BRITISH SPEEDWAY WEEKLY BULLETIN 2024/15

Feature photo: IPSWICH extended their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership advantage with a dramatic Super Heat victory at Oxford on Thursday. The Witches moved 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… Photo credit: STEVE EDMUNDS

HERE’S the latest news and fixtures from around the tracks up and down the country.

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP…

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
The sensational EMIL SAYFUTDINOV delivered an unstoppable display in Ipswich’s win at Oxford last Thursday, being unbeaten from seven rides. Sayfutdinov raced to an 18-point maximum in a 45-45 draw over the regular 15 heats, and he then teamed up with guest Scott Nicholls for victory in the Super Heat.

WITCHES CLEAR AT THE TOP
IPSWICH headed into the break for the FIM Speedway of Nations with an eight-point advantage at the top of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership, courtesy of a Super Heat victory at Oxford on Thursday.
Manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “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.

“Emil was simply sublime, he was so quick, He made a few changes throughout the meeting, and he was so quick, and he was the only guy to win from gate four, I’m pretty sure of that.
“Whatever gate he had he put in one hell of a performance, and he was a joy to watch for everyone at the stadium, you can’t help but love watching him ride like that.”

SPIRES ARE POLES APART
OXFORD boss Peter Schroeck says the presence of World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik in the pits inspired Spires racer Maciej Janowski to an unbeaten performance in Monday’s vital win at Birmingham.
Schroeck said: “It was a treat in the pits today. Bartosz and the whole Polish squad were in the pits, in preparation for the Speedway of Nations in Manchester this week.

“That pumped Maciej right up and Bartosz shared a joke with him, that if Maciej scored a maximum tonight, that he could push Bartosz out of the Speedway of Nations. It was all a great craic.
“The boys delivered – a win in this meeting was a must for Spires, especially as the whole of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership now moves in a mini-break for the Speedway of Nations.”

LIONS BACK TO WINNING WAYS
LEICESTER boss Stewart Dickson felt Thursday’s 53-37 win over Sheffield was an important result for his side following some disappointing recent displays on the road.
Dickson said: “We got a comfortable win in the end; obviously Sheffield were missing Tai Woffinden and Jack Holder and that’s going to hurt any team, two top world class riders, but we can only race what’s put in front of us.
“I thought they did well for what they had to really keep at it and I’m not saying 16 points flattered us but we took it away from them right at the end with two 4-2s and a 5-1.”

STARS SHINE AGAIN
KING’S Lynn raced to their biggest league win in nearly two years with their 57-33 victory over Birmingham last week, with Jan Kvech and Benjamin Basso shining for the Stars.
Manager Rob Lyon said: “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.”

TIME FOR A BREAK
SHEFFIELD manager Simon Stead believes the FIM Speedway of Nations period gives his team a welcome chance to regroup after two away defeats in four days when the Tigers had their top two riders missing.
Stead said: “Over the course of the last two meetings I’ve asked for a lot from the lads and everyone has been putting a shift in.

“So it is difficult and it can take its toll and we may have come up short but it certainly wasn’t for a lack of effort.
“We’ve got a couple of weeks off now for the Speedway of Nations so it’s a chance for us to regroup, give Jack (Holder) some time to come back and hopefully we can be all guns firing again.”

BRUMMIES SEEKING SOLUTIONS
BIRMINGHAM manager Sam Ermolenko admits he’s struggling to put his finger on why things aren’t currently working out for his side.
The Brummies were beaten at home by Oxford on Monday in a meeting curtailed by the weather, and that followed on from a heavy defeat at King’s Lynn.

Ermolenko said: “When we were here two weeks ago that was difficult enough when the boys couldn’t do it; the track seemed to play its part and they weren’t good enough to be able to attack that, and they couldn’t defend it.
“We couldn’t get any race wins to be able to use them if we needed to and then when we went to King’s Lynn, who would’ve thought that Sedgy (Justin Sedgmen) and Piotr (Pawlicki) would’ve been top scorers?
“When the riders come to the track, they seem to be ok until we see that they’re not.”
 
NEWS IN BRIEF
BELLE Vue’s first match back after the FIM Speedway of Nations will be a trip to league leaders Ipswich next Monday (July 15), where the Aces will be confident of taking the aggregate point after a big home win over the Witches.

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP…

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Redcar’s DANNY KING went through the card with a 13+2 paid maximum in the Bears’ vital victory at Edinburgh on Friday. King combined for a total of three 5-1s with captain Charles Wright, who delivered a similarly outstanding performance with 15+1 from six rides.

SLICK SCORPIONS TAKE THE POINTS
SCUNTHORPE were convincing home winners against Glasgow with three 5-1s in the opening five races seeing the Scorpions take control of the meeting.
Manager David Howe said: “I’m very happy with the result. With the weather that was due to come in, we banged through the meeting and that meant the track was a bit slick, but our boys did the job. All the lads scored points for us, but that’s the way our team is built.
“Steve Worrall was a massive miss for Glasgow, but we can only beat what’s put in front of us and we took an emphatic win that puts up in a good position for the aggregate point when we travel up to Glasgow in a couple of weeks.”

