BRITISH SPEEDWAY APRIL 7, 2025

(SPEEDWAY 1)
 
LONG WAIT FOR HARRIS ENDS

CHRIS Harris ended his long wait for a Championship League Riders’ title with victory at the seventh time of asking at Scunthorpe on Sunday.
The Glasgow skipper, who had twice previously finished runner-up in the event, headed up a Tigers one-two in the Final with a superb move to slice between team-mate Kyle Howarth and home No.1 Steve Worrall on the opening lap.

Worrall had led the qualifying scores on 14 points, being denied a maximum by Redcar’s Charles Wright who also made the Final but finished off the rostrum.
Harris said: “This is a really special win for me. It’s a title I wanted to tick off my list. I’ve won almost everything now in British Speedway.
“The day started good and then there were a few issues with set-ups.
“We made a bit of a gamble in the Final and it worked. I made the cut back and went through the middle.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

KYLE Howarth admitted he was satisfied with his rostrum finish in the Championship League Riders’ Championship as he placed second behind team-mate Chris Harris at Scunthorpe.

Howarth, who rode for the Scorpions last year, was also able to reflect on a positive weekend for his new club Glasgow.
The Tigers won the first leg of the Scottish Cup at rivals Edinburgh on Friday before playing a prominent part in the Championship Big Weekend, just missing out on the Final in the Pairs at Workington on Saturday.

Howarth said: “In all honesty I’m really happy with second place. I started with a last in the first one. That wasn’t the plan. Once I managed to get the set-up, I was away.
“I’m just pleased we could do this for Glasgow, we made the semis yesterday in the Pairs.
“But it’s been a great start with the win at Edinburgh and now top two in the riders’ title.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

DEFENDING champions Belle Vue race at home for the first time in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership when they host King’s Lynn at the National Speedway Stadium tonight (Monday).

The Aces won 46-44 in the reverse fixture at the Adrian Flux Arena last week thanks to an epic Heat 15 effort from Dan Bewley, although the Stars had previously lost a heap of points to mechanical issues.
Both teams name full-strength line-ups for the clash in Manchester with the visitors again altering their riding order to shift Richard Lawson to No.2 whilst Jan Kvech goes at No.5.

Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “King’s Lynn are a really good team and will pose a massive threat.
“They made a fantastic start to the season with two big wins over Oxford. Then we got the better of them on Monday night.

“I felt a bit sorry for them to be honest, they had a few bike problems and crashes that cost them bigtime in the early stages. But we always have to take those opportunities when we can.

“They may arrive in Manchester with a sense of injustice, and they will be fired up. I’ve warned the boys to beware of that backlash.”
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I’m quite encouraged so far by how solid it is, and how the boys are performing generally as a team.
“Yes, there are individual performances that are a little in and out, but we expected that because that’s the way the team is built.

“It’s good enough to compete, that’s the main thing, so we move on to Belle Vue and see if we can get a result. We want to do the same thing to them as they did to us.”

BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Zach Cook, Dan Bewley, Tate Zischke, Jake Mulford.
KING’S LYNN: Ben Cook, Richard Lawson, Nicolai Klindt, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Jan Kvech, Chris Harris, Ashton Boughen.

(SPEEDWAY 4)

BIRMINGHAM face a tough opening home ROWE Motor Oil Premiership encounter tonight (Monday) when in-form title favourites Ipswich visit Perry Barr.
The Brummies were a bogey team for the Witches last year, getting the better of the Suffolk side twice in their final two meetings, but the visitors are now back at full strength and have made a terrific start to 2025.

Two riders face their former clubs with Tom Brennan having switched from Birmingham to Ipswich over the winter whilst Keynan Rew moved in the opposite direction to the West Midlands.
And Rew is hoping the Brummies, whose performances have been wildly inconsistent so far, can improve substantially on their home KO Cup defeat to Leicester a fortnight ago.

He said: “It was definitely a tough meeting, I’m not going to hide that fact.
“We all struggled and we just simply weren’t making starts, it’s pretty simple – and it’s hard to win races around here when you’re not making starts.
“I think I’ve come to a few conclusions so hopefully I can factor that in for the next home meeting and I’ll be ready to go.”

Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “We will go to a place where we had mixed fortunes last year and they were a team we had difficulties against.
“They probably had the best record of anyone against us when they were struggling but we know we can do well there.

“We will go there with confidence but maybe after Oxford, expectations can be lowered a little bit. We will have to perform very well if we want another win.”

BIRMINGHAM: Tobiasz Musielak, Jonas Jeppesen, Michael Jepsen Jensen, Keynan Rew, Matej Zagar, Antti Vuolas, Jason Edwards.
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Tom Brennan, Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson, Jordan Jenkins.

(FIXTURES)

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 (48) v Oxford (42) 7.30, Leicester v Belle Vue 7.30, Sheffield v King’s Lynn 7.30

FRIDAY APRIL 11:
SCOTTISH CUP 2nd leg: Glasgow (47) v Edinburgh (43) 7.30
TYNE/TEES TROPHY: Redcar v Newcastle Select 7.30