BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 2, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

BELLE VUE’S BIG WIN

BELLE Vue raced to a massive 58-26 win over ROWE Motor Oil Premiership leaders Ipswich with Jaimon Lidsey scoring a 12-point maximum.

But the night was marred by a serious crash in Heat 14 involving the Aces’ new signing Tate Zischke, with the meeting abandoned as the young Australian received attention before being taken to hospital for further tests.
Skipper Brady Kurtz returned with 10 points, a total matched by Dan Bewley as the hosts dominated, whilst the Witches again found the National Speedway Stadium a bogey venue. Emil Sayfutdinov reached a 10-point score for the visitors.

Kurtz said: “It was a super good performance from the whole team tonight and this is just what we needed to get going, it’s just a massive shame it ended how it did.
 “I think we suspected that Ipswich would struggle, especially being without Jason Doyle, but I think even we were surprised just how many points we put on them so early on.

“But every team has to deal with their difficulties and we had to capitalise on those to work to our advantage, and for me it was great to be back in action.”
Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a really bad night, and we did not perform. As a unit I suppose it is good that we all have it on the same night and get it out of the way and we will regroup for Thursday.

“The boys certainly didn’t throw the towel in, and we fought very hard and got in good positions, but we have said it before and it was the case again today, we were not quick enough.
“There is a lot of head scratching going on as to why and if we end up coming here for the play-offs it is something that we certainly need to massively improve.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

OXFORD edged out Sheffield 48-42 in a terrific Cowley contest to consolidate fourth place in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
The depleted Tigers, without their injured top two of Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden, took the meeting down to a last-heat decider thanks to a 5-1 in Heat 14.
But with the gap at just two points it was the Spires who won it with a 5-1 of their own as Rohan Tungate completed a 14-point haul whilst captain Chris Harris came through from the back after the visitors had initially threatened to force a Super Heat.
Harris scored 11+2 for the hosts whilst Chris Holder racked up 14 for the Tigers and also broke the track record, with Josh Pickering on 10+1.
Tungate said: “It was tight again and it’s not something we want to be doing every week, but we got the job done and got the win.
“We knew what we had to do in the final race. It wasn’t easy, because Chris and Picko are good riders and pretty hard to catch once they’re clear. We knew we had to get past them as soon as we could before they got up to full speed. You’ve got to do the job done early in the race.
“The fans were really good again tonight and their support always helps us. We’ve had a few tough matches away from home, but we’re now back on track.”
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I don’t think anybody really expected us to do much without Jack and Tai.
“So the fact that we hit 40+ points considering the circumstances with the team was a brilliant effort. I was so proud of the rest of the lads.
“They certainly didn’t feel sorry for themselves or anything like that, in fact they probably bonded together even closer.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

PLYMOUTH are set to welcome back Nico Covatti at No.1 for their Cab Direct Championship clash with Edinburgh at the Coliseum tonight (Tuesday).
Covatti has made only one appearance so far this season for the Gladiators following injuries sustained in Argentina shortly before the UK campaign.
The home side will look to complete the double over the Monarchs after a 48-42 win at Armadale, with the visitors going into their Southern tour with a full-strength line-up.
 
(FIXTURES)

TUESDAY JULY 2:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Plymouth (48) v Edinburgh (42) 7pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 3:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Poole v Edinburgh 7.30

THURSDAY JULY 4:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: King’s Lynn v Birmingham 7.30, Leicester v Sheffield 7.30, Oxford (37) v Ipswich (53) 7.30