BRITISH SPEEDWAY JUNE 5, 2022

Date: Sunday June 5, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

LEICESTER are five points clear at the top of the Championship after a 49-41 win at Berwick on Saturday.
It was the Lions’ third maximum haul in their last three away matches, whilst the Bandits’ play-off hopes were hit by a third successive home defeat.
The home side could have rescued a draw with a 5-1 in Heat 15 but in fact it was the Lions who took the 5-1, and the extra league point, after Chris Harris was disqualified for a clash with Nick Morris.

Skipper Kyle Howarth scored 13+1 for Leicester with guest Jason Edwards notching 11+2 and Morris scored 11+1, whilst Leon Flint (13) and Harris (12+1) dominated the home side’s scoring.

Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “Plaudits have to go to our guest, Jason Edwards, but I think the six riders as a whole did very well.
“It was a good team performance, and I have to say getting four league points at Berwick was beyond my expectations.

“You have to remember in Richie’s (Worrall) first ride he was winning it out of the park until the last bend when his primary chain snapped, and that was a four-point swing. To still collect the four league points after that mishap was very good.”

Berwick manager Gary Flint said: “It’s hard not to be frustrated by another performance when we just didn’t have that extra bit of magic to see us home.
“I cannot agree with the referee’s decision to exclude Bomber in Heat 15, he was in front, and it wasn’t really up to him to ensure that Nick Morris had room to come through.

“Even so, we left ourselves too much to do from the starting gate again, and against a team with three strong heat leaders that was always going to be a huge ask.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

EDINBURGH are through to the KO Cup semi-finals after a dramatic last-heat triumph over local rivals Glasgow.

The Tigers won 52-38 at Ashfield but it wasn’t quite enough to overturn the 16-point deficit they had faced from the home leg.

Momentum seemed to be with the home side as they cut the aggregate gap to two points with two races remaining, after No.1 Craig Cook had suffered mechanical trouble in his first three rides.

But the Monarchs shared Heat 14 behind Benjamin Basso, and although Cook won Heat 15, the visitors’ guests Richard Lawson (10) and Justin Sedgmen defeated the previously unbeaten Tom Brennan (10+2), the latter taking third place on the last lap. Broc Nicol (9+3) scored a four-ride maximum for the Tigers.

Edinburgh manager Alex Harkess said: “The aim was to progress, and we did it! I don’t like a Heat 15 like that. With four races to go we needed eight points, and I would have liked to have gotten seven of them before Heat 15, but we didn’t.

“We lost a few 5-1’s including in Heat 13, and that made it more difficult for the riders to come forward knowing they needed to do something in Heat 15.
“But Richard Lawson did what was required, and Sedgy did something I wouldn’t have put any money on at all, and tonight he is just a hero.”

Tigers boss Cami Brown said: “I’m not going to make any excuses. I thought the team really tried from beginning to end, but we had no luck whatsoever.
“Craig had three engine failures in his first three heats – and you saw on his second bike he wins his last two heats. But we didn’t have the leeway.

“Broc got his first maximum for Glasgow – he was wonderful. Danyon Hume had two brilliant wins. He had an unlucky loss in his third race, and I couldn’t take him out of his fourth ride, he deserved his chance.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

BERWICK kept up their unbeaten home NDL record with a hard-fought 49-41 win over second-placed Leicester at Shielfield Park.

Kyle Bickley scored 14 points for the Bullets, losing out to the visitors’ No.1 Dan Thompson in Heat 1, before turning the tables in the latter stages.

Thompson scored 12+1 for the Lion Cubs with brother Joe on 11+1, but it was Bickley’s Heat 15 win which ensured the away side left with no league points
Berwick coach Kevin Little said: “That was as tough a match as we have had all season, and Leicester asked a lot of questions of the Bullets.

“As has been the case all year everyone stuck to their task and the reward is another good win.
“I think we saw two sides likely to feature very strongly in the end of season play-offs.”

Cubs boss Dave Howard said: “Overall it was a great effort from all the guys, and we really should have come away from the meeting with a point at least.

“If it hadn’t been for Connor’s (Coles) chain breaking when he was in the lead, and Vinnie’s (Foord) silencer falling off, which cost him a point as he got excluded, we would have been closer to the win rather than just missing out on a point.”
 
(FIXTURES)

SUNDAY JUNE 5:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Leicester v Berwick OFF
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester v Berwick (follows Champ fixture) OFF

MONDAY JUNE 6:
PREMIERSHIP: Belle Vue v Ipswich 7.30, Wolverhampton v Peterborough 7.30

TUESDAY JUNE 7:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Plymouth v Birmingham 7pm

WEDNESDAY JUNE 8:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Birmingham v Edinburgh 7.30, Oxford v Newcastle 7.30, Poole v Leicester 7.30