BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 25, 2022

(SPEEDWAY 1)

LEICESTER LIONS ROAR TO THE TOP

LEICESTER have finished top of the Championship for the second time in three seasons.
The Lions defeated Berwick 55-35 at the Paul Chapman & Sons Arena and cannot now be caught by their rivals, meaning they will have choice of opposition in the play-off semi-finals later this season.

Captain Kyle Howarth and fellow heat-leader Richie Worrall both scored 13+1 against the Bandits, suffering their only defeat in Heat 15 to Bandits No.1 Chris Harris, who scored 11.

Howarth said: “It’s a great result, and it’s a great season all in all. To finish top is one of the main goals, and it takes a bit of pressure off us now.
“The main job was to get three points, and we can sit back a bit now and see what happens with the other teams in the play-offs.

“It was nice to see Max (Clegg) get some points on the board and get his confidence going, that’s what he needs and when we got the 5-1 together he won and he had speed and he looked great. I think if he can get a few more of them under his belt, he’ll be away.”

Bandits boss Gary Flint said: “Heat 1 and Heat 4 in particular we were on 5-1s when the referee stopped the races. To be fair he explained his reasoning and was consistent, but instead of being ten points up we found ourselves six down.“Points at Leicester were always an outside bet, but we now have to make sure that we put it all together against Plymouth, Scunthorpe and Birmingham.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BELLE Vue picked up their first NDL away win of the season with a vital 47-41 triumph at Mildenhall.
The Fen Tigers suffered injury setbacks with both Luke Muff (foot) and Sam Bebee (suspected concussion) withdrawn after early crashes, which reduced them to a four-man side.

Home skipper Jason Edwards scored a paid maximum (14+1) and guest Lee Complin added 13+1 to keep things tight, but the Colts scored down the order, headed by Jake Mulford (13+1) and reserve Freddy Hodder (11+3).
Belle Vue co-boss Graham Goodwin said: “Track conditions weren’t the best to begin with, but me and the boys had a good chat before the meeting about the best way to tackle it.

“Everybody rode within their capabilities, but the boys went above and beyond to deliver this result, and it is a massive result for us.
“If we’d been offered three points at the start, we’d have gladly taken them! Everyone rode brilliantly and we couldn’t have asked for more from them.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 3)

OXFORD won a crunch play-off clash at Kent in the NDL, coming away from Iwade with a 47-42 victory.

The Chargers are now well-placed in the top four after an impressive display which saw them make a flying start to go ten points up after three races.

Henry Atkins led a solid team effort with 9+2, whilst the Royals’ top two of Alfie Bowtell (13) and Ben Morley (12+3 paid maximum) combined for two late 5-1s as the Chargers were trimmed to three league points from the meeting.

Oxford boss Peter Schroeck said: “Many of our lads hadn’t been to the track in Iwade for quite a few years, but we took control of the meeting from the off. “I’m very proud of how they battled away, especially since Iwade is quite a tricky little track to ride.

“You can get greedy, because it looked like we could pick up the fourth league point, but we didn’t quite get it. “But we did what we came here to do, which was pick up the away victory and the three points. It was a great result, a very important result, and I couldn’t be prouder of the team.”
 (SPEEDWAY 4)

WOLVERHAMPTON will be without Australian star Nick Morris for tonight’s (Monday) televised Premiership clash with King’s Lynn.
Morris is out for a week due to illness and Wolves operate rider replacement in what is a key fixture as the Stars are nine points behind but with two matches in hand.

The visitors have former Wolves racer Kyle Howarth guesting at No.1 with the club indicating they will shortly be in a position to fill the gap vacated by Niels-Kristian Iversen.

Wolves captain Sam Masters said: “King’s Lynn do have a really good team. I know they’re sitting outside the play-offs in the table but it’s going to be tough.

“They’ve got some riders who can be good around Monmore so we’re going to have to be on it ourselves.
“It is a pretty big meeting, so we’ve just got to give it all we’ve got and make sure we get another home win.”

Stars skipper Josh Pickering said: “The consistency side of things is where we are lacking, but at the same time we’re missing that out-and-out No.1. If we had that in the league, that would have our season completely turned around.
“We’re all up for it on Monday. We’ve just beaten them (at home) so there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.

“There’s still plenty of racing to do, and a replacement for Niels looks to be happening in the near future, which will definitely strengthen us up a lot.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

BELLE Vue look to gain ground on Premiership leaders Ipswich when Peterborough visit the National Speedway Stadium tonight (Monday).
The Aces have a perfect home record and start the meeting five points behind the Witches with one match in hand.

But time is running out for the reigning champions to mount a play-off challenge, and Danish duo Michael Palm Toft and Hans Andersen are both ruled out due to injury.

Justin Sedgmen guests for Andersen, rider replacement is in operation for Palm Toft, and Jake Mulford makes his debut at reserve.

Aces boss Mark Lemon said: “Things are exceptionally close in the league right now, but Peterborough are quite capable of being a real spoiler especially with former British Champions Chris Harris and Scott Nicholls, and Danish hotshot Benjamin Basso. 

The pressure is on them to put in a big performance, but with their recent fortunes we can’t afford to take anything they may throw at us for granted.
“There’s no room for complacency, and we won’t breathe easy until the job is done and we have three more points on our tally.”

Panthers manager Rob Lyon said: “Realistically we now have to go and get three or four wins away from home, and also to win all the rest of our home meetings.“It would be nice to see these boys, who we all saw last year riding so well, get back to that and have a good end to the season.”

(FIXTURES)

MONDAY JULY 25:
PREMIERSHIP: Belle Vue v Peterborough 7.30, Wolverhampton v King’s Lynn 7.30

TUESDAY JULY 26:
CHAMPIONSHIP JUBILEE LEAGUE: Plymouth v Oxford 7pm

WEDNESDAY JULY 27:
CHAMPIONSHIP JUBILEE LEAGUE: Birmingham v Poole 7.30, Oxford v Plymouth 7.30

FRIDAY JULY 29:
CHAMPIONSHIP JUBILEE LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Glasgow 7.30, Poole v Birmingham 7.30, Scunthorpe v Redcar 7.30