BRITISH SPEEDWAY, SHEFFIELD’S LAST GASP WIN

Photo: courtesy of High Speed Photographix

Date: Tuesday May 17, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

SHEFFIELD staged a tremendous comeback to snatch a 47-43 victory in Monday’s televised Premiership clash at Ipswich.

Jason Doyle scored a paid maximum (14+1) for the Witches, who raced into a 10-2 lead after two races but were pegged back as the meeting approached the halfway stage.

Skipper Kyle Howarth (10) and reserve Stefan Nielsen then recorded a crucial 5-1 for the visitors in Heat 14 to put them four points up, and although Doyle competed his unbeaten night in the finale, guest Chris Harris and Adam Ellis did enough to see off Troy Batchelor.

Tigers boss Simon Stead said: “We got caught napping early on but we chased the set-up and eventually got our noses in front.

“Even after the first couple, I always felt confident that if we kept working hard we could get through to Heat 15 and get the job done.

“I’m really pleased with the boys tonight – it was genuine, hard work from them, pulling together, helping one another with set-ups and that and they came back strong and did really well.”

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a disappointing result, and we simply were not strong enough throughout the side. We had too many riders not quite on it.

“Sheffield punished us for our mistakes, and they are a good team. We were not better than them tonight, they deserved the win. Without performing anywhere near our best we weren’t far off their standard, though.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BELLE Vue held on for a 48-42 victory over King’s Lynn as a dogged display from the Stars saw them leave with a league point.

The Aces were without Matej Zagar and Jye Etheridge due to injury but still powered into a 12-point lead after Heat 10, only to be reeled back in and forced into a last-heat decider.

Max Fricke (12) won Heat 15 for the home side but second place for Niels-Kristian Iversen (14) ahead of Charles Wright (12+1) ensured the Stars took something from the meeting.

Wright said: “All the boys did their job tonight. We did miss Jye and Matej, for sure, but I think this was an important result for us because we’ve proved we can rise to the challenge.

“Going into Heat 15 I didn’t realise how close the scores were, and while we try not to focus too much on that myself and Max knew we had a job to do. 

“Overall I think we can be proud of what we achieved tonight. King’s Lynn didn’t make it easy for us, but at the end of the day we got the three points which is the main thing.”

Stars boss Alex Brady said: “After Heat 10 I thought it was written off a little bit, but it shows the character within this group to fight back and come away with a hard-earned point.

“The boys knew they hadn’t done themselves justice in the middle block of heats, so they knew they had to pull together, they made some starts and did their jobs.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

BIRMINGHAM have moved to sign Justin Sedgmen ahead of their Championship trip to Oxford tonight (Tuesday).

Sedgmen comes in for the Brummies with Adam Ellis unable to commit to fixtures for the immediate future due to commitments elsewhere.

Co-promoter Nigel Tolley said: “I want to express our thanks to Adam for his contribution to the club over the past few weeks, and for being willing to step in at such short notice – his signing only having been completed on the day of Press and Practice.

“Adam has been a pleasure to deal with and he would be welcome back to the club at any time – and may indeed find himself being booked as a guest!

“In the meantime we move forward with Justin, who went well in Australia over the winter and is hungry to kickstart his UK career and hopefully put himself in the frame for a doubling-up spot.”

The Brummies include Tom Brennan as a guest for the injured Josh Auty at Cowley, whilst Nathan Stoneman continues at reserve for the Cheetahs with Josh Macdonald ruled out.

(SPEEDWAY 4)

PLYMOUTH have signed Ben Morley and Harry McGurk at reserve ahead of their home clash with Berwick tonight (Tuesday).

Morley and McGurk replace the injured Dan Gilkes and Henry Atkins who has left the club, whilst Erik Riss guests for the injured Edward Kennett against the Bandits.

The visitors have no fewer than three riders on the sidelines with Kye Thomson and Dan Thompson guesting for Jye Etheridge and Ty Proctor respectively, whilst rider replacement is in operation for Leon Flint.
*LIVE STREAMING: https://gladiatorslive.com

(FIXTURES)

TUESDAY MAY 17:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Oxford v Birmingham 7.30, Plymouth v Berwick 7pm

WEDNESDAY MAY 18:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Birmingham v Oxford 7.30, Poole v Berwick 7.30

THURSDAY MAY 19:
PREMIERSHIP: King’s Lynn v Belle Vue 7.30
LEAGUE CUP: Sheffield v Wolverhampton 7.30