BRITISH SPEEDWAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

NICHOLLS HAPPY WITH LINE-UP

SEVEN-TIME British Champion Scott Nicholls is pleased to see an almost identical line-up on track for Sunday’s Sports Insure British Final Championship at Belle Vue – including favourite Dan Bewley.

Nicholls was on seven points at the time the meeting was abandoned due to rain in August, but everyone starts from scratch for the second attempt, with Craig Cook coming in to replace the injured Danyon Hume.

Nicholls said: “It’s great to see Dan back as he has been the talk of the speedway world over the past few weeks. His win in Cardiff certainly raised his profile, and then to go and repeat his win in Wroclaw two weeks later was certainly something you have to admire.

“So many will fancy him to be the favourite – but it all comes down to that one race in the Final at the end of the day.

“I was having a decent British Final before the rain came down and we had to stop the meeting last time. I had plenty of speed and was having some fun out on track, so let’s go out there and hopefully enjoy the same again.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

EDINBURGH will take an 18-point advantage to Redcar this evening (Saturday, 5pm – UK time) for the second leg of their Championship play-off quarter-final.

Josh Pickering (15) and Sam Masters (13+2) both scored maximums for the Monarchs at Armadale as they defeated the Bears 54-36.
There were three multi-rider pile-ups during the meeting, with Redcar’s Lewis Kerr withdrawing after a Heat 9 crash and Edinburgh’s Kye Thomson also feeling the effects.

Charles Wright top-scored for the visitors with 10, and interestingly they did defeat the Monarchs by 18 points the last time the teams met on Teesside.
Edinburgh boss Alex Harkess said: “If you’d offered me an 18-point lead at the start I’d certainly have taken it, but in the end I feel a little disappointed that we didn’t take a bit more of a lead.

“I thought we rode pretty well but there were heats we might have done better in.”
Redcar have declared Erik Riss in their side for Saturday’s return at the Ecco Arena with the German set to return from injury, and they will continue to operate rider replacement for Jason Edwards.

Paco Castagna is missing for the Monarchs due to the Italian Championship, with his place taken by guest Adam Roynon.

(SPEEDWAY 3)

LEICESTER face off with Poole at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena tonight (Saturday – UK time) in the first leg of their KO Cup semi-final.

Redcar await the winners over two legs in the Final, with the Lions and the Pirates set to race to a finish at Wimborne Road on Wednesday.
Both sides are at full strength and are set for further clashes this season with the CJL Final, also involving Glasgow to come, as well as potentially in the play-offs.

Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “It feels like ages since we’ve last raced at home, but thankfully all the boys have been racing elsewhere and we have a full team for Saturday.

“This should be an absolute humdinger of a tie, and of course we also know we’re going to be meeting Poole again in at least one other competition. They’re a strong team once more, and they did a job on us at the end of last season.

“We are confident around our home track and have had strong results there, but this is the time at which we need to make every point count, and that’s what we’ll all be focused on doing.”
Pirates co-manager Gary Havelock said: “The philosophy for us at Leicester will be to go there and beat them.

“For sure they are a very good team, but so is the Poole side and we have got the riders capable of getting the result there, so let’s see.”

(FIXTURES)

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17:
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF Q/F 2nd leg: Redcar v Edinburgh 5pm
CHAMPIONSHIP KO CUP S/F 1st leg: Leicester v Poole 7pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 18:
SPORTS INSURE BRITISH FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Belle Vue 3pm
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Kent v Belle Vue 12pm
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 6: Kent (follows NDL fixture)

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 20:
CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF Q/F 2nd leg: Plymouth v Poole 7pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 21:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Oxford v Kent 7.30