BRITISH SPEEDWAY APRIL 10, 2025

(SPEEDWAY 1)

MAXIMUM MEN STEER CHEETAHS TO VICTORY

OXFORD Cheetahs duo Dan Gilkes and Jordan Jenkins both scored paid maximums in a 55-35 MAXiCab Knockout Cup win over Scunthorpe.
The home side’s middle order pairing combined for three 5-1s in their outings together, both ending with 10+2 totals as Gilkes made a dream debut for the club.

Skipper Sam Masters racked up 14 from five rides, dropping his only point to Scorpions No.1 Steve Worrall in the last race as the Cheetahs built up a 20-point first leg advantage.
Worrall scored nine for the visitors with reserve Zaine Kennedy notching 7+1, including a race win on his return to British Speedway.

Jenkins said: “Both the Cheetahs and also myself couldn’t have started the season any better than that. Tonight I was making some decent starts and enjoying it, while the team dug in and did the job.
“Dan Gilkes is a good rider, he knows where to ride on the track, and he’s got it all under control. He’s very quick when he’s out in front and we are a strong pairing.
“We’ve still got a job to do and we won’t take it granted, but a 20-point lead is nice to take up to Scunthorpe next month. When we go up there, we’ll try to avoid last places and stop them coming back at us.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)
 IPSWICH look to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season when they face Oxford in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership at Foxhall tonight (Thursday).
The Witches have been successful in their first two matches on the road which both produced close encounters where strength down the order proved key despite the known power of their top two.

Their 48-42 victory at Cowley last week also means there is an aggregate point to go for in tonight’s return fixture.
Erik Riss scored 20 points for the Spires in that meeting, but the German is ruled out of the trip to his former club due to the shoulder injury he picked up last weekend. Justin Sedgmen guests for the visitors, who have Peter Kildemand back after his own crash a fortnight ago.

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “Everyone will be looking forward to getting back to Ipswich, the track was superb in our last home meeting.
“We have had a couple of tricky away meetings, on slick, tough tracks. The way Ipswich is now, the boys will be looking forward to racing on that now.

“We were superb last week; Oxford have a lot of riders that are going to come and enjoy Foxhall this year and know the track well. They can certainly cause an upset if we are not on our game.
“This team is superb to watch, we had a great crowd against Belle Vue, and I hope everyone comes out and backs us again.”

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Danny King, Adam Ellis, Tom Brennan, Emil Sayfutdinov, Dan Thompson, Jordan Jenkins.

OXFORD: Rohan Tungate, Justin Sedgmen, Charles Wright, Peter Kildemand, Maciej Janowski, Francis Gusts, Luke Killeen.

(SPEEDWAY 3)

LEICESTER’S opening ROWE Motor Oil Premiership fixture of the season sees them host champions Belle Vue tonight (Thursday) in a repeat of last year’s Grand Final.
The Lions have been inactive since defeating Birmingham home and away in the KO Cup whilst the Aces responded to their Cup exit by collecting maximum league points from their recent clashes with King’s Lynn.

Both teams are at full strength with home boss Stewart Dickson stating his side need to improve on their first home outing of the season.
He said: “It’s early in the season but straight away you’ve got to win your home matches, and we know we have two tough ones coming up on consecutive Thursdays.
“We’re under no illusions because Belle Vue come with a very strong spearhead who seem to like our track, and we’re going to have our work cut out getting amongst them.

“I definitely feel there are other places we can hurt them, but we will need to do better than we did in the last home meeting and that’s no disrespect to Birmingham, who rode very well here.
“For Thursday we don’t need to be setting targets of scoring 50 points or whatever, that comes later, at this stage it’s all about getting a win and putting our first points on the board.”

LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Sam Hagon.

BELLE VUE: Brady Kurtz, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Zach Cook, Dan Bewley, Tate Zischke, Jake Mulford.

(SPEEDWAY 4)

SHEFFIELD will again operate rider replacement for the injured Tai Woffinden when they host King’s Lynn at Owlerton tonight (Thursday).
Despite losing Woffinden’s services after his serious crash in Poland last month, the Tigers still kicked off their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership schedule with a thumping win over Birmingham as they topped the 60-point mark at home.

Now they face a Stars side who suffered their own heavy defeat at Belle Vue on Monday and are seeking a rapid response.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “They may not have an out-and-out No.1 or a standout set of heat-leaders like we do, but they have strength in depth, that ability to chip away at points and in ‘Bomber’ (Chris Harris) they’ve got the most experienced starting reserve in the league, a rider who’s just won the Championship League Riders’ Championship and he could take up to seven rides!

“So we know we’ve got a different type of challenge on our hands, but the lads will have taken a lot from last week against Birmingham and will be looking for another really positive result.”
Stars captain Nicolai Klindt said: “The track (on Monday) was the same for everyone, but the Belle Vue boys got on with it much better than we did.

“The fact is I was miles behind in every single start, and no matter where I rode, I was slow.
“We can’t do anything about it now, we just have to focus on the next task ahead of us.”

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering, Tai Woffinden R/R, Chris Holder, Danyon Hume, Leon Flint.

KING’S LYNN: Ben Cook, Richard Lawson, Nicolai Klindt, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Jan Kvech, Chris Harris, Ashton Boughen.

(FIXTURES)

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