BRITISH SPEEDWAY WEEKLY BULLETIN 2025/01

All 49 riders involved in the 2025 ROWE Motor Oil Premiership were present at last week’s highly successful Media Day season launch at Oxford. The riders and club managements were joined by invited guests, members of the press, sponsors and officials at the start of what promises to be a classic campaign of racing.
Photo credit: TAYLOR LANNING

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

CHAMPIONSHIP BIG WEEKEND!

THE stage is set for a bumper weekend of Major Events with two huge meetings to kick off the Cab Direct Championship season.
Workington’s GT Tyres Arena is the venue for the Championship Pairs on Saturday (April 5), with the focus then switching to the Eddie Wright Raceway on Sunday (April 6) for the Championship League Riders’ Championship.
All nine clubs compete in the Pairs, and as in recent years there will be no ‘group’ stage as all race four times in an 18-heat schedule. The top four Pairs, on the 4-3-2-0 scoring system, qualify for the semi-finals, with the ‘winners’ of those races then meeting in the Final.

Home club Workington are represented by Troy Batchelor and Tate Zischke, whilst Redcar’s defence of the silverware sees recent Bears returnee Erik Riss team up with Charles Wright.
Comets boss James Denham said: “It’s a huge boost for the club and the local area to be hosting the Pairs, and we’re expecting an incredible atmosphere and a big turnout.

“It’s going to be a day of top-class racing, with some of the best riders in the league going head-to-head, and we’re delighted to have a really strong pairing in Troy and Tate representing the Comets.
“Troy’s experience and ability are unquestionable – he’s ridden at the very highest level and knows exactly what it takes to win big meetings like this.

“Tate, meanwhile, is one of the most exciting young riders in the sport right now. He’s shown immense determination to get back from his injuries last season, and he’s getting better with every lap.
“We believe they have the ability to be serious contenders, but the home support will be massive for them, and if they can get off to a strong start, there’s no reason they can’t be right in the mix for the title.
“We’re looking forward to a fantastic event, and hopefully, we can celebrate a record SEVENTH Comets victory in the event at the end of it.”

A PLYMOUTH: Nicolai Klindt & Ben Barker
B WORKINGTON: Troy Batchelor & Tate Zischke
C BERWICK: Drew Kemp & Craig Cook
D GLASGOW: Chris Harris & Dan Thompson
E OXFORD: Sam Masters & Jordan Jenkins
F SCUNTHORPE: Steve Worrall & Simon Lambert
G REDCAR: Charles Wright & Erik Riss
H POOLE: Lewis Kerr & Zach Cook
I EDINBURGH: Justin Sedgmen & Paco Castagna

Attention then switches to individual action at Scunthorpe on Sunday as the Scorpions host the Championship League Riders’ Championship.
Traditionally staged much later in the campaign, the early season date has been selected in order to achieve the strongest possible field, following significant omissions due to injuries and unavailability in recent years.

Steve Worrall, who is back after a lay-off due to illness last year, and has rejoined the Scorpions in the Championship, represents the home club along with Jake Allen, whilst Redcar’s Charles Wright and Oxford’s Sam Masters are both recent winners of the meeting.

The line-up also includes Glasgow captain Chris Harris, who has yet to taste victory in a CLRC, and Poole No.1 Richard Lawson who has the highest starting average in the Championship this last season.
Scorpions promoter Rob Godfrey said: “It’s an absolutely fantastic line-up for the Championship League Riders’ Championship at the Eddie Wright Raceway, featuring all the best riders in the Cab Direct Championship.

“It’s a real honour to be staging this meeting, and I hope plenty of fans travel to both the Championship Pairs at Workington on the Saturday and the CLRC at Scunthorpe on the Sunday. It’s going to be a fabulous weekend of speedway, and it will get the season going with a bang.”

CLRC DRAW: 1 Craig Cook (Berwick), 2 Jake Allen (Scunthorpe), 3 Justin Sedgmen (Edinburgh), 4 Ben Barker (Plymouth), 5 Sam Masters (Oxford), 6 Kyle Howarth (Glasgow) 7 Danny King (Redcar), 8 Steve Worrall (Scunthorpe), 9 Troy Batchelor (Workington), 10 Richard Lawson (Poole), 11 Dan Thompson (Glasgow), 12 Erik Riss (Redcar) 13 Lewis Kerr (Poole), 14 Chris Harris (Glasgow), 15 Charles Wright (Redcar), 16 Tate Zischke (Workington).

2025 INS AND OUTS

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP 

(Starting averages shown. Ins and Outs refer to each club’s final team declaration of 2024.)

BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz 9.18, Dan Bewley 8.52, Jaimon Lidsey 6.58, Zach Cook 5.57, Norick Blodorn 5.40, Tate Zischke 4.57 Jake Mulford (RS).

IN: Cook (from Birmingham), Zischke (returns from injury).

OUT: Ben Cook (to King’s Lynn), Antti Vuolas (to Birmingham).

