BRITISH SPEEDWAY WEEKLY BULLETIN 2025/02

Feature photo by: IAN CHARLES…BELLE Vue became the first team to secure an aggregate point in this season’s ROWE Motor Oil Premiership when beating King’s Lynn 57-33 at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday. The Aces had already defeated the Stars 46-44 last Thursday in Norfolk.

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

ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP LATEST…

WITCHES SITTING PRETTY
IPSWICH have opened the league campaign with a brace of away wins at Oxford and Birmingham – with reserves Dan Thompson and Jordan Jenkins doing the damage at Perry Barr as the Witches’ top two both endured unusually tough nights.
Manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “Jason (Doye) and Emil (Sayfutdinov) didn’t necessarily have the best gates, but they pulled it around in Heat 13.

“Doyley was going well in his third ride before he clipped (Matej) Zagar’s back wheel which hurt his score, so it was a tough night for them. You know what they are like though, they are going to come back on Thursday and be on top form.
“Four wins from four to start the season, three of them away from home and two of them in the league, we know how important they are. We go into the home meeting on Thursday looking for another great performance and then we travel to Leicester looking for another win.”

ACES BACK ON SONG
BELLE Vue skipper Brady Kurtz feels his side are back to their best after a shaky start to the season, with home and away wins over King’s Lynn settling any nerves in the camp.
Kurtz said: “It’s nice to have a good win at home. We all needed this. Last week at Lynn it was cool to get some points on the board.

“We had a little bit of luck on our side. But tonight we’ve really shown what we can do. Back to business as usual hopefully.
“It was important to get the win at King’s Lynn. After the Ipswich defeat we were all doing a lot of thinking.
“It was nice that we did turn it around a little bit. Tonight was definitely back to our best.”
Disappointed Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “It was a very disappointing meeting for us, and two race wins all night sums it up.”

RISS STARS BUT SPIRES BEATEN
ERIK Riss piled up a remarkable 20 points for Oxford in their home defeat to Ipswich last Thursday – but the German will sit out the return fixture at Foxhall after taking a knock in the Championship Pairs over the weekend.
Manager Peter Schroeck said: “No disrespect to anyone else but this is one of the hardest meetings we’re going to have. They’re a great side and we fought against them, but we have to work on a couple of issues within what’s going on, and we’ll be fine.
“We’ve got to keep rebuilding, keep going and work on a few areas to improve over the next couple of weeks.”

PICKO PROUD OF TIGERS TEAM
CAPTAIN Josh Pickering paid tribute to the Sheffield team after their 61-29 dismantling of Birmingham in their first meeting of the season – and also the first since they received the shattering blow of Tai Woffinden’s serious crash in Poland.
Pickering said: “I’m so proud of all of the boys here tonight – obviously we’ve got something sat at the back of our minds and we’re going to continue to have that for a number of weeks.
“I didn’t want to talk about it leading up to the meeting but things hit close to home when it’s one of your best mates.
“It’s a tough sport that we do man, there’s many highs and many lows. Tai has had every single high in the sport and now he’s experiencing a very tough low. I just can’t stop thinking about him and the kids and the family.”

BRUMMIES BEATEN BUT ENCOURAGED
BIRMINGHAM boss Chris Adams took some positives from a loss at home to title favourites Ipswich, where the Brummies were level with four races remaining after pulling back from eight points down.
The home side were much improved on their opening home showing against Leicester as well as a heavy defeat at Sheffield last Thursday.

Adams said: “It was a far better performance than on our first night here.
“Their reserves were the key ones for Ipswich but they’re a really strong side and I was glad that we ran them close. There’s still plenty of work to do though, but I’m quite pleased.”

LIONS BACK FOR FINAL REPEAT
LEICESTER’S opening league fixture of the season sees them take on Belle Vue at the Hydroscand Arena on Thursday – the team who defeated them in last year’s Grand Final!
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “A repeat of our league scores from 2024 would be better than a repeat of the Final for a start!
“I know it’s early in the season but straight away you want to win your home matches, and we know we’ve got two tough ones on consecutive Thursday nights with Ipswich coming along next week as well.”

THE WEEK AHEAD…
THERE are three ROWE Motor Oil Premiership meetings on Thursday as the top-flight gets into gear, headlined by a repeat of last season’s Grand Final between Leicester and Belle Vue… Elsewhere, Ipswich take on Oxford at Foxhall with an aggregate point up for grabs after the Witches won 48-42 at Cowley last week, whilst Sheffield face King’s Lynn at Owlerton… Monday’s schedule sees Belle Vue go for back-to-back home wins as they face Oxford, whilst King’s Lynn bid to bounce back from losing on their own circuit last time out when they take on Leicester.

CHAMPIONSHIP BIG WEEKEND REACTION…

REDCAR and Glasgow were the two clubs with the most to celebrate following the Championship Big Weekend featuring both Pairs and CLRC.
The Bears triumphed in the former event for the third time in four seasons, defeating Poole in the Final at Workington with Charles Wright and Erik Riss taking the top step on the podium.

Then in the CLRC at Scunthorpe, Tigers duo Chris Harris and Kyle Howarth finished first and second, with Scorpions racer Steve Worrall third.

