BRITISH SPEEDWAY JUNE 23, 2023

(SPEEDWAY 1)

LEICESTER’S SMASHING SUCCESS

LEICESTER smashed Sheffield’s long unbeaten home record with a dramatic 46-44 win at Owlerton as their winning run in the Sports Insure Premiership extended to five matches.

The Lions, who are up to second place in the table, raced into a 12-point lead within six races thanks to a hat-trick of 5-1s and then withstood a strong Tigers fightback in the closing stages of the meeting.
Jack Holder scored an unstoppable 18-point maximum for the hosts but reserve Kyle Howarth was their only other race winner as they just fell short despite a hat-trick of 4-2s in the final three races.

Max Fricke top-scored for the Lions with 10 and crucially split Holder and Tobiasz Musielak in Heat 15, whilst in-form Justin Sedgmen scored 9+2 and Richard Lawson (9) won three races.
Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “We got off to a good start, momentum is definitely with us now, and you can get into a habit of winning just like when you’re losing!

“I’ll be honest, I didn’t see us coming here and winning, and maybe that’s me not giving my team the credit that they deserve.
“It was a thoroughly entertaining meeting and we knew Sheffield would come back into it, but we held on in the and we got the win.”
Tigers manager Simon Stead said: “Any loss is disappointing, especially when it’s at home, so that hurts a bit.
“Congratulations to Leicester though, they came and brought it to us and were deserved winners in the end.
“We were asleep until Heat 7 and you can’t give a team with as much quality as Leicester a head start like we did.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

IPSWICH enjoyed a convincing 52-38 home win over Peterborough as they play catch-up in the race for Sports Insure Premiership play-off places.

Jason Doyle (11+1) scored a four-ride paid maximum with Emil Sayfutdinov denied a full score of his own by mechanical trouble in Heat 13, and skipper Danny King weighed in with 12+1 as the Witches proved all but three of the race wins.
The result moves them level on points with fourth-placed Sheffield, who have two matches in hand, whilst the Panthers remain bottom of the table.

Niels-Kristian Iversen top-scored for the visitors at Foxhall with 12+1, whilst Richie Worrall won two races and scored 9+1.
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I thought it was a professional job, you need to win against the team that is bottom of the league, and we didn’t leave ourselves in any trouble.

“I was pleased with some of the performances which were an improvement on previous weeks, so I’m happy overall.
“I was really happy with Dan (Thompson), to come out in Heat 2, make a start like that and win your first race on your home debut and get that straight out of the way showed that he has got a lot about him. It was very impressive and five points from your No.7 is a good return.”

Panthers manager Rob Lyon said: “Three heat wins told its own story, and around here trying to get the better of their top two boys is nigh-on impossible.
“The aim was to try and pack the minor places when they were in those heats, and take advantage elsewhere, but as always happens when Peterborough come here, Danny King seems to have a really good meeting!
“Danny is a quality rider, he knows what he can do around here, and he was the difference. It’s ‘same old’ but you look through the scorers and the top five did a reasonable job if I’m honest, but we struggled at reserve.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

WORKINGTON’S in-form 16-year-old reserve Luke Harrison has been called up to compete in next Wednesday’s British Under 19 Final at Birmingham.
Harrison, who was unlucky not to be included in the original line up due to missing the opening weeks of the season with a fractured vertebrae, comes in to replace Leicester Lion Cubs reserve Vinnie Foord, who has been told to rest for another three weeks prior to his return as he recovers from a broken wrist.

Harrison has been in good form for the Comets since his return and will be one of the favourites on the night to claim at least a rostrum place finish.
With Harrison moving up to the main meeting, Leicester Cub Max James will now become the first reserve for the Final with Mildenhall’s Will Richardson being named at No.18.

(SPEEDWAY 4)
 
REDCAR promoter Jamie Swales is backing his side to hit back to winning ways when they host Plymouth at the ECCO Arena tonight (Thursday).
The Bears were beaten at home last week by Poole in a dramatic meeting which went down to a Super Heat, but Swales is still confident they can be in the race for silverware in the Cab Direct Championship.

Reserve Jake Mulford misses the meeting as he is competing in this weekend’s FIM World Long Track Challenge at La Reole, with Connor Coles stepping in to guest.
Swales said: “If you’d offered me this start to the season when we began 2023, I would have taken it – but having some good away wins is not the aim for 2023, we are here to win things!
“Plymouth are on a bad run at the moment, but they again have track specialists including the former Bears captain Ben Barker.

“We knew when we signed Jake that he has a few Long Track commitments but there won’t be many clashes.
“For Friday, we have brought in Connor Coles, who showed on his first visit this year he’s more than capable of riding our track and we are confident he can do similar whilst riding for us!”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

GLASGOW kick off a crunch month of action with a home clash with in-form Scunthorpe at Ashfield tonight (Friday).
The Tigers have three Friday home meetings in succession, with the BSN Series Final against Poole and then fellow Cab Direct Championship play-off contenders Redcar to come.

And boss Cami Brown expects the Scorpions, who have run into impressive form in recent weeks, to offer a serious threat to his side.
Brown said: “Like I said at the start of the season, there are no easy meetings in the Championship. Birmingham have also strengthened up now which means there are no guaranteed results.

“Scunthorpe will be another massive test. They are a tougher team since we beat them in the BSN Series semi-final. Then it’s Poole in the BSN Final and Redcar.
“We have to win all three meetings and we have to win them with big leads. We want the aggregate bonus point in the Championship meetings.”
The Scorpions operate rider replacement for Michael Palm Toft, who is currently on the injured list.

(SPEEDWAY 6)

EDINBURGH welcome back their top two of Josh Pickering and Craig Cook for tonight’s (Friday) Cab Direct Championship clash with Birmingham.
The Monarchs are yet to win at home in the league and are still unable to track a full septet as Paco Castagna is now out injured, and they operate rider replacement in his absence.

Monarchs boss Alex Harkess said: “The team Birmingham are tracking this week is a bit different, but at the end of the day there is only one result that’s acceptable, it’s as simple as that. We have to win it and we’d like to win it fairly comfortably.”
Meanwhile the Brummies have been boosted by their home win over Berwick on Wednesday which included a successful debut for Troy Batchelor, as they moved from ninth to sixth in the standings.   

Skipper Justin Sedgmen said: “We need to build on that.
“When the chips are down, you’ve got to pull your finger out. When the chips were down before, everyone kind of shelled up and ran away from the problem whereas against Berwick we ran straight into it.
“So it was definitely a lot more fun and now we go and see what this team can do away from home.”

(FIXTURES)

FRIDAY JUNE 23:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (54) v Birmingham (36) 7.30, Glasgow v Scunthorpe 7.30, Redcar v Plymouth 7.30

SATURDAY JUNE 24:
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester (47) v Edinburgh (43) 7pm, Workington v Oxford 3pm

MONDAY JUNE 26:
SPORTS INSURE PREMIERSHIP R2: Peterborough (35) v Belle Vue (55) 7.30, Wolverhampton (45) v King’s Lynn (45) 7.30