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POOLE overcame the pre-meeting loss of No.1 Chris Holder to secure the Elite Shield with victory at Coventry on Friday.Holder was withdrawn due to illness with the Pirates using the rider-replacement facility to defend their 22-point first leg lead.But they still overcame a six-point deficit on the night to win 47-43 thanks to a last-heat 5-1 from Krzysztof Buczkowski and former Bees rider Hans Andersen, who inflicted the first defeat of the meeting on Krzysztof Kasprzak.Coventry boss Gary Havelock said: “It was disappointing not to win our home leg, but if there’s a time for a few problems I’d rather have them now rather than before the important league matches start.“There were positives to take out of it, KK was looking pretty sensational, and Bomber (Chris Harris) too. Josh’s (Bates) first couple of rides were fantastic, he beat Kyle Newman in Heat 2 who is probably the best fast-tracker in the league and he beat him by a distance.”Meanwhile Lakeside No.1 Andreas Jonsson stormed to victory in the Spring Trophy opener at Purfleet.Jonsson pulled off four wins from four programmed rides to reach the Grand Final and then got the better of Richard Lawson in the decider, with Kim Nilsson third.Lakeside coach Kelvin Tatum said: “Tonight was mainly about the team getting some laps under their belt and blowing away any remaining cobwebs. They've done that now and there were plenty of encouraging signs from all members of the team.“Andreas Jonsson's attitude and determination to succeed this year is outstanding and he was very inspiring to watch this evening. It was good to see three other members of this year's team ride really well and reach the Grand Final and that will put them in confident mood ahead of next week.”Former Plymouth captain Ben Barker made a successful return to the St Boniface Arena when he won the Spring Classic individual meeting which opened the new season for the Devils. Barker won a re-run Final ahead of Todd Kurtz and Ulrich Ostergaard after Mikkel Bech fell when leading the first running of the race.Plymouth co-promoter Ashley Taylor said: “It proved to be a very competitive field with some quality riders in the line-up.“That was underlined by the fact that no one ran away with the scoring and it proved to be a good work-out in a well balanced meeting.”Meanwhile a King’s Lynn Select defeated Polish side Wroclaw 50-46 in the first team event of the campaign at the Adrian Flux Arena.
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SOMERSET are waiting on news of Australian newcomer Jake Allen after a crash which forced the abandonment of the Rebels’ opening meeting of the season.Friday’s challenge match against a Swindon Select came to a halt when Allen crashed heavily in Heat 8, and the track ambulance was required to take him to hospital due to back pains.Somerset boss Garry May said: “It was a real shame for the lad as, after an understandably nervy opening ride, he had an excellent second outing and then looked to be on his way to his first win in Somerset colours when he came to grief.“Of course our thoughts are with Jake right now, and we will release further news on his condition as and when we receive it, but hopefully it will be good and he’ll be out of hospital and back riding for us before too long.“Up until Jake’s unfortunate accident, I thought the boys had ridden really well and given a great account of themselves, no more so than when Bradley [Wilson-Dean] and Zach [Wajtknecht] combined for the 5-1 in Heat 2, but really that counts for nothing as we wait for news from the hospital on Jake.”Swindon manager Alun Rossiter added: “It’s disappointing we couldn’t get a full meeting in, but we have to send our best wishes to Jake Allen and we hope his injury isn’t too serious.“We’ll try to take the positives out of it, and there were plenty of encouraging signs. It was good for the boys to get some competitive racing even if it wasn’t a full meeting and I was pleased with what I saw.”
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BELLE Vue open the doors to the National Speedway Stadium for the first time with the staging of the Peter Craven Memorial Trophy on Saturday.A sell-out crowd will be present as the Aces host an all-star line-up at the end of a near decade-long effort to bring their dreams of a new venue to reality.World Champion Tai Woffinden and treble winner Nicki Pedersen are amongst the competing riders in a meeting which also features all of the home regulars.Aces co-promoter Chris Morton said: “It’s going to be an emotional moment when the tapes go up for the first time but we’re determined to enjoy it because for all these years of effort, it's only going last for a few hours.“Saturday night marks the accumulation of nine years of hard work. There’ve been many hurdles to overcome along the way but that’s part of the experience, the heartache and certainly the fun.“Nothing good ever comes easy but myself and David (Gordon) never expected this stadium to just fall into our lap. We knew it’d be tough but it’s something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time.”The Southern section of the League Cup gets underway as Rye House host Plymouth at Hoddesdon with a new-look Rockets team in action for the first time.Leigh Lanham is one of the newcomers for the home side, and he admits it’s a move he has wanted to make for some time.Lanham said: “I’ve been hoping to become a part of Rye House for a long while. I thought I was coming here a couple of years ago, but things didn’t work out on that occasion. Now I am finally here and really looking forward to it.“Plymouth are definitely not the team they were two years ago. Last season, they put together a good side, and I would say that this year’s is even better. They are a small track team as well, so they have riders who can go well round the small stuff, and it should be a tight and exciting match.” The opening meeting of the season at Beaumont Park features the first leg of an Inter-league challenge with Leicester hosting Premier League club Sheffield in 1pm fixture.The Lions have Sebastian Ulamek and Paul Starke making their debuts whilst Patrick Hougaard and Nicolai Klindt return from spells in 2014, whilst Simon Stead sits out for Sheffield with concussion and is replaced by Josh Grajczonek.Leicester boss Norrie Allan said: “Sheffield have assembled a very good team and with three former Leicester riders in their side I am expecting the match to be very close here and also when we travel to Sheffield next week for the return fixture. “With nothing at stake other than pride, Saturday’s meeting will be the perfect opportunity for our riders to get used to the new racing lines before we embark upon our first Elite League fixture against Coventry the following week.”Sheffield reserve Nathan Greaves, who makes his comeback from a season-ending injury last year, said: “I’ve not raced since June so I’m really excited for my first meeting back.“I’m glad we’ve got a couple of meetings against Leicester to get up to speed rather than being thrown straight into the trophy and league meetings. Hopefully I can do OK against Leicester and just get back up to speed after my time away.”
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SATURDAY MARCH 19:LEAGUE CUP: Rye House v Plymouth 7pmINTER-LEAGUE CHALLENGE 1st leg: Leicester v Sheffield 1pmPETER CRAVEN MEMORIAL TROPHY: Belle Vue 6pm
SUNDAY MARCH 20:LEAGUE CUP: Scunthorpe v Ipswich 3pmCHRIS HARRIS TESTIMONIAL: Coventry 2pm