TIGERS TOIL AT SCUNTHORPE
GLASGOW went down to a 55-35 defeat at Scunthorpe with the absence through illness of Steve Worrall proving significant – despite double-figure scores from Leon Flint and Chris Harris.
Flint said: “It’s a frustrating place because if you’re not dialled in on the set-up, it can be a long night.
“After my first two rides I had to do something drastic. I just about changed everything I possibly could and got a bit of fresh air and felt pretty good on the bike.
“Obviously we struggled a lot without Stevie. But we’ve got to take the positives.”

MONARCHS MISS OUT
EDINBURGH boss Alex Harkess admitted his frustration after his side were unable to bring home a victory over Redcar.
The Bears snatched the win in Heat 15 as for the second season in succession Danny King and Charles Wright did the damage to the Monarchs in the decider.
Harkess said: “It was very disappointing. We had opened up a bit of a gap and I wanted to keep that gap, but it didn’t happen. It came down to a last heat decider and we had no-one to stand up to their top two who were very dominant.”

BEARS – STILL MORE TO COME!
REDCAR boss Gavin Parr is delighted with his team’s recent improvement – and says they can get even better as they look to put further pressure on the top four.
Parr said: “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!”

LAYING DOWN THE LAW
POOLE star Richard Lawson said his win over Edinburgh star Justin Sedgmen in Heat 15 arose from a determination that the visiting rider would not complete a full maximum at Wimborne Road last Wednesday.
Lawson said: “I finally got him. He was riding so well, fair play to him, he had so much speed and was riding good lines so I said to Tom (Brennan), whatever happens we cannot let him get a maximum.
“No-one comes here and gets maximums. He rode me pretty hard and I hope you guys [the crowd] enjoyed it as much as I did.”

A FULL TEAM EFFORT
OXFORD co-promoter Jamie Courtney has hailed the all-round strength of the current league leaders, which was clearly on show in the recent home victory over Workington.
Courtney said: “While Scotty (Nicholls) and Sam (Masters) did everything you would expect of them, the ease with which we won, points-wise at least, owed everything to the efforts of the engine room and the reserves.
“Cam (Heeps), Jordan (Jenkins) and Luke (Killeen) were outstanding against three very experienced European campaigners, while at reserve Ashton (Boughen) and Jody (Scot) were top-notch.”

NEWS IN BRIEF
PLYMOUTH’S Nico Covatti made a successful return to UK racing with 11 points in the Gladiators’ home win over Edinburgh last Tuesday… WORKINGTON took an early decision to postpone last Saturday’s home clash with Plymouth, and the Comets return to action at Edinburgh on July 19… BERWICK are currently in a break from Cab Direct Championship action with their next fixture coming at Oxford on July 24.

ALSO…
WORKINGTON host the Ben Fund Bonanza on Sunday (3pm) with the meeting having been re-arranged from its initial staging date in March.
GB star and local favourite Dan Bewley is included in the line-up along with Czech charger Jan Kvech, whilst the home club are represented by Craig Cook and Antti Vuolas.
 
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE…

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Middlesbrough reserve BEN RATHBONE played a key role in his side’s home win over Sheffield on Saturday with vital victories in Heats 12 and 14 to add to the one he gained in Heat 2. The Tigers took the win 48-41and also sealed the aggregate point 90-89 thanks to Ben Trigger’s second place in Heat 15.

NEWS IN BRIEF
A BUSY weekend of WSRA NDL action gets underway at Armadale on Friday as EDINBURGH host MIDDLESBOROUGH, with the return fixture taking place on Teesside on Saturday afternoon (3pm)… Then on Sunday Oxford Chargers host Scunthorpe/Sheffield with the home side looking to gain ground on Leicester at the top of the table.
 FIXTURE PICTURE…

 TUESDAY JULY 9:
FIM SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS SEMI-FINAL 1: Belle Vue 7pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 10:
FIM SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS SEMI-FINAL 2: Belle Vue 7pm

FRIDAY JULY 12:
FIM SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS 2: Belle Vue 7pm
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Middlesbrough 7.30

SATURDAY JULY 13:
FIM SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS FINAL: Belle Vue 7pm
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Middlesbrough v Edinburgh 3pm

SUNDAY JULY 14:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Oxford v Scunthorpe/Sheffield 3pm
BEN FUND BONANZA: Workington 3pm

MONDAY JULY 15:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Ipswich (26) v Belle Vue (58) 7.30
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: King’s Lynn (42) v Leicester (47) 7.30
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Birmingham 7.30 (500cc/250cc)

WEDNESDAY JULY 17:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Poole v Plymouth 7.30

THURSDAY JULY 18:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Leicester v Ipswich 7.30, Oxford v Belle Vue 7.30, Sheffield v King’s Lynn 7.30

FRIDAY JULY 19:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (29) v Workington (61) 7.30, Redcar (43) v Poole (47) 7.30, Glasgow (35) v Scunthorpe (55) 7.30

SATURDAY JULY 20:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Plymouth v Oxford 7pm

MONDAY JULY 22:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Belle Vue v Oxford 7.30, Birmingham v Sheffield 7.30

WEDNESDAY JULY 24:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Oxford v Berwick 7.30
CAB DIRECT KO CUP SEMI-FINAL 1st leg: Poole v Scunthorpe 7.30