BRITISH SPEEDWAY AUGUST 20

Date: Friday August 20, 2021       (Photo:  rising star Leon Flint)

(SPEEDWAY 1)

WOLVERHAMPTON moved seven points clear at the top of the Premiership with an emphatic 54-36 win at Ipswich.
It was a ninth straight victory for the dominant Monmore men, whose run began when they won at Foxhall back in late June.
Skipper Rory Schlein led the way with 11+1 whilst there was a best-ever top-flight display from Rising Star youngster Leon Flint, who scored 10. Danny King collected 14 from six rides for a Witches side who were well beaten.
Wolves manager Peter Adams said: “We’re trying very hard to finish top and this is a good result for us, obviously.
“We came here looking for the win and it went very well. We expected a very tough match here, but we made a good start and it went well from there.”

Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “We were completely outraced by a far superior team, one that looks like potential champions against one that certainly does not.
“It was the same old story for us, not enough people going well on the same night and relying on half the team to win you a meeting. That does not work.
“I can understand why everyone is unhappy, we are all unhappy. I don’t think it is a lack of effort, you have got a team that is full of confidence against one that’s not.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

GLASGOW and Leicester meet twice in 24 hours in a repeat of the 2019 Championship Grand Final, starting at Ashfield tonight (Friday).
The Lions secured the title on that occasion and both sides are strongly in the mix again this year, with the Tigers top of the table but keen to bounce back from last week’s loss at Newcastle.
Glasgow have booked British Under-21 Champion Tom Brennan to guest for the injured Ulrich Ostergaard in both meetings this weekend.

Boss Cami Brown said: “Our biggest rivalry is against Edinburgh but Glasgow versus Leicester is fast becoming one of those big battles in British speedway.
“The atmosphere should be fantastic with the stadium back at full capacity and some really big points on the line.
“My focus is on ensuring we’re the ones coming out on top this time. We came agonisingly close in the 2019 Final and it’s important we use that as motivation this weekend.”

Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “We certainly want to get something from the meeting, and we do need to get some more points on the board away from home to cement our place in the play-offs.
“We’ve been a little inconsistent for most of the season, but if we can get all seven firing, we are capable of winning up there. We have a team that should be going anywhere and giving any home team a run for their money.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

REDCAR host Poole in a clash of two sides in the Championship’s top four at the Media Prima Arena tonight (Friday).
The Bears are fourth in the table, two points behind the Pirates although the visitors have two matches in hand.
Poole hand a belated debut to new signing Benjamin Basso, whose first appearance has been delayed by a positive Covid test and a clashing fixture in his home country of Denmark.
Redcar star Michael Palm Toft said: “I don’t think anyone comes to Redcar and expects us to be the underdogs, we all want to win and especially at our home track. 

“Furthermore, I think we are heading in the right direction as a side and everyone is settling in well around our home track.”
Pirates skipper Danny King said: “I think we saw on Wednesday just how good it was to have Ben Cook back in the side after his lay-off, and to have a full one-to-seven back again will be important with a number of key matches still to come.
“I believe our new Dane will be available for Friday and if we can settle him in to the side quickly then it can only be good for the club.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

EDINBURGH boss Alex Harkess is looking forward to welcoming Kent skipper Scott Nicholls when the Kings visit Armadale tonight (Friday).
Nicholls has often excelled on his visits to the Scottish circuit and leads the visitors’ challenge along with Troy Batchelor and ex-Monarch Cameron Heeps.

The home side are without Richie Worrall after his crash last Friday, and they will operate the rider replacement facility.
Harkess said: “Scott has been a class act and I hope he will be again on Friday – though one class act in their team is enough! He’s a very, very good and accomplished rider.
“We also welcome our friend Cameron Heeps again, he hasn’t had a great year and we hope things turn round for him eventually. 

“It’s a match we expect to win, and we’ll be disappointed if it is as close as last week again.”
The Kings have named Ryan Terry-Daley at No.6 as a guest for Jake Mulford, who is en route to the FIM World Long Track Challenge and therefore misses their Northern tour.

(SPEEDWAY 5)

SCUNTHORPE are keen to recover from a tough Southern trip when they return home to host Birmingham tonight (Friday).
Scorpions No.1 and British Champion Adam Ellis misses the meeting, although he hopes to be fit to race in the GP Challenge on Saturday, with Lewis Kerr coming in to guest.
But the home side are hopeful that Josh MacDonald will take his place after missing Wednesday’s trip to Poole with a wrist injury.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We may have already won at Birmingham, but we certainly won’t under-estimate them.
“Last Friday, we had a complete classic meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway, with the victory over Redcar, and we’ll be looking to serve up some more tremendous racing this week against the Brummies.
“After the defeats at Plymouth and Poole, this has become a meeting that we must win in our quest for a play-off place. It’s a meeting not to be missed.”

Brummies boss Laurence Rogers said: “We drew at Scunthorpe in 2019 when nobody really fancied us and we’ve shown before we can come up with some impressive performances when people write us off.
“Because of the meetings we’ve got in hand the league table doesn’t tell a true story at the moment and we’re going to keep going meeting-by-meeting, week-by-week and don’t rule us out just yet.”

(SPEEDWAY 6)

BELLE Vue can climb to second in the National Development League table with a home win over Armadale tonight (Friday).
The Colts will be at full-strength and face several of their former team members with Kyle Bickley guesting for Nathan Greaves, who is racing for the senior Edinburgh side – whilst Danny Phillips and Tom Woolley are also ex-Belle Vue riders.
Colts star Harry McGurk said: “Armadale have quite a few lads that go well around our track, but I think we’ve proved we’re very strong at the National Speedway Stadium as well. 

“Our home record is very impressive. We’ve managed to win against some of the favourites for the league and I feel we can do just the same against Armadale.
“We came very close to winning at Edinburgh a few months ago and we don’t want things to get that close this time around.”

(SPEEDWAY 7)

THE 125cc class of the British Youth Championship moves on to the National Speedway Stadium tonight (Friday, 6pm) ahead of the Belle Vue Colts’ fixture against the Armadale Devils.
There is another good turnout of riders across the A group and the support class, with 16 riders taking part which means a total of 18 heats prior to the Colts clash.

Stene Pijper will be looking to consolidate his 10-point lead at the top of the standings as he is currently on 52 points ahead of Oliver Bovingdon and Jamie Etherington (42) and Cooper Rushen (41).
In the support class Edward Davison will be aiming to win his third round in a week having won both the Edinburgh and Redcar rounds over last weekend.

Young Lions would like to thank the Belle Vue Promotion and the members of the BSP Ltd for their continued support.

(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY AUGUST 21:     

CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Kent 6.30, Leicester v Glasgow 7pm

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Berwick v Kent (follows previous fixture)

SUNDAY AUGUST 22:
BRITISH UNDER-19 FINAL: Mildenhall 3pm
CHAMPIONSHIP: Newcastle v Kent 4pm