BRITISH SPEEDWAY JUNE 25, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

GLASGOW’S STRONG WIN

GLASGOW overcame the loss of No.1 Craig Cook in Heat 1 to secure a big 56-34 home win over Championship leaders Leicester.
The Tigers dug deep after Cook crashed out when the Lions’ Nick Morris shed a chain, causing a collision, and inflicted the visitors’ first defeat in ten league matches.

Benjamin Basso (13+1), Tom Brennan (11+1) and Ulrich Ostergaard (10) were all in double figures for the hosts, whilst Kyle Howarth notched 13 for the Lions.

Glasgow manager Cami Brown said: “When you lose your No.1 you have to worry. But the boys all chipped in – we got them all together and it was the best performance for two seasons tonight.
“To beat a Leicester side packed with real top-class riders so easily – that was a royal victory for us.

“Craig has a shoulder, wrist and knee injury. The knee injury was from Oxford, the wrist injury from last night (riding for Sheffield) and the shoulder injury from tonight. We’re unclear if Craig will be in the team on Tuesday (at Plymouth).

Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “Our winning run came to an abrupt end, and there’s not really a lot to say other than we were well beaten and now we need to dust ourselves down and go on another run.

“Glasgow were by far the better team on the night, and we were pretty much second best for the whole meeting.
“We send our best wishes to Craig Cook, because that was a terrible accident and Nick was also affected by it as well, both from an injury angle and from a personal point of view.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

EDINBURGH fought back to defeat Oxford 48-42 in a key clash of play-off contenders at Armadale.

The Monarchs were six points down to a depleted Cheetahs side on two occasions but were indebted to their top two of Sam Masters and Josh Pickering who raced to superb 5-1s in Heats 13 and 15, both coming from the back in the former race.

The two Australians both scored 14+1 paid maximums whilst Dillon Ruml piled up 13+2 at reserve for the Cheetahs, with the visitors collecting a league point from the meeting.

Masters said: “It was a good meeting, good for the fans and we were happy to take the win.
“I’ve got to admit that Oxford had a bit of bad luck with two-minute exclusions, but that’s part of it.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

BELLE VUE maintained their 100 per cent home record in the NDL with a 50-40 win over league leaders Berwick.

Harry McGurk put in a super show for the Colts, scoring 16+1 from six rides as he dropped his only point to Greg Blair in Heat 3, and Jack Smith notched 15 from six.

The Bullets could have taken a league point with a 3-3 from Heat 15 but top-scorer Kyle Bickley (11) was undone by Smith and McGurk.
McGurk said: “Ahead of the meeting, all the boys got together for a talk because we really wanted to prove a point against Berwick.

“When we went to their place we came away with no points and we wanted to do the same thing to them, but we knew we’d all have to be on point to do it.
“Everybody contributed to this result. It was a real team effort and I think we can be proud of what we have achieved against the league favourites.”

Bullets boss Gary Flint said: “When Kyle gated in Heat 15 we thought that could be it but the Belle Vue lads didn’t give up. To be fair it was a superb race which could have gone any way right up to the chequered flag.

“I think the lads are a bit disappointed to come home from Manchester with nothing but it’s all part of the learning process and we now have to concentrate on the cup semi-final against Leicester next weekend.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

REDCAR defeated a Diamonds Select side 54-36 in Friday’s special Challenge match at the Ecco Arena.

Erik Riss led the way for the Bears with 15+1 from six rides whilst reserve Jordan Jenkins won his first four rides as he scored 12.

Former Newcastle rider Steve Worrall scored 14 points in a meeting which included the majority of the Diamonds’ 2022 representatives following the sad news of their closure earlier in the week.
 
(SPEEDWAY 5)

LEICESTER boss Stewart Dickson is urging his side to start a new winning run when they host Birmingham in a Midlands derby tonight (Saturday).
The Lions suffered a rare defeat at Glasgow on Friday when they lost heavily, but they are unbeaten on their own circuit in 2022.

They bring in Jason Edwards to guest at reserve, whilst the Brummies have improved of late with recent home wins over Plymouth and Redcar, and the visitors track Tom Brennan as a guest for the injured Josh Auty.

Dickson said: “I don’t want to go overboard on it, but I do analyse things and Glasgow are a top team, we could find ourselves having to come back here, and they’ll be tough to beat over two legs.

“Collectively as a team we’re going to have to find ways of getting bigger scores on certain tracks, but we do have the opportunity to start on another winning run on Saturday, and we’ll be looking to take that.”

Brummies boss Laurence Rogers said: “Nobody will be expecting us to get anything I’m sure, but the boys are in really good spirits after those back-to-back home wins.

“Speedway is a confidence game and the Brummies are full of it at the moment, so let’s go there and give it our best, try and enjoy it you never know, we could just spring a surprise and get something out of it.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 6)

BERWICK hand debuts to new signings Jonas Knudsen and Nathan Stoneman when they host Scunthorpe in the Championship tonight (Saturday).

But the Bandits are without No.1 Chris Harris who has a European grasstrack commitment, and he is replaced by Paul Starke. Leon Flint takes over as skipper.

Manager Gary Flint said: “Leon’s captained the side once before, against Birmingham in his 2019 debut season, but there’s not many Berwick-born lads who have had the chance to captain one of the town’s senior sporting sides.

“It will be a proud moment when he spins the coin with Simon Lambert – as long as he calls right!” Meanwhile the Scorpions have suffered a double injury blow with Jake Allen (suspected fractured wrist) and Tero Aarnio (broken finger) both ruled out.
The visitors bring in Broc Nicol to guest for Allen whilst they operate rider replacement to cover for Aarnio.

(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY JUNE 25:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Scunthorpe 7pm, Leicester v Birmingham 7pm

SUNDAY JUNE 26:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Leicester 3pm

MONDAY JUNE 27:
PREMIERSHIP: Sheffield v Ipswich 7.30, Wolverhampton v Peterborough 7.30

TUESDAY JUNE 28:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Plymouth v Glasgow 7pm