BRITISH SPEEDWAY JUNE 21, 2022

Photo: Max Fricke “incognito”

(SPEEDWAY 1)

WOLVERHAMPTON’S RETURN SERVE 

WOLVERHAMPTON inflicted instant revenge on rivals Belle Vue with a 49-41 victory in a 5-1 frenzy at Monmore Green on Monday night.

There were a total of eight maximums across the evening with the home side on the right end on five occasions to claim all three points – just seven nights after falling to defeat in the reverse fixture.

Sam Masters (12+2) and Steve Worrall (10+1) led the scoring for the hosts, whilst Max Fricke produced a superb display for the Aces with 17+1 from seven rides – but the league leaders missed out on a point having raced without the unwell Brady Kurtz.

With second-placed Ipswich also losing on Monday, the result moves Wolves into third place in the Premiership and just two points off the top.
Wolves star Luke Becker (9) said: “We had our little team talk before and we’d have been happy with any kind of win.

“To win by that many and send them home with zero points feels good though and we’re stoked on it.
“We had a well-rounded group of boys scoring some good points and doing their job and it paid off in the end.”

Fricke said: “Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be tonight for us. A few of the boys were struggling a little bit, and I think in places we definitely missed Brady.
“Hopefully he’s not feeling too rough and that he’ll be back on the bike soon, but we did our best to cover for him and the effort was there from everyone for sure.

“For myself, I know I can be a bit hit or miss here at Monmore Green so tonight was good for me in terms of seeing the progress I’ve made since we were last here.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

PETERBOROUGH maintained their recent improvement with a 50-39 win over Ipswich in an incident-packed meeting.

There were a succession of crashes involving Panthers riders, all without injury, before Ipswich’s Ben Barker suffered shoulder damage in a Heat 8 spill.

Chris Harris was again in top form for the hosts with 14 points, missing out only to Jason Doyle in Heat 15, whilst reserve Benjamin Basso weighed in with 9+1.

Doyle suffered a disqualification for bringing Basso down in Heat 11 but still scored 14 for the Witches, beaten only by Harris in Heat 13.
Peterborough boss Rob Lyon said: “It was a strange meeting with lots of different crashes, and to think we had four exclusions in the first eight races and ended up winning by 11 points was very unusual.

“It was so tight all the way through and Ipswich losing Ben (Barker) probably cost them, but our boys really knuckled down and got a great win.
“It’s good for our confidence, and good for us to move on to Ipswich on Thursday. I thought there was some great racing as well, and hopefully we’re back on track.”

Witches manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “Ben was flying until he had his crash and he looked like one of our quickest riders, so he was in for a big night which would have compensated for Erik (Riss) and Starkey (Paul Starke) struggling.

“Once we lost him, we were in trouble, and we didn’t have enough riders going well enough to get anything out of the meeting. There is nothing we drastically need to worry about after that result.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

SHEFFIELD’S Adam Ellis admits he was “over the moon” to book his place in the 2022 Speedway European Championship.

The reigning British Champion was called up to Saturday’s Challenge qualifier in Krsko, Slovenia – and secured the top five finish required with nine points from five rides.

He now joins fellow GB racer Dan Bewley in the four-round series starting at Polish venue Rybnik on July 2.
Ellis said: “It was kind of one of my goals for this season to be honest. After becoming British Champion last year, I kind of saw this as the next step if that makes sense?

“There are a lot of good riders involved and it might only be a mini-series, but it’s still competitive and it’s still a major thing to be involved in.
“Obviously I’m over the moon – now it’s up to me to go out there in each of the rounds and show what I can do.”

*Ellis will be the special guest on this week’s official British Speedway Podcast, available on Wednesday morning.

(FIXTURES)

WEDNESDAY JUNE 22:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Birmingham v Redcar 7.30, Oxford v Glasgow 7.30, Poole v Plymouth 7.30

THURSDAY JUNE 23:
PREMIERSHIP: Ipswich v Peterborough 7.30, King’s Lynn v Sheffield 7.30