BRITISH SPEEDWAY WEEKLY BULLETIN 2024/23

Feature photo by: Dave Payne…POOLE have booked their place in the BSN Series Final after drawing 45-45 at Workington on Saturday.
The Pirates already held a 28-point advantage heading into the second leg and so were always strong favourites to continue their defence of the silverware.

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

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP…

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Six of the best from Sheffield’s JACK HOLDER with a full 18-point maximum in the Tigers’ Premiership KO Cup Final first leg win over Ipswich on Monday. Holder had also racked up 18+1 from seven rides at King’s Lynn last week, whilst Josh Pickering notched a six-ride paid maximum against the Witches.

TIGERS TAKE CHARGE
SHEFFIELD will take a 55-35 lead to Ipswich on Thursday in the second leg of the Premiership KO Cup Final – and boss Simon Stead was delighted with their efforts at Owlerton in the opener, with Jack Holder and Josh Pickering both scoring six-ride maximums.

Stead said: “It was another brilliant home display, wasn’t it? Jack and Picko were both untouchable and they have both taken things to another level over the past month or so.
“They, along with Chris, again ensured we covered for the injury absence of Tai (Woffinden) really, really well and those three in particular have stepped up to the plate superbly overall when we’ve been running R/R.”

WITCHES BOSS PHILOSOPHICAL
IPSWICH manager Ritchie Hawkins admitted the first leg of the Premiership KO Cup Final had not gone according to plan – with the Witches short-handed in terms of race wins with their top two riders out injured.
Hawkins said: “The guests are coming in and doing a decent job, but you are never going to get a like for like replacement.
“I was really pleased with the commitment from Jaimon (Lidsey) and Tom (Brennan), and they gave everything for the team.

You are not going to get straight replacements for Jason (Doyle) and Emil (Sayfutdinov), we know that.
“It was great to see so many of our fans up there, the support was amazing as always. It is even more appreciated now when we know things are tough and it was nice to chat to a few of them after the meeting who are very loyal and understanding of the situation we are in at the moment.”

ACES’ FIRST JOB DONE
BELLE Vue boss Mark Lemon has stressed his side have achieved target no.1 for this season in reaching the play-offs – but they will need to improve upon their recent Bank Holiday defeat at Sheffield when they meet the Tigers in the semi-finals.
Lemon said: “First and foremost, we have accomplished what we set out to do and that is to make the play-offs this year.
“It was disappointing, after such a fantastic fight back in the home leg, to lose as we did at Sheffield, but I think we have plenty to work with come the semi-finals.”

NO PANIC FROM LIONS
LEICESTER’S sensational unbeaten run of nine wins and a draw finally came to an end at King’s Lynn on Monday – but manager Stewart Dickson expects then to quickly get back on track for the play-offs.
Dickson said: “I went around the boys and patted them on the back because what a run they’ve been on, and one defeat doesn’t make us a  bad team.
“We just need to bounce back on Thursday and get a win in front of our home fans to get the confidence levels flowing again.”

STARS END ON A HIGH
KING’S Lynn completed their home season on a run of four wins out of four – five in total including an away victory at Birmingham – giving something for the Norfolk club to smile about after a tough campaign.
After defeating Leicester on Monday, manager Rob Lyon said: “When you consider that we’ve had to patch the team up every week, it’s testimony to the Lynn riders and also all the guests that we’ve used that we’ve managed to pull off these wins.
“Fair play to our boys, they’ve given it 100 per cent all the way through, and they’ve deserved these results.”

BRUMMIES SAVE BEST FOR LAST
BIRMINGHAM finally took their first away win of the season in their very last league match of 2024 – snatching a 46-44 victory at Ipswich courtesy of a last-heat 5-1 from the unbeaten Fredrik Lindgren and GB star Tom Brennan.
Brummies CEO Nigel Tolley said: “I think in Heat 15, the nerves were there more than they have been all the way through the season.
“I just wish we were only three-quarters of the way through the season because of the way we’ve got it together.
“It does make you wonder, doesn’t it? But we’ve ended the league year on a real high and it certainly changes the feeling as we head towards the off-season.”

