(SPEEDWAY 1 - FRIDAY REVIEW)
SOMERSET have won the Travel Plus Tours KO Cup after successfully defending their first leg lead at Edinburgh on Friday.The Rebels took an eight-point advantage into the decisive contest at Armadale and limited the holders to a 47-43 win on the night.The lead was actually erased within two races as the Monarchs started with two 5-1s, but the home side’s progress was restricted by a hat-trick of wins for Paul Starke on his elevation to the main body of the team.Rebels boss Garry May juggled his line-ups for the closing stages and they clinched aggregate success with a 5-1 from Rasmus Jensen and Charles Wright in Heat 14 after Erik Riss had crashed.May said: “Starkey was magnificent while Richie [Worrall] was just awesome and Josh Grajczonek kept picking up vital points for us, as did Wrighty while Rasmus turned his evening around to combine with Charles and Richie for those 5-1’s in Heats 12 and 14.“It could have been so easy for their heads to drop after conceding two 5-1’s in the first two heats, but they stuck at it and didn’t let Edinburgh get away from us before coming back at the in the latter heats.“I know it probably turned a few heads when I took Brady (Kurtz) out of his final ride in Heat 13 and put Luke Chessell in, but I was looking at the bigger picture, and after discussing it with Brady, he was happy to give up his ride in Heat 13 for the good of the team, and luckily the move paid off and we are bringing the KO Cup back to Somerset!”Edinburgh boss Alex Harkess said: “We just didn’t perform to our best, it was very disappointing. Far too much went wrong and we didn’t bounce back as we usually do. Congratulations to Somerset.”In the Premier League play-offs, Glasgow held Plymouth to just a two-point margin from the first leg of their quarter-final tie at the St Boniface Arena.The Devils won 46-44 on the night - but Tigers boss Stewart Dickson was satisfied with the outcome ahead of Sunday’s return at Ashfield.Dickson said: “It was a decent result. We kept it as tight as we possibly could without actually winning so I'm pretty pleased.“We can live with the two points. We've still got to win the match, but fingers crossed we'll be OK. We now need to finish the job off - we're only half-way there and there'll be no complacency. But we've given ourselves a very good chance of getting into the semi-finals and that was the target tonight.”Meanwhile Eastbourne finished on top in the Kent County Fours at Central Park, the Eagles’ 31-point total being four clear of the hosts, with Mildenhall on 25 and Stoke on 11.(SPEEDWAY 2 - SATURDAY PREVIEW)
RYE House and Eastbourne lock horns once again when they contest the first leg of the National Trophy Final at Hoddesdon on Saturday.The sides met recently in the Gold Cup semi-finals, when the Eagles came out on top, and No.1 Bradley Wilson-Dean is expected back after his horror crash at the same venue in that fixture.The Raiders, meanwhile, have newly-crowned National League Riders’ Champion Ben Morley guesting for the unavailable Robert Branford and Danyon Hume is back with Sam Woods missing out.Rye House boss John Sampford said: “We’re going into this tie full of confidence. Ben Morley is without doubt the next best thing to having Rob Branford. He’s on an absolute high at the moment, and he knows both our track and Eastbourne’s very well.“While we’re sorry that Sam has to make way, we’re also delighted to welcome Danyon back at a decisive moment. He has already turned so many heads with his efforts, and although he often leaves you with your heart in your mouth, there is no doubting that he is always a 100 per cent trier.”Eagles manager Glenn Martin said: “We are ready for the Final and want to win it for the fans who have been starved of success for a long time. We also want to win it for Martin and Connor (Dugard), who have done so much in the last year.”(SPEEDWAY 3)
PETERBOROUGH have turned to Rohan Tungate to lead their Premier League play-offs semi-final charge.The Ipswich ace has agreed to step in at number one for both legs of their showdown against reigning champions Edinburgh which gets underway with an East of England Showground clash on Sunday.Joint team boss Dale Allitt said: “Rohan is more than happy to come in and will now race for us in both legs. We want to go into the semi-final with a full team and ideally the same team for both legs.“That was initially the plan with Nicklas (Porsing) until he had to pull out - and now it is the case with Rohan. He is very keen to ride for us. He likes the club, he likes the track and he is good in the pits.”(FIXTURES)
SATURDAY OCTOBER 3:NATIONAL TROPHY FINAL 1st leg: Rye House v Eastbourne 7pm
SUNDAY OCTOBER 4:PREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF S/F 1st leg: Peterborough v Edinburgh 5pmPREMIER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF Q/F 2nd leg: Glasgow v Plymouth 3pmNATIONAL TROPHY FINAL 2nd leg: Eastbourne v Rye House 2pm
TUESDAY OCTOBER 6:RECYCLED AGGREGATE SERVICES OLYMPIQUE: Wolverhampton 7.30
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 7:NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 1st leg: King’s Lynn v Cradley 7.30GOLD CUP FINAL 1st leg: Birmingham v Eastbourne 7.30DARCY WARD BENEFIT: Poole 7.30
