BRITISH SPEEDWAY MARCH 25, 2023

Feature photo by: Ian Charles

Aussie duo Jack Holder and Brady Kurtz battle into the first bend.

SPEEDWAY 1)

TIGERS’ COMEBACK WIN

SHEFFIELD edged out champions Belle Vue 48-42 in an excellent start to the new Premiership season at Owlerton.
The Roses clash proved to be a fascinating, topsy-turvy affair with the Aces twice taking the lead, only for the Tigers to hit back with two big 5-1s in Heats 9 and 11 to go eight points up.

Brady Kurtz and Jaimon Lidsey halved the gap with a maximum of their own for the visitors in Heat 12, but two Sheffield 4-2s followed with wins for Tobiasz Musielak and Lewis Kerr to secure the league points with a race to spare.
Musielak top-scored for the hosts with 12+1 with Jack Holder (9+1) unbeaten from his first three rides, whilst Kurtz struck 12 from six outings for the Aces including three race wins.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “It’s always nice to get the first one over and done with and get it out of the way – and it’s always even nicer when you manage to open with a win.
“They were tricky conditions out there but I thought everyone applied themselves really well, both the home and away team.
“All in all, I think the result was probably a fair result and I don’t think they’ll be unhappy either.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BELLE Vue skipper Brady Kurtz was keen to take the positives from a six-point defeat at Sheffield in the opening Premiership fixture of the season.

Kurtz top-scored for the Aces with 12 points, including a win in Heat 15 as the visitors remained within range for the re-introduced aggregate point which will be up for grabs when the sides meet again in Manchester on Monday – and it’s a format the Australian approves of.

He said: “I think that’s a good start to the season. Sheffield are probably the strongest team on paper and to come here in the first meeting of the year in quite difficult conditions, we can be happy with that.
“We’re definitely going to build on it, and I think we can look forward to Monday and hopefully go back to our track and do what we do there.

“I think for sure it’s the best scoring system, it encourages the top riders to go out in Heat 15 and always give it their best, and obviously a win in Heat 15 is a big boost towards the bonus point.
“That’s going to be our goal on Monday, we want to secure that, but we’ll take it one meeting at a time and keep building. I’m sure there’s a lot of improvement to come from us.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

REDCAR warm up for the new Cab Direct Championship campaign by hosting a Newcastle Diamonds Select side at the ECCO Arena tonight (Friday).
Bears bosses have assembled a strong visiting outfit to test their own team, with the Diamonds led by Steve and Richie Worrall in a septet which has strong connections with the Tyneside outfit who sadly shut their doors last year.

(Former British Champion Danny King is amongst the debutants for Redcar, who have also brought in Danyon Hume, Connor Bailey and Jake Mulford over the winter.
Bears star Erik Riss said: “This match is a good challenge for us as the Redcar promotion have assembled a good, solid team for Newcastle.
“If you want to test something like I am testing an engine on Friday, you want to test things against good riders like the riders I will be facing.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

SATURDAY’S memorabilia auction at the Ben Fund Bonanza will include the meeting race-jackets and a number of pictures and photographs.
Included are framed photographs of the late Lee Richardson and nine framed paintings of Grand Prix stars.
There is a late change to the line-up with King’s Lynn’s Rising Star Jason Edwards replacing his team-mate Krzysztof Kasprzak.

The Pole had indicated that his involvement was on the basis that he would not be required in Poland on the day, which has turned out to be the case, so Edwards steps in on his home Premiership track.
*Lee Richardson photos donated from the family of the late Len Willis, an Arena-Essex supporter, via former Hammers Press Officer Alan Sargent.
*GP paintings donated by Val Woodhouse, who sadly lost her partner in a motorcycle crash a couple of years ago but wanted the paintings to go to a good cause.

(FIXTURES)

FRIDAY MARCH 24:
TYNE-TEES TROPHY: Redcar v Newcastle Diamonds Select 7.30

SATURDAY MARCH 25:
BEN FUND BONANZA: King’s Lynn 5pm

SUNDAY MARCH 26:
SAM MASTERS TESTIMONIAL: Wolverhampton 3pm

MONDAY MARCH 27:
PREMIERSHIP R1: Belle Vue (42) v Sheffield (48) 7.30, Peterborough v Ipswich 7.30MO