BRITISH SPEEDWAY MAY 24, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

WITCHES’ COMEBACK VICTORY

IPSWICH went back to the top of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with an incredible comeback to win at King’s Lynn via a Super Heat.

But the result came at a big potential cost for the Witches, who saw Jason Doyle withdrawn from the meeting after an horrific Heat 4 crash from which he walked away but was taken to hospital with concerns over an arm injury.
The Stars looked set for a win when they led 31-17 Heat 8 but the Witches clawed things back with Emil Sayfutdinov racing to a 17+1 paid maximum, whilst guest Tom Brennan (13) and Adam Ellis (9+1) made vital contributions.

And after Sayfutdinov and Brennan levelled the scores at 45-45 with a 4-2 in Heat 15, Ellis and Sayfutdinov then secured a match-clinching 6-3 in the Super Heat, split by the Stars’ top scorer Nicolai Klindt who picked up 14+1 in the regular meeting.
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I am delighted to beat King’s Lynn but for me I should have been absolutely buzzing coming away from that meeting, but our thoughts were with Jason really.

“We eagerly await news on him, and I am very proud of the boys managing to turn it around and get that win for him.
“Everything else is irrelevant but we are showing great character and what a great side to be involved in.”
Klindt said: “It’s very disappointing. I wouldn’t say we had it in the bag because as everyone knows Ipswich are so strong from one to seven, even without Jason Doyle and we wish him all the very best.

“They are a very strong outfit and they had a very good guest in Tom Brennan coming in, who did very well for Birmingham in our last home meeting.
“We knew we had everything on the line in the last few heats, and I think where we lost it was when (Benjamin) Basso crashed. That was a very important point.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

CHRIS Harris and Rohan Tungate were the Heat15 heroes as Oxford edged out Belle Vue 46-44 in a ROWE Motor Oil Premiership classic at Cowley.
The Spires had fought back from eight points down to take the lead with a 5-1 from Harris and Tungate in Heat 13 – but that was immediately cancelled out by Connor Mountain and Ben Cook for the Aces in the next race.

That meant the visitors led 43-41 but Harris and Tungate had the final say with a great effort to get the better of Dan Bewley in the decider.
Harris top scored with 13+1 and Tungate added 10+2, whilst Belle Vue took the consolation of the aggregate point despite being without skipper Brady Kurtz due to an ankle injury.
Bewley hit back from a heavy Heat 1 crash to score 13+1, whilst Mountain impressed with 11 at reserve.

Harris said: “Belle Vue are a good team, and we had to fight hard tonight and all of our team had to dig deep, and every point proved vital.
“Dan Bewley is a world class rider, so it was great to beat him twice and join Rohan for a couple of 5-1s to clinch the meeting for Spires. I wasn’t far from catching Dan in Heat 4 either.
“The track was underwater this morning, after the heavy rain on Wednesday and well done to Jamie (Courtney) and his track team on producing such a good racetrack.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

SHEFFIELD produced a remarkable performance to beat Leicester 50-40 – despite being without three of their regular riders.
Already missing Josh Pickering (shoulder injury) and Dan Gilkes (concussion), the Tigers also lost No.1 Jack Holder in the build-up to the fixture following the birth of his first child.

But that didn’t thwart the home side who delivered a solid six-man display to add three league points to their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership tally.
Chris Holder led the way with 14 points and Tai Woffinden added 11 with skipper Kyle Howarth back to form on 9+1, whilst Ryan Douglas (10+1) and Richard Lawson (9+1) led the way for the Lions.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I am really proud because there’s no doubt that confidence was knocked a little bit after the disappointment of the Ipswich result.
“But to turn around and have a response like that with not our usual 1-7 was a great response.
“I’m happy with the lads; everybody did their job and we got points from every area.

