BRITISH SPEEDWAY MAY 7, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)
 BIRMINGHAM ACED BY LIDSEY

JAIMON Lidsey scored a paid maximum as Belle Vue exacted rapid revenge over Birmingham with a 57-33 win at the National Speedway Stadium.

The Aces took match and aggregate points to move up to second in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership, with Lidsey’s unbeaten show of 13+2 nearly matched by Dan Bewley who scored 13+1 whilst Brady Kurtz collected 10.
Ben Cook, meanwhile, provided much of the entertainment for a big Bank Holiday crowd in Manchester with a series of overtaking moves on his way to 9+1.

Cook said: “There were a few close moments for me, but I’m a racer and that’s what we do: we try to win.
“There was quite a lot of material on the track today and that meant that we were achieving slightly faster speeds than normal, and at times you had to be brave to tackle the fast lines.

“There were some races we expected a little bit more of a challenge from, but those are the opportunities you have to capitalise on, and I think we took every chance we were presented.
“On the whole, we can be happy with this result. We’re still disappointed about Perry Barr but that’s done with now, and I feel we redeemed ourselves here at home.”
  
(SPEEDWAY 2)

BIRMINGHAM boss Sam Ermolenko has admitted his concerns after a heavy defeat at Belle Vue on Monday.
Ermolenko is calling on his riders to address their set-up issues before the season runs away, with just one win recorded so far by the Brummies along with a point from a Super Heat defeat at home to Sheffield.

British youngsters Tom Brennan (7+1) and Leon Flint (7) top scored in Manchester and Brennan underlined his great form this year with a Heat 13 win over the Aces’ top two of Brady Kurtz and Dan Bewley.
Ermolenko said: “I’m extremely disappointed. We were just hoping we’d have had a recipe to be able to go out there and be competitive – but it just fell apart.

“With (Vaclav) Milik being at reserve, if he’s having a bad day, we’re going to have a real bad day and that’s exactly what the formula has been.
“Again, we’re plagued with the fact that some of the European riders haven’t got the right kit for these kind of tracks.
“It takes time for these guys to get it ironed in but I’m panicking now.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

IPSWICH maintained top spot in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a weather-affected 37-23 win over King’s Lynn.
Only ten races were possible as heavy rain moved in at Foxhall during the afternoon, and the meeting was abandoned after an attempt to improve conditions was met with a further downpour.

Emil Sayfutdinov and Adam Ellis both scored 7+1 from three rides for the Witches with guest Scott Nicholls adding 6+2, whilst Niels-Kristian Iversen won two races for the Stars to finish with seven.
Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “From a racing perspective it was another good performance and a comfortable win, but it was a bit overshadowed by the weather and not getting the full meeting in.

“We had a second half planned as well and a big day of racing, so it was a big disappointment for the big crowd we had in. Bank Holiday meetings are a special day and enjoyable, and it is a shame the weather has spoiled that.
“It started raining during the meeting and the boys were struggling, we saw a couple of crashes, but we pushed on to Heat 10 and I didn’t hear any of the 14 riders that wanted to carry on.”

Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “It was always going to be tough without our talisman and No.1 (Tobiasz Musielak) who’s pretty good around Ipswich, so we knew it was going to be a tough meeting.
“We were sort of hanging in there a little bit but it was obvious what the result was going to be, it was one of those days.
“It was 100 per cent correct to call it off. The weather just ruined it again and you couldn’t race in those conditions, so it was the right decision.”

(FIXTURES)

WEDNESDAY MAY 8:
BSN SERIES: Oxford (29) v Poole (61) 8pm

THURSDAY MAY 9:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: King’s Lynn (42) v Leicester (47) OFF (prov re-staging July 1)
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Sheffield (41) v Belle Vue (49) 7.30

FRIDAY MAY 10:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Redcar v Berwick 7.30
BSN SERIES: Glasgow v Edinburgh 7.30, Scunthorpe (34) v Workington (56) 7.30