BRITISH SPEEDWAY AUGUST 13

Date: Friday August 13, 2021

(SPEEDWAY 1)

THE draw has been made for the British Under-19 Final at Mildenhall on Sunday August 22.
Reigning champion Drew Kemp, who is going for a hat-trick of wins, has been drawn at No.8, with home riders Jason Edwards and Sam Hagon at No.4 and No.5 respectively.
Leicester’s Ben Trigger has moved into the main line-up after Jake Mulford was called up to represent Great Britain in the FIM World Longtrack Challenge on the same day.
DRAW: 1 Joe Thompson, 2 Ben Trigger, 3 Dan Gilkes, 4 Jason Edwards, 5 Sam Hagon, 6 Dan Thompson, 7 Archie Freeman, 8 Drew Kemp, 9 Kyle Bickley, 10 Connor Bailey, 11 Harry McGurk, 12 Nathan Ablitt, 13 Anders Rowe, 14 Jordan Palin, 15 Sam McGurk, 16 Leon Flint. Reserves: 17 Elliot Kelly, 18 Kai Ward.
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

WOLVERHAMPTON secured their Premiership play-off place with an impressive 46-44 win at fourth-placed Sheffield on Thursday.
Reserve Ryan Douglas carded a brilliant 16-point haul to support fellow Aussie Sam Masters who won three successive heats in his 11-point score.
The visitors clinched their eighth successive victory when Douglas won Heat 14 whilst youngster Leon Flint pulled off a vital third place over home skipper Kyle Howarth – which became more significant when the Tigers gained a consolation 5-1 in the last race.

Jack Holder top-scored for Sheffield with 11 and recent signing Stefan Nielsen impressed on 10+1 – but Troy Batchelor failed to score from three rides.
Wolves boss Peter Adams said: “We had to battle hard and we were fortunate in having Ryan Douglas scoring so freely in the reserve position.
“We managed to squeeze all his seven quota of rides in and he was the star of the show for us.
“Everybody fought tooth and nail though because we wanted to win here.”
Tigers manager Simon Stead said: “Wolverhampton are riding very, very well and full credit to them – but that doesn’t make it any easier, we’ve not been good enough.

“After two away results that had set us up nicely to sort of cement our place in the play-offs, that’s a really disappointing result.
“I just never thought I’d see the day where I saw Batchelor scoring zero in this league. What we do is something I’ll discuss with him and the senior management of the club, and if there are options then we’ll explore them.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

PETERBOROUGH marched on with a 46-44 victory in a last-heat decider at local rivals King’s Lynn.
The Panthers took control of the meeting with back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 11 and 12 to give them a six-point lead.
But home No.1 Richard Lawson kept his side in the meeting with a last-ditch pass on Bjarne Pedersen to win Heat 13, and then combined with Lewis Kerr for a 5-1 when he came into Heat 14 as a tactical substitute.

Lawson went into Heat 15 with a maximum 15 points to his name, but although team-mate Erik Riss (11+1) won the race, Lawson was relegated to the back by Chris Harris (12+1) and Michael Palm Toft (11+4) to leave the Panthers celebrating.
Peterborough boss Rob Lyon said: “What can I say about our team? They just keep grinding away, and we don’t panic, we know we’ve got quality in certain heats, and it paid off for us.
“Heat 15 was a toss-up really because Bjarne had started to go well after changing bike, but I just felt Bomber had a race in him and could spoil the party a bit.

“Tofty had been excellent all night, and it worked out well. We were out-trapped initially, but the boys pulled it out and it’s a great result for us.”
Stars manager Alex Brady said: “It was within touching distance for us, and it was a fantastic effort from the full one-to-seven which is truly the first time I’ve said that this season.
“I’m proud of the team but just gutted not to get over the line, and the general reaction from the fans even though we’ve lost has been quite good, which you don’t always expect.
“But it was a good speedway meeting with some good racing, and we’re just gutted to be on the wrong side at the end of it.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

EDINBURGH have the chance to go level on points with Championship leaders Glasgow if they defeat Plymouth at Armadale tonight (Friday).
The Monarchs welcome Jason Crump as a visitor for his first racing laps at the venue – some 14 years after he was ruled out of a planned special appearance by injury.
Both sides are at full strength with the Gladiators having won 50-40 when they met at the Coliseum last week.
Edinburgh boss Alex Harkess said: “We will be expecting a home victory, but it will be a pleasure to welcome the Gladiators in their first season back in the Championship, and with two distinguished stars leading the way.
“They have some lively back-up riders and I expect a good evening’s entertainment.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

SCUNTHORPE host Redcar in a big clash of Championship play-off contenders at the Eddie Wright Raceway tonight (Friday).
The Scorpions are fourth in the table and are racing at home for the first time in over a month, but will be without Tero Aarnio after his national championship meeting in Finland tomorrow was brought forward to lunchtime.
The Bears are one point and two places behind, and include former Scunthorpe stars Jake Allen and Michael Palm Toft who will look to score heavily on their old home track.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “Tero had flights arranged that would get him back into Finland in plenty of time to do the meeting, but they’ve brought the start-time forward to show it on Finnish TV.
“Tero has been pretty prolific for us at home this season and, on his average, there are no guests available that will do the sort of job Tero has been doing, and we will use rider replacement for him.
“The rest of the team have been riding well around the Eddie Wright Raceway, so we just need everyone to step up to the plate and do the business.”

Bears No.2 James Sarjeant said: “I’m looking forward to the meeting as it’s nice to have a few meetings after a month-long break.
“I think we can go really well there, and I think we have a good enough team to go and win there.”

(SPEEDWAY 6)

THE Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund is set to be boosted by a charity football match later this month.
Former King’s Lynn and Oxford promoter Nigel Wagstaff is hosting ‘Waggy’s Speedway Extravaganza’ at Cogenhoe United Football Club, Northampton, and the match in aid of the Ben Fund will take place on Sunday August 22.
Wagstaff himself will lead his Waggy’s Football Select against Alun Rossiter’s Celebrity Eleven, which includes amongst others: Nick Morris, Ricky Wells, Ben Barker and Ryan Douglas.

SRBF chairman Paul Ackroyd said: “It has been a tough 18 months for the Benevolent Fund but we have been bowled over by the generosity of the speedway public even in these difficult times.
“We are delighted to be a part of Waggy’s Speedway Extravaganza and it is wonderful to see so many current riders expressing their desire to take part.
“Many of them have received help from the Ben Fund in the past and we are grateful to everyone who has pledged their time to help us raise as much as we can.”
All proceeds raised from the match will be donated to the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund, or you can make a donation online at srbf.co.uk .

(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY AUGUST 14:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Plymouth 7pm, Leicester v Eastbourne 7pm

BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh 2.30

SUNDAY AUGUST 15:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Newcastle v Glasgow 6.30, Redcar v Plymouth 2pm
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Redcar (125cc/150cc) (follows Champ fixture)