It was a tough meeting for the middle order against such a well-balanced team so the fact that we saw Kyle somewhere back to near his best was great to see.”
Lawson said: “We were just off the mark and not firing at all really which was a bit of a shame.
“I knew they had Jack missing, with which the way he’s been going I thought that would’ve helped us.
“We struggled getting off the starts with consistency and that was making life hard for ourselves when they’re that quick.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

JOSH Pickering has given Edinburgh and Sheffield a boost with the news that he could be back in action in the near future.
Pickering crashed out of the Monarchs’ Cab Direct Championship home defeat to Plymouth last week, and has missed fixtures for his clubs this week.
But he has been encouraged by the results of specialist consultation in Poland.

Pickerign said: “Not as bad as I first thought by the looks of things. Still have to take things easy for a few days but hopefully not out too long.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

GLASGOW boss Cami Brown has called for a new energy from his side as they prepare for their Cab Direct Championship clash with Redcar tonight (Friday).
The Tigers are defending champions but have had an indifferent start to 2024, being further hampered by the loss of Lee Complin to suspension.
Jack Smith has now been declared in the team full-time after good scores at home as a guest, whilst the Bears bring in Tate Zischke and Danyon Hume to replace injured duo Danny King and Jonas Knudsen.

Brown said: “It’s fair to say this season has been hard. We’ve lost Lee Complin through a ban and results haven’t been what we would have hoped.
“But we certainly won’t lie down and accept second best at Glasgow. My job is to get results and that’s what I’ll always aim to do. “I want a new energy from the side against Redcar. We need to find an extra level of form to really kick on. I’ve told the boys that.

“Redcar always ride Ashfield very well. They’ve had a tough time with injuries as well. But they have good guests and it will be a tricky meeting for us.”
Bears star Jason Edwards said: “Glasgow is always a tough place to go but we went there last season in the cup and came out with the win, and with having a track specialist like Connor (Bailey), I think we will have a good meeting.”

(SPEEDWAY 6)

EDINBURGH bid to get their Cab Direct Championship campaign off the ground when they face Scunthorpe at Armadale tonight (Friday).
The Monarchs experienced a tough opening weekend with defeats to Plymouth and Workington, the first of those also seeing No.1 Josh Pickering pick up an injury.
Former Edinburgh rider Sam Masters steps in to guest whilst Drew Kemp replaces Paco Castagna who is away at a Grand Prix qualifier. The Scorpions are at full strength as they target an away win.

Edinburgh reserve Max James said: “We have shown we can do it already this season although it is going to be tough.
“But it is nights like this that show what a team is made of so we will go into the meeting in high spirits, and I think we will get back on track.”

Scorpions promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We used to have a pretty poor record at Edinburgh, but we won there twice last season. A lot of our lads go well around the tight confines of Armadale and we will approach the meeting with a positive attitude.“Edinburgh had a disappointing home result against Plymouth last Friday, and I’m expecting to see a reaction from the Monarchs, so we need to guard against that and make sure we’re on the ball.”

(SPEEDWAY 7)

POOLE and Plymouth meet at Wimborne Road tonight (Friday) in the first of two crucial fixtures to determine BSN Series qualification.
The winners of the aggregate point will top the Southern section with the return match to come at the Coliseum on Saturday,
Both teams name full-strength line-ups for the clash in Dorset with the Gladiators able to call upon the services of winter signing Nico Covatti for the first time after his injury absence.

Poole promoter Dan Ford said: “Plymouth are certainly not going to be any pushover. They showed their mettle at Edinburgh on Friday night when they picked up a Championship away win and ran Berwick close on Saturday.
“Add in the fact that they have riders that can certainly get around our place and arguably have a strong home advantage on their small circuit, I think it is very clear that we are going to be facing a tough thirty heats of racing.
“There are two important meetings coming up but we believe that we can keep our interest in the competition as we seek to successfully defend the title we won last year.”
 
(FIXTURES)
 
FRIDAY MAY 24:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh v Scunthorpe 7.30, Glasgow v Redcar 7.30
BSN SERIES: Poole v Plymouth 7.30

SATURDAY MAY 25:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Workington v Oxford 3pm
BSN SERIES: Plymouth v Poole 7pm

MONDAY MAY 27:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Belle Vue v Sheffield 12pm, Birmingham (41) v Ipswich (49) 7.30, Leicester v Oxford 7.30