BRITISH SPEEDWAY MAY 4, 2025

(SPEEDWAY 1)

ACES TEAMMATES IMPRESSIVE IN SPEEDWAY GP OPENER

BELLE VUE and Great Britain star Dan Bewley kicked off his World Championship campaign with second place in Saturday’s FIM Grand Prix of Germany at Landshut.

Bewley scored nine points from his regular heats and then made it into the Final with a win in the second of the new Last Chance Qualifier races, where only the first-place finishers go through.
In the Final he mounted a challenge to defending World Champion Bartosz Zmarzlik who held on for the win, with Bewley in runners-up spot ahead of Andzejs Lebedevs in third, and his Aces team-mate Brady Kurtz fourth.

Bewley said: “The day didn’t start off brilliantly with the Qualifying. But after that, I scored pretty good points in the heats. I made some changes towards the end of the night.
“I took No.1 (riding number), and nobody likes it, but I looked at it today and believed in myself. It didn’t work out too badly.
“I just want to say thank you to my team, everyone supporting me – my sponsors and all my fans, who are with me through thick and thin. They are always there for me, and we have been working hard.”
Bewley and Kurtz return to ROWE Motor Oil Premiership action for Belle Vue in a big Bank Holiday double header against Sheffield on Monday.

(SPEEDWAY 2)

BERWICK were held to a four-point first leg margin by Redcar at the halfway stage of their MAXiCab Knockout Cup quarter-final tie.
The Bandits were 47-43 winners at Shielfield Park, having led for the majority of the meeting but never being able to extend their advantage.

4-2s in Heats 13 and 14 put them back ahead after visitors had levelled on the night, but Bears skipper Charles Wright won Heat 15 ahead of Drew Kemp and Craig Cook to leave the gap at four points.
Cook (11+2) and Kemp (10) led the way for the Bandits despite the latter having mechanical trouble when leading his first ride, whilst Wright scored 10 for the visitors with guest Leon Flint on 10+1.

Berwick boss Stewart Dickson said: “We always knew it was going to be tight – just about every meeting in the Championship this season has been decided by a few points – but the important thing was to get the win.
“Four points is a slender lead, but it’s still four points Redcar have to claw back, and we can defend.
“I was pleased with the performance of our reserves; they imposed themselves on the Redcar pair, and those points were vital.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

WORKINGTON won a last-heat decider against Scunthorpe in the BSN Series with a 47-43 victory at the GT Tyres Arena.
The Comets fought back from an early four-point deficit to go six up themselves, but a 5-1 from tactical substitute Steve Worrall and Connor Mountain in Heat 14 narrowed the gap back to two, and set up a tense finale.

However, home duo Antti Vuolas and Troy Batchelor collected a 4-2 in Heat 15, split by Worrall to give them the win in their first home match of 2025.
Vuolas scored 11 for the Comets despite a last place in his opening ride, whilst Worrall totalled 11+1 for the Scorpions and reserve Declan Kennedy won three races as he finished on ten.

(SPEEDWAY 4)

GLASGOW will clinch progression to the BSN Series semi-finals if they avoid defeat at home to Berwick today (Sunday).
The Tigers have won both of their Scottish group fixtures so far on the road, and they now require two more match points to be mathematically certain qualifiers.

They won the reverse fixture 47-43 at Shielfield Park earlier in the schedule, but manager Cami Brown is taking nothing for granted as the Bandits head north.
Brown said: “There’s not a lot between any of us. Edinburgh and Berwick are both good sides. I think we did very well to win at both tracks.

“But I’ve told the boys to beware of the Bandits. They are very capable of coming back to Ashfield and doing the same to us.
“Our boys have had a severe lack of track time at Ashfield. We’ve only had one meeting and lost that to Edinburgh in the Scottish Cup.“It’s been such an odd start to the season with three wins away from home and one defeat at home. But that has to change on Sunday night. A win against the Bandits would maintain our strong start to the year.”

GLASGOW: Chris Harris, Ashton Boughen, Dan Thompson, Leon Flint, Kyle Howarth, Freddy Hodder, Max Perry.

BERWICK: Craig Cook, Danyon Hume, Sam Hagon, Drew Kemp, Peter Kildemand, Dayle Wood, Jack Smith.

(SPEEDWAY 5)LEICESTER and Birmingham are both forced into changes due to injuries ahead of their National Development Trophy clash at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park today (Sunday).
The Fox Cubs have three riders out injured with Ace Pijper joining his brother Stene and Mason Watson on the sidelines after a crash at Redcar on Friday.

Cooper Rushen and Ryan Ingram, who both ride for the Lion Cubs in the parallel NDL competition, take guest bookings with rider replacement for Ace Pijper.
The Bulls, who lead 51-38 from the reverse fixture, are without Tom Spencer and Sam McGurk after recent crashes, and they bring in Matt Marson to guest for Spencer with rider replacement in operation for McGurk.

LEICESTER: Will Cairns, Cooper Rushen, Ace Pijper, Stene Pijper R/R, Sonny Springer, Max Broadhurst, Caydin Martin.

BIRMINGHAM: Connor Coles, Arran Butcher, Sam McGurk, Darryl Ritchings, Tom Spencer, Senna Summers, Eli Meadows.

(SPEEDWAY 6)

BRITISH youngsters Luke Harrison and Ashton Boughen were both cursing their luck last night in the FIM European Under-19 qualifier at the Slovakian track of Zarnovica, where both just missed out on qualification due to bike failures.
Harrison was clearly going to secure a second place in his second heat, when on the last bend a broken primary chain course him to pulled up and lose two valuable points.

Meanwhile Boughen was leading his second heat when this time a broken seat bracket made the bike impossible to ride, losing him three points, meaning that the two bike failures cost them a chance of qualification.
Poland had one and two in this qualifier with Kevin Malkiewicz topping the scores on 13 points and Bartosz Jaworski on 11 pipping Denmark’s Villads Nagel to 2nd place on countback.
Harrison finished tenth on six points and Boughen was 12th on five.

(FIXTURES)

SUNDAY MAY 4:
BSN SERIES: Glasgow (47) v Berwick (43) 6pm
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY: Leicester (38) v Birmingham (51) 3pm

MONDAY MAY 5:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Belle Vue v Sheffield 12pm, Oxford v Birmingham 1pm, Ipswich v King’s Lynn 2.15, Birmingham v Oxford 7.30, Sheffield v Belle Vue 6.30
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Steelers v Belle Vue (at Sheffield) (follows Prem fixture) 

WEDNESDAY MAY 7:
BSN SERIES: Poole (45) v Oxford (45) 7.30