BRITISH SPEEDWAY MAY 16, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

COMETS CRASH TO EARTH

POOLE raced to an emphatic 61-29 home win over Workington to bring the Comets back down to earth after their away win at Plymouth.
The effect of the large scoreline was that the visitors lost top spot in the Cab Direct Championship to Berwick on race points difference.

The Pirates dominated at Wimborne Road providing 13 of the 15 heat wins, with Tom Brennan scoring 13+1 and reserve Sam Hagon impressed again with 12+1, whilst Richard Lawson added 11+1.
Hagon was unbeaten until his final ride when he missed out to Claus Vissing, whilst Troy Batchelor with 13 did the bulk of the Comets’ scoring.

Said Hagon: “I think my starting tonight was pretty good the whole night. It was pretty awful the other week but was better tonight.
“The track was definitely better tonight too. It held the moisture the whole night, in the last meeting it dried pretty quick.
“To be fair the track was similar to last time but I didn’t really adapt to it then. I didn’t change much either. I sort of made gates and that made it a lot easier, although it was a shame about the last one.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

OXFORD made a flying start to their Cab Direct Championship campaign with a 53-36 home win over Redcar.
Such a scoreline looked unlikely when the Bears led by two points after five races, but the Cheetahs then raced to three successive 5-1s to take control of the meeting.

Ashton Boughen then defeated Charles Wright when the visitors’ captain was taking a tactical substitute ride, as the home side pulled clear for the win.
Sam Masters scored 12+2 and Cameron Heeps added 10+2, whilst Boughen and Luke Killeen impressed at reserve with the latter collecting 10. Wright scored 11+1 for the Bears.

Killeen said: “I’m definitely happy with how it went today. It’s the first time I’ve scored double figures at this level without the help of the bonus points, while it was also the first time I’ve won more than one race on the same night and the first time I’ve won a race outside of the reserves race in Heat 2. It’s all moving in the right direction.

“It was a really good team performance from all of us and it was nice to start our league fixtures with a performance like that.
“We kept on fighting the whole night, because not only did we want to win, but we also wanted a decent lead for when he head to their place to secure the aggregate point.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

THE draw has been made for the semi-finals of the Cab Direct KO Cup.
Oxford will face Redcar in the last four of the competition, in a repeat of Wednesday evening’s league clash between the clubs.
The other semi-final will definitely involve Poole, with their opponents to be either Berwick or holders Scunthorpe.
The Bandits take an 18-point lead into the second leg of their quarter-final tie at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday.
 
(FIXTURES)

THURSDAY MAY 16:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: King’s Lynn (32) v Sheffield (58) OFF
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Ipswich v Birmingham OFF

FRIDAY MAY 17:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh v Plymouth 7.30
CAB DIRECT KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Scunthorpe (36) v Berwick (54) 7.30

SATURDAY MAY 18:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Plymouth 7pm, Workington v Edinburgh 3pm