SPIRES JOURNEY IS BEGINNING
Oxford ended their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaign with a home defeat to in-form Leicester last Thursday – but boss Peter Schroeck says there’s plenty to build on for the future.
Schroeck said: “The boys have given it their all this season, and I think their efforts in our first season back in the top league is something we can be proud of.
“There’s been so much entertainment provided by Spires, with so many close home meetings, and tonight we had another healthy crowd.
“I feel we’ve been in place the building blocks for future seasons, and this is the start of an exciting journey.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP…

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
Glasgow’s LEON FLINT came up with a big performance for the Tigers at Ashfield last Saturday, scoring 12 points from five rides and partnering skipper Chris Harris to a match-clinching 5-1 over Redcar in Heat 15.

PIRATES POWER AT THE TOP
POOLE promoter Dan Ford has described his heat-leader trio of Richard Lawson, Tom Brennan and Ben Cook as ‘sublime’ as they look to secure major trophies over the coming weeks, with the Pirates still involved on three fronts.
Ford said: “Richard and Tom have been great all year, as too has Ben. Our heat leader trio having been riding at such a high level it’s been a bit scary.
“Obviously, we had one off-night between them this year which was our slip-up against Oxford but for the most part they have been absolutely sublime.”

FIGHT TO THE FINISH
GLASGOW manager Cami Brown says his side will continue to give it everything over their last two fixtures this weekend in a bid to make it into the top four and continue their title defence.
Brown said: “It’s been a really tough campaign for everyone at the club. Luck hasn’t been on our side whatsoever. But we are still in there battling. That’s all we can ask of all the team.
“We now have two more massive meetings against Edinburgh and Oxford. It’s still a big ask, but we’ll give it 1,000 per cent.”

SCORPIONS WILL IMPROVE
SCUNTHORPE reserve Luke Harrison says Friday’s home win over Oxford was a confidence booster ahead of the play-off clash between the clubs – where the Scorpions will need to improve on their previous visit to Cowley.
Harrison said: “It was important to us to win tonight, because we do have Oxford again in the play-offs, and we needed to send out a message that we won’t make it an easy run for them.
“We didn’t have the best meeting at Oxford, but every time we’ve gone back somewhere a second time, we’ve done much better, and we’ll make sure we’ll do that at Oxford. We’ll aim go back there and either win or keep It really close.”

CHEETAHS BATTLE TO WIN
Oxford will go into the play-offs in second position in the league table after collecting an aggregate point from their trip to Scunthorpe last Friday and then a last-heat victory at Plymouth 24 hours later.
No.1 Sam Masters said: “We’ve got a bunch of guys who are battlers with a never-give-up attitude. I think that’s because we’ve got so many young guys in the side, alongside Scotty (Nicholls), Cam (Heeps) and me.
“We’re now entering the toughest part of the season when the silverware is up for grabs. Everyone has battled all year and is feeling pretty tired, but we’ve got to stay focused. We’ve got the team to do it and we’re enjoying it – it’s fun riding for this team.”

BIG PUSH FOR COMETS
WORKINGTON boss James Denham says the 45-45 BSN Series semi-final draw against Poole should give his side confidence for a crucial clash with Plymouth this week as the Comets look to secure a top four finish.
Denham said: “Troy (Batchelor) was fantastic and Antti (Vuolas) was brilliant, the moves he pulled off to come from the back – show the confidence he has at the moment. He is getting better and better home and away, but this was of course a massive step for him this year.”
“Today was just a practice for next week [against Plymouth], there were loads of positives today and we just need to do the job next week.”

WORK TO DO FOR MONARCHS
EDINBURGH will need to avoid defeat against rivals Glasgow at Armadale on Friday if they are to stave off a bottom place finish in the Cab Direct Championship this season, with the Monarchs having suffered a home defeat to Poole last week.
Manager Alex Harkess said: “We were completely out of it after the first third of the match but we did well to get back to just two down at Heat 13.
“With the top riders in that race I felt anything could happen. But the Pirates’ pair came out on top, we ran them close but not close enough.”