BIRMINGHAM: Tobiaz Musielak 8.21, Michael Jepsen Jensen 7.50, Matej Zagar 7.20, Keynan Rew 5.67, Jonas Jeppesen 5.00, Antti Vuolas 4.13, Jason Edwards (RS).

IN: Rew (from Ipswich), Vuolas (from Belle Vue), Edwards (from Sheffield), Musielak, Jepsen Jensen, Zagar, Jeppesen.

OUT: Tom Brennan (to Ipswich), Zach Cook (to Belle Vue), Leon Flint (to Sheffield), Fredrik Lindgren, Wiktor Lampart, Piotr Pawlicki, Michael Palm Toft.

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle 9.36, Emil Sayfutdinov 9.12, Tom Brennan 6.52, Danny King 6.14, Adam Ellis 5.47, Dan Thompson 3.11, Jordan Jenkins (RS).

IN: Brennan (from Birmingham).

OUT: Keynan Rew (to Birmingham).

KING’S LYNN: Ben Cook 6.99, Richard Lawson 6.91, Niels-Kristian Iversen 6.83, Nicolai Klindt 6.59, Jan Kvech 6.58, Chris Harris 6.06, Ashton Boughen (RS).

IN: Cook (from Belle Vue), Lawson (from Leicester), Harris (from Oxford), Boughen (from Oxford).
OUT: Anders Rowe (to Sheffield), Benjamin Basso, Patryk Wojdylo, Lewis Kerr.

LEICESTER: Max Fricke 9.14, Sam Masters 7.32, Ryan Douglas 7.30, Luke Becker 6.57, Kyle Howarth 5.05, Drew Kemp 3.95, Sam Hagon (RS).
IN: Howarth (from Sheffield), Kemp.

OUT: Richard Lawson (to King’s Lynn), Craig Cook.

OXFORD: Rohan Tungate 7.71, Maciej Janowski 7.02, Charles Wright 6.32, Peter Kildemand 6.00, Erik Riss 5.55, Francis Gusts 4.50, Luke Killeen (RS).

IN: Kildemand, Gusts.

OUT: Chris Harris (to King’s Lynn), Ashton Boughen (to King’s Lynn).

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder 8.85, Chris Holder 8.79, Tai Woffinden 8.45, Josh Pickering 6.74, Anders Rowe 3.91, Danyon Hume 3.25, Leon Flint (RS).

IN: Rowe (from King’s Lynn), Flint (from Birmingham), Hume.

OUT: Kyle Howarth (to Leicester), Jason Edwards (to Birmingham), Dan Gilkes.

WHAT THE BOSSES SAY…

MARK LEMON (Belle Vue)
“It’s always challenging when you have to build to the points constraint, and when you have a successful season you generally have to tear some of your team apart.
“Unfortunately we had to part with Ben Cook which is really disappointing, he had such a stellar season with us and helped us win the Premiership.

“But we’ve put a one-to-seven together now and all the teams look pretty competitive. It’s a fresh start, we’re defending a championship, but I think we have to forget about that and really focus on the processes and aim for that top four.
“When you look down the line-up, Jaimon (Lidsey) by his own accord didn’t have the best season last year and in all fairness his performance towards the end of the season was a catalyst to why we probably won the championship in the play-offs.

“You’d probably look at Jaimon as an eight-point rider more or less in 2023, and he’s dropped his average, there are reasons for that but if we get Brady (Kurtz) and Dan (Bewley) leading the team like they’ve done in the last couple of years, and the rest of the boys just chip in and do their job, we’re probably in a good place.”

CHRIS ADAMS (Birmingham)
“It certainly wasn’t as last-minute as last year when we didn’t start building the team until February!
“We did get a head start this year but obviously we had to look further afield, but I feel that we’ve put a very strong team together and certainly contenders for the play-offs.

“We’ve got a couple of guys that haven’t ridden in England for a bit, so it will take a few matches for them to get settled, but I’m sure once they’ve sorted their set-ups out and whatever, I’m sure they’ll be big hitters over here.
“I think we’re a stronger one-to-seven from what we had last year, and I think we’ve got a good balance.
“We’ve got a good seven riders here that all get on together, and let’s just see what happens.”

CHRIS LOUIS (Ipswich)
“It was very easy. Everyone had some unfinished business and as a team they wanted to come back together and have another go, so we’re looking forward to working with them all.
“We have the one change, and Tom (Brennan) is a great addition to the side, very professional, and he’s slotted straight in with the boys.
“Having read some press, a lot of people are making us favourites and I’m happy with that tag, I just hope that we can repay their faith!

“Our ethos over the last couple of seasons to bring people in (to the stadium) is to entertain them, and I think with a team of riders like Emil (Sayfutdinov), Jason (Doyle), we’ve got Tom now, Danny’s (King) always been known as a racer, Adam (Ellis) is a racer and a character, I could go through the whole team because they all bring something to it.
“We do entertain up and down the country, and the best thing we can do is entertain and win – that’s what I’d like from this year!”

