BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 16, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

GLASGOW’S BIG WIN OVER BERWICK

GLASGOW thrashed Berwick 65-25 in the Championship Jubilee League on a night when everything went wrong for the Bandits.

The visitors ended the night with three fit riders and five wrecked bikes after a series of crashes, the most serious of which affected Leon Flint.

He suffered a damaged sciatica nerve and had pain in leg and back after a Heat 12 crash, which has caused him to withdraw from Saturday’s European U19 Pairs event in Riga.

Craig Cook scored a paid maximum (12+3) for the Tigers with Benjamin Basso (11+1) unbeaten apart from a Heat 14 disqualification after a clash with the Bandits’ Jonas Knudsen (9+1).

Berwick boss Gary Flint said: “It was quite unreal at times. Glasgow were really dialled in while we got caught out by a heavily watered the slick inside line.

“You don’t expect to see riders of Theo (Pijper) and Bomber’s (Chris Harris) experience surprised by track conditions and falling but that is exactly what happened. “The final scoreline looks horrific but I honestly cannot fault the commitment of any one of our riders tonight.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

REDCAR gained an impressive 51-39 win over Leicester in their opening Championship Jubilee League fixture.

Reserve Jordan Jenkins put in a tremendous display at the Ecco Arena to top-score with 12+1, including a second place on the line over Nick Morris in Heat 15.

Erik Riss added 10+1 for the Bears, whilst Kyle Howarth (12) and Morris (11+1) hit double figures for the Lions.
Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “It’s a disappointing result and I’m not going to dress it up. They fired much more as a full team whereas we really had only three and a half riders.

“I certainly don’t regard this as ‘only’ the Jubilee League. I want to win every competition we go into, and whilst I don’t want to go overboard about it, we should have been good enough to get at least a point here.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

KENT remain firmly in the NDL play-off hunt after a 48-42 win at Armadale in a last-heat decider.
The Royals are fourth in the table and crucially have joined Leicester and Oxford in having two away wins as well as an unblemished home record.

Ben Morley completed a paid maximum (13+2) in the last race and was joined for a 5-1 by Alfie Botwell (14), who dropped just one point from five rides when he was beaten by home debutant Lee Complin in Heat 1.

Reserve Gregor Millar won three races to finish with 10 for the Devils, whilst Complin added 9.
Complin said: “I found it good, obviously the track was different to when I came with Newcastle and there was a bit more dirt on.

“I’m struggling with starts at the moment, and obviously just riding time, being out for ten years, come back and then another month off, I don’t need that right now!
“I hope to bang some points in at Leicester tomorrow (Saturday) and Mildenhall on Sunday.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 4)

BELLE Vue maintained their 100 per cent home record with a thumping 64-26 win over depleted Mildenhall in the NDL.

The Fen Tigers suffered without regular heat-leaders Jason Edwards and James Shanes, and the Colts dominated with Harry McGurk (14+1) and Jack Smith (12) scoring maximums.

Guest Greg Blair scored seven for the Fen Tigers, who now turn their attention to Sunday’s home clash with Armadale, whilst reserve Josh Warren was their only race winner in Heat 2.

Colts star Nathan Ablitt (11+2) said: “Coming into tonight, we were pretty confident we could get a result, purely because of the form we’ve been in at home this year.

“We’ve really got to focus on our away form now as the season gets to the play-offs. We’ve been to a few tricky tracks and we do need a little more consistency away.

“But if we can nail that down, in a two-leg situation, we know we’ve got what it takes to be successful in the play-offs, so we’ve really got to knuckle down and do what we need to do to get there.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

LEICESTER host Edinburgh in the Championship tonight (Saturday, 6.30pm) knowing they are two home wins away from securing top spot in the league table.

The match is the first half of a double header as the Lion Cubs also face Armadale, and will go top of the NDL with a win by more than two points.

The Monarchs travel for the senior meeting with Sam Masters ruled out by a foot injury, and Richard Lawson comes in as guest. Leicester operate rider replacement for Dan Thompson who is out with concussion.

Boss Stewart Dickson said: “This is a massive, massive meeting for us, and I’m not going to play down the importance because having done all the work so far, we really want to finish top.

“We are going to need the whole team firing, because with using rider replacement for Dan, it means that Joe and Max (Clegg) are going to have to take several additional rides at reserve.

“Our home form is good, and we are good enough to win this meeting, but we have to keep that back door closed and our home crowd can help us.”
In the NDL fixture, Dan Thompson is replaced by guest Alfie Bowtell at No.1 for the Lion Cubs.

(SPEEDWAY 6)

BERWICK face a 12-point deficit against Redcar ahead of their KO Cup clash at Shielfield Park tonight (Saturday).

The Bandits have suffered several injury concerns in recent away matches but are hopeful that both Jye Etheridge and Theo Pijper will take their place in the side.

Aaron Summers had already been booked to guest for Leon Flint, who crashed last night at Glasgow, as Flint was set to represent GB in the European U19 Pairs.

Boss Gary Flint said: “Theo suffered some neck pain and we withdrew him as a precaution as much as anything, but unless it stiffens up overnight he wants to race against Redcar.

“Perhaps the best moment of a rotten night (at Glasgow) was when Jonas (Knudsen) got up and walked away from what was by far the worst looking crash of the meeting.

“Now we have to forget about it and concentrate on pulling back the 12 points against Redcar.
“Unless something dramatically changes overnight Jye expects to be fit to ride and with Aaron Summers already booked to guest for Leon we just need to put the same effort into our racing – and keep out of trouble.”
 
(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY JULY 16:
CHAMPIONSHIP: Leicester v Edinburgh 6.30
CHAMPIONSHIP KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Berwick v Redcar 7pm
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester v Armadale (follows Champ fixture)

SUNDAY JULY 17:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Armadale 3pm

MONDAY JULY 18:
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS Round 4: Wolverhampton 8pm

TUESDAY JULY 19:
CHAMPIONSHIP JUBILEE LEAGUE: Oxford v Birmingham 7.30, Plymouth v Poole 7pm