BRITISH SPEEDWAY SEPTEMBER 6, 2024

(SPEEDWAY 1)

TIGERS WIN KO CUP

SHEFFIELD clinched the first Premiership team silverware of the season as they lifted the Knockout Cup at Ipswich on Thursday.
The Tigers took a 20-point lead to Foxhall in a repeat of last year’s Final, which had been won by the Witches, and they withstood some early pressure before securing a 45-45 draw in the second leg.     

Ipswich made a strong start and had halved the aggregate deficit when they led 23-13 on the night after Heat 7, but the next five races saw Sheffield take three 5-1s with the Witches only able to respond with one.
The overall victory was mathematically secured in Heat 12 when Chris Holder split Keynan Rew and Dan Thompson, before the Tigers levelled the scores on the night across the last three races.

Josh Pickering kept up his outstanding form with 14+2 and Holder scored 11, whilst the Witches received a boost ahead of the league play-offs with Keynan Rew scoring an impressive 14.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “It was another great effort from the lads. The result on Monday took a little bit of pressure off us and a lot of the hard work was done then.

“Ipswich came at us strongly early on but I always felt like the gates were in their favour to start with, so we didn’t panic because we knew that swing was coming our way.
“It’s brilliant to add yet another trophy to the cabinet and now we can start looking towards the play-offs because we want to complete that double.”

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I was proud of the boys tonight; it was a mammoth task ahead of them even more so after losing Jordan (Jenkins) last night.
“They came out and put everything into it and gave us a bit of hope at the start of the meeting after starting off so well.
“It would have been easy after recent results to roll over and take another defeat and use excuses, but they didn’t. They came out and fought like you should in a Cup Final and it gives us great optimism going into the play-offs on Monday.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

LEICESTER captain Max Fricke raced to seven wins out of seven as his side completed their regular ROWE Motor Oil Premiership schedule with a 48-42 win over King’s Lynn.
Fricke scored an 18-point maximum from six rides, combining with Sam Masters for a 5-1 in Heat 15 which secured victory on the night and also set up a Super Heat for the aggregate point.

And it was an identical outcome in that race as Fricke and Masters got the better of Niels-Kristian Iversen and guest Chris Harris to give the Lions full points from the meeting.
Masters scored 11+2 as Leicester overcame some early crashes to take the win, although Craig Cook was withdrawn after dislocating his shoulder in Heat 2.
Reserve Lewis Kerr scored 8+2 for the Stars, who took advantage of the Lions’ problems to lead by six points at the halfway stage.

Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “King’s Lynn threw a few problems at us tonight and we contributed to our own problems initially at the start of the meeting.
“But it was the sign of a good team as we got it back together and still won the meeting, and I’d rather we had these little problems tonight than this time next week, or at Ipswich on Monday.

“I thought we showed a bit of character to come back to win the meeting and collect the aggregate point even though King’s Lynn had choice of gates.”
Lynn boss Rob Lyon said: “At one point we were comfortable, but Max Fricke was superb tonight and their top end just had too much firepower for us.
“But the boys did a great job again. They all gave 100 per cent effort so I’m really pleased with them, and taking it to the last heat shows the form we’ve been in for the last five or six meetings. It was a good effort.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

EDINBURGH and Glasgow both have a major incentive ahead of their Cab Direct Championship derby clash at Armadale tonight (Friday).
The Monarchs need to avoid defeat in their final meeting to move off the bottom of the table, whilst the Tigers require an away win to ensure the race for the play-offs will go down to their last match against Oxford on Sunday.
Edinburgh have called up the Thompson twins Dan and Joe to replace injured duo Justin Sedgmen and Kye Thomson, whilst Glasgow bring in Ben Barker for Leon Flint (SGP2) and Max Perry replaces the injured Jason Garrad at reserve.