ROB LYON (King’s Lynn)
“It’s got that Peterborough (2021) feel to it, and when it became obvious that a 40-point limit was going to be in place, the top teams were always going to keep their top riders, so there wasn’t particularly any movement.
“So we set our stall out to build what we’ve built, we got it done fairly quickly, and yes it has got a feel of Peterborough 2021 to it – solid all the way through, a good reserve in Bomber (Chris Harris) and hopefully it can reap dividends as it did then.

“The way the teams are built there are three teams with top-heavy riders, in terms of strength at the top, and ourselves and possibly Birmingham were looking to do something different. Once we knew where we were at with it, that was the strategy we took and we got pretty much what we wanted, so we’re quite happy.
“It’s all about enjoying it at the end of the day. We need to have a good, clean season, no issues and everybody getting on and we’ll be fine.”

STEWART DICKSON (Leicester)
“We were at 42.07 in the averages when you can only build to 40 for the top six, so when Richard (Lawson) informed us he was going to King’s Lynn there was no fall-out and it actually saved us a task and made things easier.
“I knew what I wanted to do, Kyle Howarth had been in touch with me, and Damien and Marc Bates also let it be known that Leicester was Kyle’s choice to come here. I’ve brought most of the riders back from last season and it’s a case of if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, don’t try and be too smart.

“They all wanted to come back, which was good as well, and we’re all raring to go, there’s a good feeling in the camp. Everybody will say that, but these guys have known each other longer, many of them were together at Wolves and it’s quite tight.
“It’s a good mix with the Aussies and the American flair in there, along with the two British boys at the bottom who are determined to prove their worth.
“The riders are happy with the track, everybody seems quite happy at this time of year and every rider is full of ambition as team managers and clubs are. The riders have their individual targets and I have the collective ones!”

PETER SCHROECK (Oxford)
“I’ve got a very good relationship with all the boys. They know I only want them to do what I would do myself, and communication is a major big deal with how we do things at Oxford, especially when you have that many riders (in three teams)!

“The riders are pretty easy to deal with. They’re all here for the right reasons and they all want to be here, which is always a massive factor. The ones who don’t want to be here, we don’t fall out with them, we let them travel on and do what they’ve got to do.
“I’ve got the philosophy here, and Jamie (Courtney) is with me on this, that nobody is bigger than the club, that’s how we do things here so we’re all on the same level and enjoy each other’s company. That’s all I ask, and then you’re going to have success.

“Running in all three leagues has been very successful. We’re going to keep the stadium busy every week, which is very important, and we’ve got good crowds all the way through from the Premiership right down to the National Development League – and it’s working for us, otherwise we wouldn’t have done it again this year!”

SIMON STEAD (Sheffield)
“The GB manager’s role certainly has its perks when it comes to working with the younger guys over an extended period time, and I just felt like the guys we’ve got at that end of the team, it’s a fabulous opportunity for them to work and be in the pits with our superstars.

“Picko (Josh Pickering) is an absolute inspiration as a captain, his trajectory is rocketing as well, and the fact that they can take a lot of the pressure off these guys and allow them to go through the process, find their feet and continue their development will stand them in good stead and enable them to progress.
“The talent that I see in the three at that end of the team, the world is their oyster, so get their heads down, do the right things and we’ll see them progressing even further.

“What you need to do is make sure you’ve got a team that excites people, and is going to provide entertainment for people’s money, and we’re fortunate at Sheffield to have really good facilities, which we do make use of.
“But ultimately the lads’ performance on track is what attracts people, and I think we’ve got an exciting team.”

FIXTURE PICTURE…

THURSDAY APRIL 3:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Oxford v Ipswich 7.30, Sheffield v Birmingham 7.30

FRIDAY APRIL 4:
SCOTTISH CUP 1st leg: Edinburgh v Glasgow 7.30

SATURDAY APRIL 5:
CHAMPIONSHIP BIG WEEKEND
CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS: Workington 3pm

SUNDAY APRIL 6:
CHAMPIONSHIP BIG WEEKEND
CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Scunthorpe 3pm

MONDAY APRIL 7:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Belle Vue (46) v King’s Lynn (44) 7.30, Birmingham v Ipswich 7.30

WEDNESDAY APRIL 9:
MAXICAB KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Oxford v Scunthorpe 7.30

THURSDAY APRIL 10:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Ipswich v Oxford 7.30, Leicester v Belle Vue 7.30, Sheffield v King’s Lynn 7.30

FRIDAY APRIL 11:
SCOTTISH CUP 2nd leg: Glasgow v Edinburgh 7.30
TYNE/TEES TROPHY: Redcar v Newcastle Select 7.30

SATURDAY APRIL 12:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Middlesbrough 7pm

SUNDAY APRIL 13:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY: Kent Eagles v Leicester 12pm

MONDAY APRIL 14:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Belle Vue v Oxford 7.30, King’s Lynn v Leicester 7.30
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY: Birmingham v King’s Lynn 7.30