BRITISH SPEEDWAY SOLOS JULY 10
Date: Saturday July 10, 2021
(SPEEDWAY 1)
GLASGOW maintained the Championship leadership with a comfortable 55-35 win over Newcastle at Ashfield.
Ulrich Ostergaard kept up his terrific form with the Dane beaten just once on his way to 13+1, with possible maximums for both himself and Craig Cook (11+1) both being spoiled by Diamonds No.1 Ben Barker, who beat Cook twice on his way to 12+2 for the visitors.
Justin Sedgmen also scored double figures at reserve for the Tigers, ending on 12+1.
Glasgow boss Cami Brown said: “I think Newcastle gave us a much harder match than many people expected. There’s no such thing as an easy match in speedway any more, and we’ve always got to remember that.
“The racing has been very good. Ulrich has been the star man, but a special mention for Justin – I think he’s been excellent tonight. In the early part of the meeting he really kept us punching forward and got the momentum going.”
Newcastle manager Steve Pate said: “Overall, this score didn’t do our lads justice in the effort they put in, and they deserved a better return.
“But where many would have expected us to get hammered out of sight, tonight has proved we’re a stronger prospect than people expect, and that makes us dangerous.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
SCUNTHORPE equalled the biggest win in the Championship this season with a 63-27 demolition of Kent at the Eddie Wright Raceway.
The Scorpions made it seven straight home wins with their most emphatic victory in over three years, since beating Redcar by 40 points in May 2018.
Tero Aarnio completed a paid maximum (14+1) with reserve Jordan Palin (10+2) and guest Steve Worrall (10+1) both in double figures for the second-placed hosts, whilst Scott Nicholls scored 10+1 for the Kings.
Aarnio said: ““I believe my last maximum at Scunthorpe was 11 years ago. I think it was against Glasgow in 2010.
“Scott Nicholls is class. There’s a reason why he was in the Grand Prix series for many years. I love riding against a rider like him – it’s even better when I manage to beat him, and I beat Scott twice tonight.
“I think the whole team has a good understanding at the moment, and we all ride well together. It’s good fun to come here on a Friday night. It doesn’t feel like work. When everyone is relaxed, you get good results.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
EDINBURGH remain third in the Championship after seeing off a strong challenge from Berwick with a 50-40 win at Armadale.
The Monarchs only led by four points with two heats remaining, but a best-yet performance from Kye Thomson, with 12 from six rides, helped them to victory.
Both home stars Sam Masters (12) and Richie Worrall suffered handicap penalties for starting/time infringements, but Josh Pickering impressed again with 13+1 as the hosts maintained their dominance of heat wins.
Kasper Andersen made an excellent debut for the Bandits with 12+1, and both Jye Etheridge and Aaron Summers were paid for double figures.
Pickering said: “We did what we have to do. I wouldn’t say Berwick have got two or three big riders who win lots of heats but they have a team who all do well, they are a strong team and they normally run us close here.
“So it’s good to get the three points and send them home with nothing. Things are going well, we are just having fun!”
Berwick boss Gary Flint said: “It’s great to come to what was our bogey track and put in this sort of competitive performance from all the guys, and for Kasper Andersen to make his Bandits’ debut as top scorer is a brilliant thing to see.
“We knew he was going to significantly strengthen us, but tonight was exceptional.”
The sides meet again at Shielfield Park tonight (Saturday) with the Bandits bringing in Matthew Wethers to guest for Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen who is absent due to a Covid jab reaction. Drew Kemp replaces the isolating Joe Lawlor for the Monarchs.(SPEEDWAY 4)
REDCAR were taken to a last-heat decider by Birmingham before securing a 48-42 victory at the Media Prima Arena.
Two successive 5-1s in Heats 12 and 13 put the Bears eight points clear with the latter producing controversy as guest Rory Schlein crashed out after a tangle with home skipper Charles Wright, and Brummies captain Chris Harris was then disqualified in the re-run in another battle with Wright.
But Harris (13+1) bounced back to head up a 5-1 to the visitors in Heat 14 and then split Wright (12) and Michael Palm Toft in Heat 15 as the Bears clinched victory with the Brummies taking a league point.
Drew Kemp impressed as a guest for Redcar with 11+3, but fellow reserve Jordan Jenkins suffered a wrist injury in a Heat 8 fall and took no further part.
Bears boss Jade Mudgway said: “It was nice to get back on track with a win. I think we made hard work of it at times, but it was a battling performance in the end and our heat leaders came through for us.
“Unfortunately, our injuries are piling up at the moment and we haven’t had any luck with them recently.”
Birmingham manager Laurence Rogers said: “I feel it’s the least we deserved. It’s a decent way to get back to racing and I can’t fault any of the boys’ efforts, they all battled hard.
“Part of me feels it could and probably should have been more; for me in Heat 13, Charles Wright got away with it twice and should have been excluded on both occasions.
“I wasn’t happy with either of those decisions and they did have a pretty big say in the final outcome.”
(SPEEDWAY 5)
LEICESTER hand a full Championship debut to new signing Hans Andersen when they face Scunthorpe at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena tonight (Saturday).
The Lions have also confirmed they have agreed a deal in principle with former Sheffield racer Zaine Kennedy, who will come into their side when he receives an exemption certificate which enables him to travel from Australia.
In the meantime, they bring in Jake Knight on a short-term basis, whilst the Scorpions have Danny King guesting at No.1 with Adam Ellis racing for GB in the European Pairs in Hungary.
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “Zaine applied for his certificate last week, these things can take time of course, but he is confident it should be with him next week so he will be able to travel.
“Jake is fully aware of our situation, he’s a rider we’ve spoken to recently, and this is a good opportunity for him whilst he’s looking to build himself back up in terms of set-up for this level.
“It’s an important meeting for us. We’re facing a much stronger Scunthorpe team than the one we faced a few weeks ago in the Cup, so we need to keep our good home form going with an all-round team performance.”
Scorpions star Theo Pijper said: “Leicester is quite a hard track for me, but I’ll do my best to chip in. We’ll try to run them close and get something and who knows maybe even a win.”
(FIXTURES)
SATURDAY JULY 10:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Edinburgh 7pm, Leicester v Scunthorpe 7pm
MONDAY JULY 12:
PREMIERSHIP: Belle Vue v Wolverhampton 7.30, Peterborough v Sheffield 7.30
TUESDAY JULY 13:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Kent v Redcar 6.30, Plymouth v Poole 7pm
NO PRESSURE ON ZMARZLIK AFTER LATVIAN GP WIN