg: Coventry v Poole 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30