NEWS IN BRIEF
REDCAR’S hopes of full team silverware now rest with the Cab Direct KO Cup after their play-off chances were ended by defeat at Glasgow last Friday… The Bears travel to Oxford in the first leg of their semi-final on Wednesday before hosting the Cheetahs 48 hours later… PLYMOUTH wrapped up their home campaign with a 43-47 defeat to Oxford in a close contest which saw them concede a 5-1 in Heat 15.

WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE…

PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

15-year-old WILLIAM CAIRNS enjoyed another winning weekend as he roared to an 18-point maximum for Belle Vue in their win over Edinburgh as well as taking victory in two more rounds of the British Youth Championship at Leicester and Birmingham.

CAIRNS PRAISES TEAM EFFORT
BELLE Vue’s William Cairns spread the praise amongst his team-mates after completing another sensational maximum in the Colts’ home win over Edinburgh.
Cairns said: “I think because both teams had injuries and rider replacement, it made things a bit more even but still competitive and this was a great win for the boys.
 “Everybody stepped things up. We won’t be champions this year but we still have meetings where we can potentially secure a spot in the top three and we’d love to do that to finish off.

CHARGERS END ON POSITIVE NOTE
OXFORD won 50-39 at Scunthorpe last Friday to complete a solid campaign where the club have continued to blood young riders and have picked up some strong results along the way.
Chargers second-string Jacob Clouting said: “We’ve had fun with the Chargers this year and it’s a good group of lads and we get on well.
“We’ve had a few injuries and we weren’t able to bring home the title again this season, but there’s a good chance that we’ll finish second and we’ve done as well as we can.”

ACADEMY TAKE ENCOURAGEMENT
EDINBURGH boss Scott Wilson felt a 56-34 defeat at Belle Vue last Friday didn’t reflect his side’s efforts, and he highlighted the improvement of one of his reserves.
Wilson said: “It sounds strange to say after a defeat but I’m very proud of the lads. The odds were stacked against us and we could’ve capitulated after the slow start but to a man they rolled their sleeves up and fought. I’m proud of them for that.
“A special mention to Mark Parker, who was excellent and thoroughly deserved his points. It was his best performance of the season, he showed us what he’s all about.”

HARRISON ENJOYING THE NDL
SCUNTHORPE heat-leader Luke Harrison says his NDL meetings for the club provide vital track time as he looks to gain further consistency at higher levels.
He said: “Riding at No 5 for the Stags, I’m coming up against fellow Championship riders, while Luke Killeen rides in the Premiership too. So I’m coming up riders around my level and it’s good competition.
“As for the lads further down the line, it’s all about the bike time. That’s actually true about all of us, the more you’re on the bike the better it is.”

FIXTURE PICTURE…

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4:
CAB DIRECT KO CUP SEMI-FINAL 1st leg: Oxford v Redcar 7.30

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 5:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Leicester (42) v King’s Lynn (48) 7.30
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP FINAL 2nd leg: Ipswich (35) v Sheffield (55) 7.30

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (40) v Glasgow (50) 7.30
CAB DIRECT KO CUP SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Redcar v Oxford 7.30, Scunthorpe (29) v Poole (60) 7.30

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Workington (47) v Plymouth (43) 3pm
NATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS DEVELOPMENT SERIES: Berwick 7pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Glasgow (35) v Oxford (55) 5pm

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 9:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL 1st leg: Ipswich v Leicester 7.30

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 12:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Leicester v Ipswich 7.30

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 13:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Scunthorpe/Sheffield 7pm, Edinburgh (34) v Belle Vue (56) (follows previous fixture)

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 14:
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh 1.30pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 15:
CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Redcar 3pm
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Glasgow 2pm

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 16:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL 1st leg: Belle Vue v Sheffield 7.30
ALAN GRAHAME MEMORIAL 4TT: Birmingham 7.30