BRITISH SPEEDWAY OCTOBER 6, 2023

(SPEEDWAY 1)

TIGERS’ REMARKABLE COMEBACK

SHEFFIELD were crowned Sports Insure Premiership Champions after an incredible second leg turnaround against Ipswich at Owlerton.

The Tigers trailed by 18-points after the first leg of the Grand Final and therefore needed to break the record for the largest margin ever overturned in the return fixture – which they remarkably did with a 56-34 win.
The home side had wiped out their deficit and gone ahead on aggregate with five races remaining when they led 40-20, but a nip-and-tuck battle followed with some classic action at Owlerton.

The Witches twice drew back level on aggregate, including with a 5-1 in Heat 13 after an epic battle between Jason Doye and Chris Harris – but Jye Etheridge and Josh Pickering then slammed in a huge 5-1 for the Tigers in Heat 14 with Pickering passing Keynan Rew for second place.

That meant Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov needed another of their trademark 5-1s in Heat 15 for Ipswich to force a Super Heat, but on this occasion Doyle was relegated to the back in a frantic first lap by Chris Holder and Robert Lambert.
Holder top scored with 11 points as the Tigers celebrated their first-ever top-flight title, whilst Sayfutdinov scored 11+1 for the Witches.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “Just unbelievable. The commitment from the team and the will to win all started straight after Tuesday night on the group chat believing we could turn it around.
“I’m really pleased that we managed to do it and really pleased that we managed to do it here in front of our home supporters after last year as well.

“I’m reluctant to single any one rider out as tonight was always going to be about a really solid team performance, and when you look down the scorechart, every single one of them did their bit.
“Both as a rider and a team manager I’ve had some unforgettable memories with this club, but this one is right up there and will stick with me forever.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

IPSWICH promoter Chris Louis admitted his team paid for a poor start as they were on the wrong end of the Grand Final drama at Sheffield on Thursday.
The Witches went 21-9 down after five races, losing the bulk of their 18-point first leg advantage, and were edged out on aggregate in the closing stages of a tense title decider which went right down to the wire.

The Suffolk side’s run to the play-offs was one of the big stories of 2023, as was the thrilling combination of Emil Sayfutdinov and Jason Doyle as their spearhead which got them over the line on numerous occasions.

Louis said: “You can’t afford to start the way we started in a tie like that because it gets your heads down and the opposition’s heads up and we paid for that in the end. I was so proud of how the whole team fought and didn’t give in, having gone behind in the tie.

“I was gutted for Jason that he felt that he let the team down by running a last in Heat 15 when he is a massive part of the reason why we are there in the first place.

“He can hold his head high and be proud of what he has done for the club in the last couple of years. I was gutted for him as it wasn’t the way I wanted to see his season end and he has absolutely no blame whatsoever.

“I’m positive about the team we have had and the way we have stuck together as a team and the way we battled in the Final.
“I think people will draw their own conclusions from the tie overall but the emphasis for me is on what we achieved and how we did it.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

REDCAR face an 18-point deficit ahead of tonight’s (Friday) Championship KO Cup second leg tie against Scunthorpe at the ECCO Arena.
A place in the Final against Poole awaits the aggregate winners with the Scorpions in the driving seat after their 54-36 win at the Eddie Wright Raceway last week.

Redcar are without Danny King after his crash at Sheffield last night, with Richard Lawson coming in to guest at No.1. They again bring in Leon Flint and Luke Harrison to guest for Charles Wright and Jake Mulford, whilst Scunthorpe are at full strength at a venue where they have scored 41 and 42 points on their previous visits this season.

Bears co-promoter Jamie Swales said: “I thought we did a good job in the early stages at Scunthorpe. The track had a slight dirt line on which our boys liked. However, at the halfway stage, the track dried out which brought the advantage back to Scunthorpe which they capitalised on.

“Losing by 18 points did disappoint me as I thought we were going to keep it under 10 points but it’s still all to play for.
“There’s no reason why we can’t do to them what they did to us, there’s no doubt about that!”

Scorpions skipper Simon Lambert said: “First of all, we’ve got to finish the job against Redcar. We’ve got a decent lead, but it’s only half time.  But we’d like to win the meeting at Redcar, to put out a statement to Poole – we owe them one, for sure.

“It’s now or never – we’ve got to get past Redcar and then need to beat Poole in the Final. We missed out on silverware in the league, but there’s no reason why we can’t win the Cup. That’s what we want to do – we want to win silverware.”
 
(FIXTURES)

FRIDAY OCTOBER 6:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND FINAL 1st leg: Glasgow v Poole OFF (Now Sun Oct 8, 6pm)
CHAMPIONSHIP KO CUP SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Redcar (36) v Scunthorpe (54) 7.30

SATURDAY OCTOBER 7:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Workington (40) v Kent (50) 3pm
FAREWELL TO THE SHOWGROUND: Peterborough 7pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 8:

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND FINAL 1st leg: Glasgow v Poole 6pm
NDL KO CUP FINAL 1st leg: Mildenhall v Leicester 4pm