BRITISH SPEEDWAY SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

POOLE’S DECISIVE VICTORY

POOLE took full control of their Championship play-off quarter-final with an empathic 60-30 win over Plymouth at Wimborne Road.

The Pirates’ three heat-leaders all recorded maximums in the first leg with Steve Worrall scoring a full 15, Richard Lawson adding 14+1 and skipper Danny King totalling 10+2 as the home side provided all but one of the race winners.

Hans Andersen top-scored for the Gladiators with 10 and guest Aaron Summers picked up 8+1, with the second leg to take place at the Coliseum next Tuesday.

Poole co-boss Gary Havelock said: “It is not being big-headed or anything, but we should be good enough to defend this lead. If we don’t then we won’t have deserved to go any further.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

PETERBOROUGH will make an announcement over the future of the club at tonight’s (Thursday) final home meeting of the season against Belle Vue.

News was released in June regarding the acceleration of proposed redevelopment plans at the East of England Showground site, with supporters anxious to know what this means for the Panthers
On-track, the home side bring in Danny King to guest for Michael Palm Toft, whilst Hans Andersen returns from injury and rider replacement is in operation for UIrich Ostergaard as the reigning champions complete their league campaign.

The Aces have qualified for the play-offs and can still finish top of the table with maximum points tonight and at Sheffield next Thursday.

Panthers boss Rob Lyon said: “It’s three meetings on the trot, but specifically the two away meetings, where the fight in the riders, and our own riders especially, has been incredible.

“It sums up the way things have gone this year, it’s been very difficult, but all we can do is keep going and we’ll be doing our very best to finish off with a win.”

Aces star Charles Wright said: “Peterborough is a track that we do enjoy racing. We’ve had some big results here before now, and earlier this year we pulled off one of our biggest away wins of the season so that is encouraging.

“But just because we’ve already made the top four doesn’t mean we’re taking this meeting any less seriously. There’s still points on offer and still time for us to go top of the table.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

SHEFFIELD aim to keep their quest for Premiership top spot going when they host King’s Lynn tonight (Thursday).

Two more home wins against the Stars and Belle Vue (September 22) would not only see the Tigers finish the regular campaign unbeaten at Owlerton, but they would pip Ipswich to the league leaders’ tag and take on the fourth-placed side in the play-off semi-finals.

Sheffield name a full-strength side with skipper Kyle Howarth back after his crash at Belle Vue last week, whilst the visitors are again forced into changes at reserve with Leon Flint and Jack Smith standing in.

Tigers star Lewis Kerr, who faces his former club, said: “The vibe in the pits is really good. It’s just a nice feeling how much everyone wants to win.

“I’m just loving being at Sheffield; all the lads are great, Steady (Simon Stead – team manager) has been really good for me as well, telling me what I should be doing and he’s always really positive.”

The Stars are out of the play-off race but still have an incentive to perform as they still have the League Cup Final to come – also against Sheffield, who won at the Adrian Flux Arena last week.

Manager Alex Brady said: “It was disappointing, but now it is all about performing to the best of our ability to gain some momentum to go into the League Cup Final.
“We want to finish as positively as possible and give the fans plenty to shout about, hopefully beginning with a good performance up at Sheffield.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

THE draw has been made for the National Development League Riders’ Championship at Scunthorpe on September 25.

All clubs in the NDL are represented with the event being staged for the first time since 2019 when Anders Rowe was victorious at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

Rowe was representing Kent on that occasion, and the Royals have two past winners in the line-up in Ben Morley (2015 and 2018) and Max Clegg (2016). Meanwhile Plymouth’s Adam Roynon took the title way back in 2006.

DRAW: 1 Joe Thompson (Leicester), 2 Ben Trigger (Plymouth), 3 Adam Roynon (Plymouth), 4 Nathan Stoneman (Oxford), 5 Jack Smith (Belle Vue), 6 Ben Morley (Kent), 7 Dan Thompson (Leicester), 8 Harry McGurk (Belle Vue), 9 Greg Blair (Berwick), 10 Tom Woolley (Armadale), 11 Jordan Jenkins (Oxford), 12 Lee Complin (Armadale), 13 Max Clegg (Kent), 14 Jack Kingston (Mildenhall), 15 Kyle Bickley (Berwick), 16 Jason Edwards (Mildenhall).

(SPEEDWAY 5)

BIRMINGHAM beat a Cradley Heath Select side 55-35 to win the Alan Grahame Memorial Trophy in their final fixture of the season.

Aussie duo Justin Sedgmen and Josh Pickering both picked up two race wins on their way to 11 points apiece while Simon Lambert also won a couple of rides as he totalled eight.

Cradley’s No.1 Ryan Douglas scored 19 of their 35 points in a stunning display with Tom Brennan adding ten.

Brummies co-owner Nigel Tolley said: “It was a really nice way to end the season here at Birmingham.
“There was a lovely moment after parade where the Grahame family took to various machines on the track with a wide variety of motorsport interest continuing through the generations.

“And then once the racing got going I thought we saw some excellent heats and it was a good win for the Brummies in front of one of our biggest crowds of the season.”

(FIXTURES)

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15:
PREMIERSHIP: Peterborough v Belle Vue 7.30, Sheffield v King’s Lynn 7.30

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16:
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF Q/F 1st leg: Edinburgh v Redcar 7.30

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17:
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF Q/F 2nd leg: Redcar v Edinburgh 5pm
CHAMPIONSHIP KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Leicester v Poole 7pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18:
SPORTS INSURE BRITISH FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Belle Vue 3pm
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Kent v Belle Vue 12pm