Monarchs boss Alex Harkess said: “We will again have two guests, and we will be depending on them doing as well as the riders they are replacing.
“Whether they do or not time will tell, but the rest of the riders in the team, the other five, we need them to win races and score points and keep us in front the whole time. We don’t want to be chasing our tails from Heat 2 onwards.
“We’ve not had very many high points this season. As I’ve said over the years, winning is the same habit as losing and if you get into the wrong habit it is very difficult to change. We need to finish on a high and we must win this match.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

OXFORD have been hit by injury problems ahead of the second leg of their Cab Direct KO Cup semi-final at Redcar tonight (Friday).
The Cheetahs lead by ten points heading into the meeting but will be without both Jordan Jenkins and Cameron Heeps for the return at the ECCO Arena, in addition to long-term absentee Adam Roynon.

Jenkins suffered wrist damage in a crash in the first leg and Heeps has also been ruled out of the return with a wrist problem having come to grief after his final ride on Wednesday, with the visitors bringing in Jacob Hook and operating rider replacement, whilst Jody Scott again replaces Roynon.
Jye Etheridge continues as a guest for Connor Bailey for the Bears, whilst Danny Phillips comes in at No.6 with Ben Trigger on European Under-19 duty in Germany.

Redcar co-promoter Jamie Swales said: “It’s far from over, we performed better (on Wednesday) in comparison to the league match at Oxford and all the pressure is on the Cheetahs.
“Their supporters will be expecting them to go through so it’s our job to go out and spoil the party.”
Oxford star Ashton Boughen, who scored 10+1 in the first leg, said: “I enjoy riding at Redcar. I always try my best and I’ll go there and do the same and I hope I can help to team through to the Final.
“I feel I’m improving all around at the moment. I beat some very good riders in a Testimonial meeting at Poole on Sunday. I’ve shown I can do it anywhere at any track. It’s hard riding at No 3, but I feel I’m improving all the time and I’m also enjoying my riding.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

SCUNTHORPE have a major mountain to climb in their Cab Direct KO Cup defence as they face a 31-point deficit going into tonight’s (Friday) second leg at home to Poole.
The Pirates dominated the opening contest in the semi-final as they won 60-29 at Wimborne Road, and they are strong favourites to progress despite the Scorpions’ strong form around the Eddie Wright Raceway.
The hosts track Ace Pijper as a guest for Luke Harrison who is on European Under-19 duty, whilst the visitors again operate rider replacement for Sam Hagon and Paul Starke replaces Vinnie Foord.

Scorpions promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We are under no illusions about the size of the task we face – 61 points is a big target. We have hit it on four occasions this summer around the Eddie Wright Raceway but not against a side of the calibre of Poole.
“Pirates have finished top of the regular season league table, they are already in the Final of the BSN Series – where we hope to join them – and I’m sure they will be extremely confident about moving forward to the Cup Final.

“Poole will be huge favourites but in a way the pressure is off us because no-one will think we can recover from so far behind. I know this team is capable of doing it if everything goes right and we will give it our best shot but, yes, we might need divine intervention for this one!”
Pirates promoter Dan Ford said: “We are in a strong position with the 31-point lead, but we are not taking anything for granted.
“Scunthorpe is always a tough place to go, but it is a track where we believe we can get the job done and secure our spot in the Final.”

(SPEEDWAY 6)

GREAT Britian’s Leon Flint competes in the second round of the SGP2 (World Under-21) series in Riga, Latvia this evening (Friday).
Flint, who just missed out on a semi-final place on countback in Round 1 in Malilla, Sweden back in June, will be hoping to at least reach the semis this time, at a venue where he has previously competed as he rode in the FIM European Under-19 Final back in July 2021.
Strangely Flint is the only rider competing in this year’s SGP2 Finals who is currently riding in the UK; however, the line-up is extremely tough, and includes riders from six different nations including the host Latvia.
Denmark have five representatives, there are four from Poland and two from Sweden, and including Flint as the sole representative from the UK, Norway and the Ukraine also have one rider each.
The third and final round takes place in Torun Poland on September 27.

(FIXTURES)

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 6:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (40) v Glasgow (50) 7.30
CAB DIRECT KO CUP SEMI-FINAL 2nd leg: Redcar (40) v Oxford (50) 7.30, Scunthorpe (29) v Poole (60) 7.30

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 7:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Workington (47) v Plymouth (43) 3pm
NATIONAL LEAGUE RIDERS DEVELOPMENT SERIES: Berwick 7pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 8:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Glasgow (35) v Oxford (55) 5pm