BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 5, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

IPSWICH CLEAR LEADERS IN PREMIERSHIP RACE

IPSWICH extended their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership advantage with a dramatic Super Heat victory at Oxford.
The Witches are eight points clear at the top after the outstanding Emil Sayfutdinov and guest Scott Nicholls got the better of Maciej Janowski and Chris Harris in the decider after a 45-45 draw across the regular 15 races.
Three successive 5-1s in Heats 11-13 put the visitors in contention but they saw Nicholls disqualified in a controversial Heat 15 after a clash with Tungate, before Sayfutdinov completed a brilliant 18-point maximum in the re-run to set up the Super Heat, whilst Erik Riss top-scored for the Spires with 10+2.

The home side did take a league point from the meeting for the ‘draw’ whilst the Witches collected two league points and the aggregate point.
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I am delighted to take three points out of the meeting, we really battled hard for it.
“I felt we deserved it in the end after being so far up in the original staging and then Heat 14 when Keynan (Rew) crashed, and Adam (Ellis) was leading and then they got a 5-1 in the re-run.  Then there was Heat 15 where no one felt Scott should have been excluded.
“After that, to still come through it, I am delighted with the boys, they fought so hard and thoroughly deserve the three points. As a team they deserve to be top of the table for what they have shown the last few months.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

LEICESTER gained ground in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership play-off race with a 53-37 home win over Sheffield.
Captain Max Fricke scored a paid maximum for the Lions with 14+1 from five rides as they recovered from some early mechanical trouble to pull clear in the second half of the meeting.
Fricke was backed up by Sam Masters with 10+1 whilst the injury-hit Tigers, without their top two of Jack Holder and Tai Woffinden, suffered their second away defeat of the week, with Chris Holder top-scoring on 13+1.

Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “We got the win, and we had to win tonight.
“We kind of threw a couple of points away at the start of the meeting but I thought we did well to rally around.
“I came into the pits and had a wee look around after Heat 4 and there was no balling and shouting, it was a case of the mechanics were working, everyone was helping each other trying to sort the problems that we had and we got into our stride.”

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I think the result feels worse because we did so well at Oxford and I’d hoped that we could continue that momentum.
“But we just ran out of steam covering two of the best riders in the league with R/R and a guest is, obviously, very difficult.
“We came up short, Leicester were riding really well and we didn’t perform as well as what I would’ve hoped for.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

KING’S Lynn continue to gain momentum after racing to an emphatic 57-33 win over Birmingham at the Adrian Flux Arena.
The Stars are seven points behind fourth placed Oxford in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership but they have won their last three league matches and still have four in hand on the Spires.
Recent signing Jan Kvech again showed what he has brought to the Norfolk side with 14 points from five rides after being disqualified from Heat 1, whilst Benjamin Basso (13+2) was unbeaten until Heat 15. Guest Ben Cook contributed 12.

The Brummies’ top scorer Piotr Pawlicki (10) came from the back to win that race, but that was one of only two heat successes for the visitors.
Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “It was a great performance. We covered for the No.1 position really well, and we were dominant all the way through, so I’m very pleased with that.

“Benjamin was superb for us tonight, and Jan is a bright, shining light in the whole situation we’re faced with.
“For a rider who’s 22 years old he looks like he’s been riding here for years. He’s taken to it very well, and he is very calm and mature on the bike. We just need to find two more like him!”
Birmingham CEO Nigel Tolley said: “I think we were badly missing Freddie (Lindgren), and R/R obviously doesn’t suit us.
“Halfway through I did feel like going onto the car park, curling up into a little ball and vanishing, we just didn’t look like winning anything all the way through.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

TATE Zischke has confirmed the extent of the injuries he suffered in his crash at Belle Vue on Monday.
Zischke remains in hospital having fractured seven vertebrae and five ribs, along with a posterior injury which has already undergone surgery.

But the Australian youngster, who also races for Workington and had just joined the Aces in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership, has stressed no blame for the accident should be apportioned.
He said: “It’s going to be a long, bumpy road to recovery. I will spend the coming weeks in hospital fighting to get better each day. “It has been a rough few days so far, but we will keep fighting.
“I want to let everyone know this crash was 100 per cent a racing incident, and nobody is at fault.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

SCUNTHORPE welcome back Michael Palm Toft for tonight’s (Friday) big top-five clash with Glasgow at the Eddie Wright Raceway.
The Scorpions are unbeaten at home in the Cab Direct Championship but they did lose an aggregate point at the hands of Edinburgh last week.

Palm Toft returns after a month on the sidelines and comes back in at No.1, with the defending champions also at full strength and in good form after three straight wins.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “The return of Michael from injury is great news, as we start the second half of our league season.

“Eight matches down, eight to go, and if we can repeat our first half record of five wins from eight in the second half, that should be enough to take us into the play-offs.
“My targets are set higher than just making the play-offs – I want a top two finish. Glasgow are one of the sides close behind us so we need to ensure there are no slip-ups and hopefully we can also build up a decent lead to stand us in good stead for the aggregate point when we travel to Scotland for the return fixture in two weeks’ time.”

(SPEEDWAY 6)

EDINBURGH bid to bounce back from a tough week on the road when they host Redcar at Armadale tonight (Friday).
The Monarchs have suffered recent defeats at Scunthorpe – where they did take the aggregate point – Plymouth and Poole, but their recent home form has been good.
Meanwhile the Bears have improved after a slow start to the season, and they travel with an eight-point advantage from the reverse fixture, with away wins needed to challenge the top four.

Monarchs boss Alex Harkess said: “Having beaten Scunthorpe and Oxford at Armadale, who were the top two at the time, we can deal with Redcar who are not that far ahead of us.
“I felt we should have done better in our away match at Redcar, and was disappointed we didn’t win. I would like to think we will get the three points available to us on Friday.”
Bears manager Gavin Parr said: “We are aiming to go there and win, just like we did last season!

“I know the Monarchs are strong at home but we have proved over the last few weeks that we are a match for anyone, so we are going for the points that we will need to qualify for the play-offs.
“I’m content with our recent results but I do think we can still improve further. I still don’t think we have had a match this season when all of our 1-7 have fired at the same time, and when that does happen we could give someone a good beating.”
 
(FIXTURES)

FRIDAY JULY 5:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (41) v Redcar (49) 7.30, Scunthorpe v Glasgow 7.30

SATURDAY JULY 6:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Workington (47) v Plymouth (43) 3pm
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Middlesbrough (42) v Scunthorpe/Sheffield (48) 1pm

MONDAY JULY 8:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Birmingham v Oxford 7.30