BRITISH SPEEDWAY NOVEMBER 24, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

LAWSON JOINS LEICESTER

PREMIERSHIP newcomers Leicester have moved to make Richard Lawson their latest signing for the 2023 season.
Lawson, who has a strong record at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena, joins the Lions after spending the last two years with King’s Lynn, and he joins recent recruits Max Fricke and Chris Harris in the line-up.

Co-promoter Stewart Dickson said: “Richard should be a good, solid signing for us. He’s a rider who has really stepped up in the last year or two, and he’s increased his performances at Premiership level.
“I think he showed that at the end of the season when he scored 14 for King’s Lynn at Sheffield in their last match, and I think even our owners were surprised at how powerful he was on that night.

“He’s also very, very good around Leicester as we’ve found to our cost a number of times, and he was very keen to come here.“I’ve worked with him before at Glasgow, so I know what I’m going to get. He’s keen and hungry, and the fact that he wanted to come to Leicester ticks a lot of boxes for me.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BIRMINGHAM have announced Justin Sedgmen will return in 2023 after a successful campaign back at Perry Barr this year.
Sedgmen rejoined the club in May, having previously ridden for the Brummies over a decade ago, and delivered a run of consistent high scores in a tough season for the Second City club.
Team manager Laurence Rogers said: “Getting Sedgy back to Birmingham was one of our priorities.

“He led by example more often than not after coming into the team in May and he scored some big, important points for the Brummies. “He stepped up to the plate superbly and he was a credit to himself and the club throughout his second spell with the Brummies in 2022. “Sedgy is an experienced rider now, particularly in the Championship, and we’re confident he’ll be hitting those double figure scores regularly once again in 2023.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

CONNOR Mountain has joined Scunthorpe to become their third confirmed starter for the 2023 season.
Mountain raced for Leicester this year but Scorpions promoter Rob Godfrey admits he has been on the club’s radar for some time due to his liking for the Lincolnshire circuit.

Godfrey said: “It’s not the first time we’ve tried to sign Connor. He loves racing around our Eddie Wright Raceway, so we tried to sign him a year ago, but he decided to go back to Leicester. “If ever we needed a guest rider, he was the one we contacted. He comes from King’s Lynn, so we’re not a million miles away for him. We will welcome him to the club and I’m sure he is going to have a really strong season.

“His second half of 2022 was really strong, and he was often helping Leicester to heat advantages. Hopefully with the Scunny track being his home track now, there is no turning back and he will develop into a top rider in the Championship.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

MILDENHALL captain Jason Edwards says the club can still take the positives from runners-up finishes in both major NDL competitions this season.

The Fen Tigers staged an impressive run to the play-offs but lost out to Leicester in both league and KO Cup Finals, and suffered a major injury crisis in the closing stages of the campaign.
Edwards said: “I’d say that to get second in the league was a pretty amazing achievement to be honest.  

“Halfway through the season, especially after that home defeat to Leicester left us all feeling quite deflated, I was certainly saying for a spell, ‘well, we’ve just got the KO Cup to go for now,’ but we launched an amazing fightback, had the best away record in the division and got to the play-offs only losing in the Grand Final in the end.

“The season did go well for me and though one can always say things could go better, I am happy to have captained Mildenhall to runner-up finishes in both major competitions and ride also in the Championship [with Redcar] and get a Premiership berth [with King’s Lynn].”