BRITISH SPEEDWAY JUNE 27, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

SHEFFIELD HOST TOP OF THE TABLE CLASH

SHEFFIELD host Ipswich in tonight’s (Monday -UK time)) televised Premiership clash at Owlerton – where the winners will end the evening on top of the table.

The Witches travel as league leaders, two points clear of the Tigers and Belle Vue, who do not have a meeting.
Sheffield are without recent signing Jake Allen who has suffered suspected fractured wrist bones, and Craig Cook is out after two crashes last week.

The Tigers bring in Justin Sedgmen, who rode for them in the first half of last season, to guest for Allen and will operate rider replacement for Cook. Broc Nicol guests for the Witches in place of the injured Ben Barker.

Sheffield co-promoter Damien Bates said: “It’s never ideal going into any meeting without a full team. But when you’re up against the league leaders with two riders out injured, it makes a difficult task even harder.

“While not having Ben Barker at reserve is a massive blow to Ipswich I think, they’ve got a top, top side this year.
“I see they’ve put Troy (Batchelor) at No.2 with Jason Doyle as well – that’s an interesting move, it certainly gives them a strong opening pair and Troy will want to come back and prove a point to us all here, I’m sure.”

Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I’ve changed the riding order, we are in a good position at the moment, so I thought it was a good opportunity to try a couple of things and have a look at a couple of things I want to see and see their reactions to being at different numbers.

“It’s a decision I have taken because we are in a good position in the league at the halfway point, and it will be an opportunity to learn a few things about the riders. We will see how it goes.

“It will be a really tough test on Monday. Even though we are top of the league I think Sheffield are probably the best side in the league at the moment and are performing the best.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

WOLVERHAMPTON and Peterborough can both climb the Premiership table with positive results from tonight’s (Monday) re-arranged fixture at Monmore Green.

Wolves have taken points in all but two of their league matches this season, and a win will take them into the top three.
Meanwhile the Panthers, whose results have improved considerably of late, will move off the bottom if they can avoid defeat.

However, the visitors are still without injured duo Michael Palm Toft and Scott Nicholls, and they bring in Richie Worrall to guest with rider replacement covering for Palm Toft.

Wolves skipper Sam Masters said: ““Every meeting this year seems tough. They always seem to be going right down to the end with something to play for either way – I’m sure that’s good for the fans but I wouldn’t mind a comfortable meeting at some point really!

“Peterborough built a very similar team to last year which was killing it and won the league.
“Everybody knows they’ve got riders who are track specialists at Wolves if you like so we’re going to have to be on our game.”
Panthers boss Rob Lyon said: “We’re now finishing the full quota of first round matches away from home, but there’s a long way to go and we’re still capable of getting up there into the play-off positions.

“We’ve put ourselves in a better position psychologically, confidence is back in the team, and hopefully we can kick on. It would be nice to get a full seven-man team again.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

LEICESTER raced to an impressive 50-39 win at NDL champions Mildenhall for their second maximum-points haul on the road this season.
Captain Joe Thompson scored 14 points from five rides for the Lion Cubs and brother Dan added 11+2 as the Lion Cubs moved to within five point of leaders Berwick.

James Shanes top-scored for the Fen Tigers with 11 but they never fully recovered from conceding a 5-1 and a 5-0 in the first three races.
Leicester boss Dave Howard said: “It’s a massive result for us to win and to get all four points, and so far this season that’s the first home defeat for a top-six team.

“Obviously that’s very good for our play-off push, there’s more to come, but it was a fantastic performance by the guys today.”
Mildenhall manager Malcolm Vasey said: “The expression sometimes used is a bad day at the office – this was a dire day at the office.

“But we need to remember that we suffered an early setback losing our opening home match last season and went on to win the league, so we are not going to panic, and we will regroup and go again with even greater vigour.”

(FIXTURES)

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

TUESDAY JUNE 28:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Plymouth v Glasgow 7pm

WEDNESDAY JUNE 29:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Oxford v Leicester 7.30, Poole v Berwick 7.30

FRIDAY JULY 1:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh v Scunthorpe 7.30, Glasgow v Redcar 7.30