BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 8, 2022

Photo: Rising Star Danyon Hume

(SPEEDWAY 1)

IPSWICH TOP OF THE STANDINGS

IPSWICH made it back-to-back Premiership Pairs wins on Thursday to go to the top of the overall standings.
The Witches edged out Sheffield at King’s Lynn, with the Tigers finishing as runners-up for the third time in three events.

Ipswich, represented by Jason Doyle, Danny King and Rising Star Danyon Hume, led the qualifying scores as they finished ahead of the hosts on countback, with Stars duo Josh Pickering and Richard Lawson missing out to Sheffield in the semi-final.

Tigers man Jack Holder won the Final but Doyle and King finished ahead of Adam Ellis to secure victory.
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a great night, and it was great to win again especially at King’s Lynn and not at our own track.

“I’m delighted with the progress we have made after a poor first round. To take two wins and get back to the top means we are in prime position in the table.

“We got off to a good start in the meeting, so we were in a good position. Danyon came in and did very well, he wasn’t far off being used again because he was that good.

“However, to win the meeting you need to rely on your big riders, and we used the heats to get Danny set up and his last two races were very good, so the plan worked.”

Sheffield manager Simon Stead said: “We’ve been so close to winning all three of them so then to find ourselves not at the top of the pile is a little bit frustrating.
“But we worked hard and finished strong and while the lads are feeling the frustration and disappointment too, let’s focus on the positives.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

EDINBURGH expect a tough test of their play-off credentials when they host Poole in a vital meeting at Armadale tonight (Friday – UK time).
The Pirates won twice at the venue in the latter stages of 2021, but the Monarchs have shown more solidarity at home in recent weeks.

Edinburgh are in a close battle for play-off places as teams chase a top six finish, whilst the Pirates are eager to rekindle their top two hopes in this weekend’s Northern tour, as they also visit Berwick on Saturday.

Monarchs boss Alex Harkess said: “Poole are still a very solid team in spite of a couple of poor recent results. They are the kind of team you don’t want to allow to get their tails up.

“We need to do what we did against Scunthorpe and get points on the board early, and get race winners so that they don’t believe they are going to walk all over us.”

Poole manager Neil Middleditch said: “We will be looking to try and get a couple of wins under our belt, especially as we are keen to try and secure one of the top two places, which would see us go directly into the semi-final places.

“Our recent dip in form has made achieving that a little bit harder, but whilst I know the lads will be determined to go out and get the best possible results,  we just need to make sure that at the very minimum we reach the play-offs come the end of the season. Then anything can happen.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

REDCAR hand a debut to Kyle Bickley against his former club as the Bears host Berwick in the Championship tonight (Friday).
Bickley, who was released by the Bandits last month, has replaced Adam Roynon for the Ecco Arena outfit and starts at reserve for his new side.

Both teams are at full strength and the effect of recent results is that the Bears start the meeting outside the play-off places, whilst the Bandits are looking to move off the bottom.

(SPEEDWAY 4)

GREAT Britain’s youngsters finished a superb third in the opening round of the FIM European 250cc Pairs Final at Czestochowa on Thursday.

GB, represented by Luke Harrison, William Cairns and Ashton Vale, scored 21 points at the Polish venue to finish just one point behind runners-up Denmark, with Poland taking victory on 28.

The Great Britain riders finished ahead of teams from the Czech Republic, Sweden, Germany and Latvia.
The series moves on to Czech venue Pardubice on Tuesday.
 
(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY JULY 9:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Poole 7.30
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester v Oxford 7pm
TEST MATCH: Great Britain v Rest of the World, Glasgow 3pm

SUNDAY JULY 10:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Kent v Berwick 12pm