BRITISH SPEEDWAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

PETERBOROUGH’S FUTURE SAFE!

PETERBOROUGH’S future for 2023 has been secured despite proposed redevelopment at the East of England Arena, following successful negotiations with owners Asset Earning Power Group.

The venue is scheduled to close to regular shows next July, but the agreement means the Panthers will be able to see out the full season.
Club owner Keith Chapman said: “AEPG and Ashley (Butterfield – CEO) have worked closely with us from the start, and we were among the first to know that the Panthers would ultimately need a new home circuit as part of this development plan.

“AEPG immediately alerted us to the change in pace of the development earlier this summer, and what this meant for us.
“The Panthers have been included in the negotiations and meetings so far, and I’m delighted that we have secured use of the grandstand and track as promised, allowing us to complete the racing 2023 season without interruption.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

SHEFFIELD moved to within three points of Premiership leaders Ipswich with a 50-40 home win over King’s Lynn.

Jack Holder raced to a paid maximum (14+1) for the Tigers with Tobiasz Musielak adding 9+3, and both riders passed the Stars’ Richie Worrall on the last lap of Heat 15 which prevented the visitors from taking a league point.
Josh Pickering top-scored for Lynn with 13+1 whilst Richard Lawson collected nine.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “The meeting itself was a little bit tighter than we’d have liked and there’s obviously areas where we can improve.

“Credit where it’s due though, King’s Lynn pushed us hard for the majority of the meeting but we regrouped and finished really strong which was good to see.

“Heats 13 and 15, 15 in particular, was one of the best I’ve ever seen here and it was a great way to end the meeting.”
Stars manager Alex Brady said: “It’s disappointing to come away without anything to show for our efforts – but it was a brilliant effort from the boys really.

“They fought hard, they dug in and it just ran away from us a little bit at the end. I felt after Heat 14 with the 5-1 that we had that we could get a league point, but it wasn’t to be unfortunately.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

BELLE Vue secured their second away win of the Premiership season with a last-heat triumph for a 46-44 result at Peterborough.

The Aces were victorious for the second time in 2022 at the East of England Arena as Tom Brennan and Matej Zagar got the better of Panthers guest Danny King in Heat 15 for a 3-3 behind Chris Harris.

Brennan top-scored for the visitors with 11 with Zagar adding 8+2 whilst Hans Andersen (10+1) and Harris (9) were top-scorers for the home side.
Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “We knew it was going to be a tough night, with it being Peterborough’s last fixture of the season and they gave us quite a challenge.

“We perhaps made life a bit harder for ourselves with our top guns, uncharacteristically, not firing, but the rest of the boys really stepped up to compensate.”

Panthers manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a great team performance and it was just unlucky in the last one, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.
“Credit to Belle Vue, they hung in there and got the result they needed, but we’ve shown a lot of fight in the last few weeks and I think we probably deserved to win tonight. The boys put the effort in, and you can’t fault them for that.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

EDINBURGH and Redcar meet once again in the Championship play-off quarter-finals this weekend – starting at Armadale tonight (Friday).

The Monarchs won on aggregate when the sides clashed at the same stage last season, but the Bears were recent winners in the semi-finals of the KO Cup.

Edinburgh name a full-strength team whilst Redcar bring in Aaron Summers to guest for the injured Erik Riss at No.1, and operate rider replacement for Jason Edwards who is out with a shoulder injury.

Monarchs boss Alex Harkess said: “The job on Friday is for everyone to produce their best form, and if they do that I think we will be perfectly OK. I can’t guarantee it will happen!

“We certainly have an incentive because if we are knocked out this weekend, then tonight could be the last Monarchs’ match at Armadale, a stadium which has meant so much to all of us over the years.
“We’ve had so many great nights here and landed a great deal of silverware. We definitely want to keep it going as long as we can!”
 
(SPEEDWAY 5)

THIS Sunday afternoon the British Youth Championship for the 125cc and 125cc support class moves on to Kent, taking place after their NDL fixture with the Belle Vue Colts. This will be Round 6 of a seven-round series.

Another great attendance with 16 riders taking part, which includes two riders making their British Youth Championship debuts – 13-year-old Ellis Newell who hails from Ipswich and the recently just turned 8-year-old Rhys Harrow who is one of the new breed of riders to come out of the Edinburgh Academy and will be making the 900-mile round trip to compete.

The 125cc class is expected to be really competitive with any of the six riders competing being able to make the rostrum; however, the previously undefeated Cooper Rushen will be trying to complete his clean sweep and clinch his second British 125cc Championship, whilst the other five riders will be trying to make it to the top of the rostrum for the first time this season.

– None more so than 10-year-old Oliver Bovingdon, who was just one corner away from top spot at the last round at Belle Vue in August before a bike misfire on the last corner was enough for Rushen to pip him on the line to take the win.

Harry Fletcher is the only rider competing in the support class who has previously won a round, so he will be favourite again to take the top spot, but on a track he is not familiar with a number of the other competitors will be chasing him for the top spot.  

The Young Lions would like to thank the Kent owners for re-arranging this event so quickly after last Sunday’s postponement, and also the continued support of their series sponsors and the BSP Ltd.

The seventh and final round for all the Youth classes is scheduled for Leicester on Saturday October 15, where the trophy presentation for the series winners will also take place.
 
(FIXTURES)

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
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 6: Kent (follows NDL fixture)