CHRIS HARRIS (CLRC winner)
“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.”

KYLE HOWARTH (CLRC runner-up)
“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.”

STEVE WORRALL (Scunthorpe, 3rd place in CLRC)
“I am happy to finish third. There was a question mark considering my situation at the end of last year, but I know I’m a capable rider and today I’ve proven that.
“It’s been straight into the deep end this weekend, with two really competitive meetings, featuring the top riders in the Cab Direct Championship. I did well at Workington in the pairs and today was even better.

“I’m pleased how well everything seems to have worked this weekend; it certainly makes life easier when you feel your machinery is going well. I feel I got to grips with the track well today.
“I did have a game plan for the final in the first corner. But I didn’t anticipate Kyle (Howarth) getting such a good gate from the inside. He then ran us both wide and left the door open for Bomber (Chris Harris). At the end of the day, the other guys were a bit more race sharp than me when it came to the final.
“It’s always slightly disappointing in a way to be in the final and not win it, but finishing on the podium does make up for that.”

RICHARD LAWSON (Poole, 5th place in CLRC)
“I felt like I was riding alright, but it was just one of those meetings. I got into second by getting by Bomber and then I just made a mistake, hit a bit of a greasy bit and I knew coming out of that fourth turn I was vulnerable as I had given him that line and he got me on the last lap, so, that was all she wrote!

“Possibly if I hadn’t had missed my last heat ride and had scored in it I might have been in a better position, either direct in the Final if I had got first or second, or even a better pick in the semi if I had only scored a point.
“You never know do you, but I did get myself in a qualifying position and then threw it away, so it doesn’t matter in the end really does it?”

DREW KEMP (Berwick, broken chain denied him a semi-final chance in the CLRC)
“To be honest I’m much more disappointed today than I was in the previous day’s Pairs. I’m quite angry about today.
“But it’s gone and the focus is now on Berwick’s press and practice next Saturday and the start of the Bandits’ season over Easter.
“It will be good to get back to Shielfield – I haven’t been there since our last meeting in August.”

JAMIE SWALES (Redcar co-promoter, Pairs winners)
“It was very similar last year, we started slowly in the Pairs, but they kept talking to each other, they knew which gates they needed to pick, and they were both happy.
“They stuck at it all the way through, after every single race they were working on the bikes and it’s paid off in the end.”

ERIK RISS (Redcar, Pairs winner)
“We would rather have won it with four riders in the race, but it’s racing and it was a tight move.
“There was a lot of water on the track for the Final and I had a lot of speed coming into the corner, and Lewi (Kerr) did as well. We were really close and because it was so greasy we came together.
“It was a racing incident and it was unfortunate to end that way, but at the end of the day we got the win, and this is why we came here!”

GARY HAVELOCK (Poole co-manager, after finishing runners-up in the Pairs)
“The boys rode fantastic, they were working well together and piling the points up. It was just a shame it happened like it did in the final.
“They said they weren’t going to put any water on before the final but then they went and put the bowser round for two laps and so when Erik (Riss) was coming round and trying to drop it on Lewi (Kerr) coming out of three, Lewi just couldn’t stop and he was just kind of skating like on ice and that’s what caused him to crash into him.”

THE WEEK AHEAD…
OFFICIAL competition at Championship level gets underway on Wednesday in the MAXiCab KO Cup as 2024 defeated finalists Oxford host 2023 winners Scunthorpe in the first leg of their quarter-final tie… Meanwhile on Friday, Glasgow and Edinburgh meet again in the second leg of the Scottish Cup with the Tigers 47-43 up after their win at Armadale last week… Redcar start their team season with the Tyne/Tees Trophy as they revive memories of their rivalry with Newcastle, with a special side built to represent the Diamonds at the ECCO Arena.

WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE/NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY LATEST…

THE NDL season gets underway at Armadale on Saturday as Edinburgh host Middlesbrough… Meanwhile, there are two matches to come in the NDT where Birmingham have already made a winning start with a 51-38 home victory over Leicester Fox Cubs… The Bulls next host King’s Lynn on Monday, whilst on Sunday it’s the first appearance for the new Kent Eagles team at Iwade as they take on the Fox Cubs.

FIXTURE PICTURE…

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

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

WEDNESDAY APRIL 16:
BSN SERIES: Oxford v Poole 7.30

THURSDAY APRIL 17:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Leicester v Ipswich 7.30

FRIDAY APRIL 18:
MAXICAB KO CUP 1st round 1st leg: Edinburgh v Workington 7.30
BSN SERIES: Glasgow v Berwick 7.30, Poole v Oxford 6pm, Scunthorpe v Redcar 3pm
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Leicester 12pm, Steelers v Middlesbrough (at Scunthorpe) (follows BSN Series fixture)

SATURDAY APRIL 19:
MAXICAB KO CUP 1st round 2nd leg: Workington v Edinburgh 1pm
BSN SERIES: Berwick v Glasgow 7pm, Plymouth v Oxford 7pm

MONDAY APRIL 21:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Belle Vue v Birmingham 12pm, Oxford v Leicester 1pm, Birmingham v Belle Vue 7.30, Leicester v Oxford 7.30