BRITISH SPEEDWAY AUG 3

Date: Tuesday August 3, 2021

(SPEEDWAY 1)

WOLVERHAMPTON remain top of the Premiership after overcoming a stern challenge from play-off rivals Peterborough with a 47-43 win at Monmore.
The Panthers, inspired by Hans Andersen scoring 15 at reserve, hit back from eight points down to trail by just two with two races remaining.
But Ryan Douglas and Luke Becker struck a vital Heat 14 5-1 to win it for Wolves, with the Panthers confirming a league point with Michael Palm Toft’s win in the last race.
Sam Masters scored 11 for Wolves with Douglas adding 10+1, whilst Palm Toft (10) backed up Andersen’s high scoring.
Wolves boss Peter Adams said: “We knew it be a tough meeting tonight. Peterborough are well in the running for the title as they hadn’t lost away all season, but we had just about enough strength for them in the end.
“It was touch and go with them having such a strong reserve like Hans Andersen.”
Panthers manager Rob Lyon said: “It was disappointing to lose the meeting but at least we claimed a consolation league point and were very competitive.
“We’ve not lost all year away from home and we knew that the run we had would come to an end at some point. There’s too much quality in this league for us to go away all season and be unbeaten.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

DAN Bewley struck a 15-point maximum in his first meeting at No.1 as Belle Vue consolidated their place in the play-off zone with a 55-35 win over Ipswich.
The scores were level after eight races, but the Witches were then blown away by four Aces 5-1s in the next five races to put the match well beyond the visitors, who lost their place in the top four.
Bewley was backed up by Brady Kurtz on 11+2, whilst Danny King racked up 14+1 from seven rides for the Witches.
Said Bewley: “I’m delighted with how tonight went. I think it was my first full maximum of the season, but I’m glad we’re getting back to racing at home.
“We were mega disappointed to lose against Wolves last week and this result was just what we needed, especially at this point in the season.
“We’ve just got to keep this going now. We’ve got one foot in the play-offs and a few more results like this one will absolutely cement that for us.”
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was classic Belle Vue really, the boys kept tweaking their setups, but it didn’t seem to be helping them.
“After starting the first half of the meeting so well, to go down by that many is disappointing.
“Sheffield winning at King’s Lynn has left us in a really, really bad position in the race for the play-offs. Fair play to them but we need to come out fighting on Thursday and get a win.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

SHEFFIELD charged into the top four of the Premiership with all four points from a 49-41 win at King’s Lynn.
The Tigers overcame the mid-meeting withdrawal of Adam Ellis after a Heat 9 crash to take their first away victory of the season, and leapfrog over Ipswich in the process.
Recent signing Josh Pickering stared with 12+1 including a vital Heat 15 effort to pass Thomas Jorgensen for the extra league point, whilst Richard Lawson carded 12 for the bottom-placed Stars.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I think we were pretty convincing. When you look down the one-to-seven, we had everybody doing their job.
“It was a really good, solid display, and one that I’ve always felt has been in there. For one reason or another we’ve just not been able to show our true form until now, but I’ve always felt this was something we were capable of.”
Stars manager Alex Brady said: “It’s a tough result to take. The performance from a lot of the boys was very good, but unfortunately we couldn’t get out of the starts in the crucial heats.
“We had some good heat winners, the first four were from King’s Lynn, but we couldn’t pack the minor places which is crucial in every meeting, and it just wasn’t our night.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

KENT’S new-look line-up take on Eastbourne in a big Championship encounter at Central Park tonight (Tuesday).
Troy Batchelor is due to make his debut at No.1 for the Kings, with youngster Jake Mulford declared at reserve.
The match is an important one for the Eagles, who are four points outside the top six and need away wins in order to threaten the play-off places.

(SPEEDWAY 5)

PLYMOUTH have declared a full-strength side for tonight’s (Tuesday) Championship clash with Edinburgh.
Jason Crump is named at No.1 for the Gladiators after two weeks on the sidelines following a crash against Glasgow.
The Monarchs hand a debut to new signing Luke Crang, who has replaced Joe Lawlor in the Rising Star position.

(SPEEDWAY 6)

POOLE have completed the signing of Danish youngster Benjamin Basso after accepting defeat in their bid to bring in Ondrej Smetana.
Travel complications hampered the Czech rider’s planned arrival, and 20-year-old Basso is now set to make his Pirates debut in this week’s Northern tour starting at Edinburgh on Friday.
Club owner Matt Ford said: “I have to say, it has not been an easy ride to get the signing completed as there has been a lot of additional hurdles in our way as a consequence of Brexit, including a spoken language test and a personal hearing before he was granted the necessary paperwork to allow him to get the clearance needed.
“We need to be sensible and not put any undue pressure on his young shoulders, but I feel that working alongside the likes of Danny (King) and Rory (Schlein) we will be able to bring his career along – and given that he currently holds a higher average for his Danish side Fjelsted than both Frederik (Jakobsen) and Peter Kildemand we are already starting from a reasonable foundation.”

(SPEEDWAY 7)

NEWCASTLE have issued a statement to underline that this Sunday’s double-header against Poole and Plymouth is critical to the club’s future.
The Diamonds’ promotion have set the admission price at just £20 for adults and removed the car parking fee, and say they must see an improvement in attendance figures to keep the business running.
They said: “Speedway is not a charity, and we have all now lived through a pandemic and are continuing to live through the after-effects of a pandemic that has crippled business after business, with Rob’s (Grant) successful family butchers and event catering business also being no stranger to these after-effects.
“The grim reality of the matter is that Rob and his business has invested a huge sum of money into Newcastle Speedway to initially get it to the tapes, and then boost it through the Covid-19 era; however, this is no longer sustainable.
“We now cannot continue to do this alone, and we are calling on all our supporters, far and wide, young and old, to please get behind your Diamonds and support your club this Sunday and for future meetings.
“We need a combined effort to make this weekend’s meeting great, otherwise the heart-breaking alternative that faces us, is that if the crowd is once again as low as it has been, it may seal the fate of the Newcastle Diamonds.”