BRITISH SPEEDWAY APRIL 3, 2023

(SPEEDWAY 1)

INJURY SETBACK FOR WOLVERHAMPTON

WOLVERHAMPTON have been rocked by an injury to American ace Luke Becker on the eve of their Premiership opener against King’s Lynn tonight (Monday).

Becker crashed in Slovakia on Sunday and X-rays have confirmed a broken fibula just above the ankle, meaning he will spend at least three weeks in a cast before seeking specialist advice.

Wolves have booked Scott Nicholls, who had a spell with the club in 2019 but is not racing regularly in the Premiership this season, to guest against the Stars. The visitors hand a debut to former World No.2 Krzysztof Kasprzak whilst Michael Palm Toft is back with the club after two seasons with Peterborough.

Speaking prior to Becker’s injury, Wolves manager Peter Adams said: “We’re confident of finishing in the top four and as the old adage goes, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish that matters in this game.
“The riders we select have got to be capable of delivering what we’re looking for; but for me, this year’s team virtually picked itself.”

Stars boss Alex Brady said: “Wolves is a tough place to go but we pushed them all the way in our second meeting there in 2022, so we’ll look to take the positives of that, and use that experience to put us in good stead.
“KK has had some good meetings there in years gone by and Tofty has produced double figures the past couple of times he’s completed a meeting there.

“We want to get off to a positive start, and we’re looking for a minimum of three of the available five points over the two meetings, and we’ll be going to Wolverhampton to win.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BELLE Vue are all set for the second attempt to stage their flagship Peter Craven Memorial at the National Speedway Stadium tonight (Monday).

Bad weather a fortnight ago put paid to the meeting as a season-opener but the club still have a strong field in place including treble winner Jason Doyle, home No.1 Dan Bewley and 2022 Aces riders Matej Zagar and Robert Lambert.
Coming into the field since the initial planned running are Chris Harris, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Hans Andersen, Justin Sedgmen and Kye Thomson.

Lambert said: “Belle Vue has always been one of my favourite tracks in the UK and I was really pleased to be able to help put the team in a good position (last season), as I’ve said already.
“But it’s a new year now, and this is one of my first meetings back after a few Polish test matches, so we’ll just have to see how things go, but hopefully I’ll pick up from where I left off. 

“At the same time, it’s a meeting without pressure which means it’s a meeting to enjoy and it will be nice to be able to take in and appreciate the atmosphere in Manchester and at Belle Vue. 
“It’s such a great event anyway but with the line-up they’ve put together it’s a really good way to test your performance early on in the season.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

REDCAR established a 16-point lead over Berwick with a 53-37 win in the first leg of their KO Cup tie at the ECCO Arena.
Reserve Jason Edwards starred for the Bears with 13+1 from seven outings, taking extra rides after colleague Jake Mulford was withdrawn due to a Heat 2 crash.

Danny King added 12+1 on his official debut for the home side whilst skipper Charles Wright picked up 10.
Rory Schlein marked his first Bandits appearance with 12 points to top-score for the visitors, but they were hampered by a pre-match crash for skipper Leon Flint who suffered an injured ankle and wrote off his number one bike, before being restricted to a score of three.

Redcar manager Gavin Parr said: “I’m really happy with the performance of the side, apart from Jake crashing in Heat 2 things couldn’t have gone much better overall.
“The second strings (Connor Bailey and Danyon Hume) did more than was expected of them, and that was really encouraging.

“Jason was fantastic for us at reserve, he really stepped up for us.”
Bandits boss Gary Flint said: “In all honesty we wanted to keep it a bit closer, but I cannot fault anyone’s efforts and there were a lot of bonuses to take from it.

“We certainly don’t think the tie is lost. By the time the teams meet for the second leg we will have four more matches under our belts and be fully dialled in.
“We showed the lack of competitive bike time but even though we were probably only 50 per cent there were lots of encouraging signs.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

MILDENHALL made a winning start to the National Development League season by overcoming Kent 53-37 at West Row.
No.1 Alfie Bowtell (14) and new skipper Lee Complin (12+2) both dropped just one point to the opposition, whilst Ben Trigger (9+1) also scored paid double figures.

Connor King impressed at reserve for the Royals with 12 and No.1 Ben Morley collected 11, but the visitors were weakened by the late withdrawal of Nathan Ablitt due to illness.
Fen Tigers boss Jason Gardner said: “It was a very solid performance, all put in a shift and it’s very pleasing to have six out of the seven riders score at least one paid win. 

“It was also marvellous after the winter of uncertainty and all the efforts made by supporters, sponsors and the management to keep us on track, to see such a brilliant turnout.”

(FIXTURES)
 
MONDAY APRIL 3:
PREMIERSHIP R1: Wolverhampton v King’s Lynn 7.30

PETER CRAVEN MEMORIAL: Belle Vue 7.30

TUESDAY APRIL 4:
PAUL STARKE TESTIMONIAL: Plymouth 7pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 5:
BSN SERIES: Oxford v Poole 7.30