BRITISH SPEEDWAY MAY 16, 2025

(SPEEDWAY 1)

TIGERS STOP IPSWICH’S WINNING RUN

SHEFFIELD ended Ipswich’s 100 per cent start to the season with a last-heat 5-1 to win a pulsating ROWE Motor Oil Premiership contest 46-44 at Owlerton.

The Witches put themselves in with a great chance of extending their superb run when they took maximum points in Heat 14 through Danny King and Dan Thompson to put them two points ahead.
But a tremendous Heat 15 saw Josh Pickering hit the front for the Tigers whilst Jack Holder found a way past Jason Doyle on turn three with Emil Sayfutdinov missing out, to leave the home side celebrating.
In-form Pickering piled up a 14-point haul for the Tigers whilst Doyle led the way for the Witches with 10+1 as their lead at the top of the table was cut to two points.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “I think we found it difficult in areas; we haven’t got the points return from some areas that we would expect and I think if the truth be told, we were on the receiving end of a little bit of good fortune.
“We’ll take that and put the win on the board but we know when it comes to the crunch at the business end of the season, we’re going to have to perform much better than that against this Ipswich team.
“But Picko and Jack did the business and credit to both boys – as well as the other lads who really dug deep because that was a tough one.”

Ipswich manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I thought it was a brilliant performance; it is the happiest I have come away from an away meeting since Belle Vue.
“I thought the boys were the better team and felt we were, not unfortunate because they were our own mistakes, but we made a couple of mistakes that cost us the win.
“We changed the riding order to experiment, and I don’t think that helped and we may well have won without that but I’m happy with where the boys are at, it is all positive and I am happy with a lot of the performances and that there is a lot more still to come.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)
 
BELLE Vue’s top order were in dominant form as the Aces collected their second away win of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership season with a 52-38 victory at Oxford.
Captain Brady Kurtz (12) and Dan Bewley (11+1) both scored paid maximums whilst third heat leader Jaimon Lidsey totalled 11 points and Zach Cook added 9+1.

It meant the Manchester club accounted for all but three of the race wins at BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium as they moved eight points up in the early stages and continued to extend their advantage.
Peter Kildemand enjoyed an encouraging night for the Spires with 9+1 and Charles Wright picked up nine, with Craig Cook their only other winner in Heat 2.

Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “We got an edge early on and carried that confidence through the rest of the meeting.
“There were some strong challenges from Oxford but we just had the upper hand. We seemed to make use of the gates and track better. After the first four races we just chipped away.
“I feel there is a lot more to come from this team. But so far so good.”
The result leaves the Aces second in the league table, two points behind leaders Ipswich.

(SPEEDWAY 3)

LEICESTER consolidated their top four place in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a 52-38 win over King’s Lynn which also saw them take the aggregate point.
A hat-trick of 5-1s from Heats 4 to 6 saw the Lions overturn an early Stars lead and take control of the meeting.

They secured victory with maximum points in Heat 13 from Max Fricke and Sam Masters in a race which was re-started after Masters had fallen on the first bend, before Masters combined with Ryan Douglas for another 5-1 in Heat 15.
Douglas totalled 12+1 from five rides for the Lions with Masters on 10+2 and Fricke on ten from four, whilst Jan Kvech raced hard for 11+2 from seven rides for the Stars.

Leicester boss Stewart Dickson said: “I said beforehand that this was a meeting we had to win, we did win it, and to win by 14 points probably exceeded my expectations.
“In Heats 13 and 15 we showed the importance of having a big boy, when you watch Max Fricke locking it on these guys, and then Sam and Dougy did it in Heat 15 as well, so that sent the majority of the fans home happy.
“I know one or two riders think they could have done a little better, which is always good to hear from a team manager’s point of view, and it was also much better from Dougy tonight as well, so that was really good to see.”

King’s Lynn manager Rob Lyon said: “We didn’t have quite enough race winners, so we just fell short, and a couple of refereeing decisions went against us which can be crucial in a match like this.
“Leicester were just a little bit too good for us tonight, and decisions such as Heat 13 are the sort of things that can make a difference in a match, but that’s speedway I guess.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

SCUNTHORPE open their home campaign in the Cab Direct Championship tonight (Friday) with a mouthwatering clash against in-form Glasgow.
The Scorpions hit 61 at the Eddie Wright Raceway against Workington last week but now face a Tigers side who have won all four of their away matches so far in 2025.

Both sides expect to be at full strength with Scunthorpe duo Luke Harrison and Declan Kennedy having picked up knocks during Wednesday’s defeat at Poole, but club management hope they will be fit to take their places.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “I said we wanted to make the Eddie Wright Raceway a fortress and we’ve started to do that.

“Glasgow have started the season well and have proved to be highly competitive on their travels, but I know if we’re firing on all cylinders that we can take another decent-sized victory.
“The win is always the first priority, but there’s building up a lead, because I feel the Cab Direct Championship is more competitive than ever this season and aggregate points are going to prove vital in the battle for play-off places.”

SCUNTHORPE: Steve Worrall, Luke Harrison, Simon Lambert, Connor Mountain, Jake Allen, Declan Kennedy, Zaine Kennedy.

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

(SPEEDWAY 5)

EDINBURGH’S first Cab Direct Championship fixture of 2025 sees them face a major test with defending champions Poole visiting Armadale tonight (Friday).

The Pirates got off to a winning start in the league at home to Scunthorpe on Wednesday when Anders Rowe scored a 15-point maximum, and they will look for points on a northern tour which also takes them to Berwick on Saturday.
Monarchs have one home and one away victory so far this season having been narrowly beaten twice on their own track by Glasgow, and they bring in Dayle Wood to fill their vacancy at No.7.

Edinburgh boss Alex Harkess said: “The Championship matches start for us this week, and we are right away up against the reigning champions.
“If we all do what we are capable of doing we should beat anybody at Armadale. I have no doubt about that.”
Rowe said: “I am looking forward to it. I really like Edinburgh and Berwick so we will see what we can do.”

EDINBURGH: Justin Sedgmen, Kye Thomson, Jonatan Grahn, Paco Castagna, Oskar Polis, Victor Palovaara, Dayle Wood.

POOLE: Richard Lawson, Tobias Thomsen, Anders Rowe, Zach Cook, Lewis Kerr, Paul Starke, Darryl Ritchings.

(FIXTURES)

FRIDAY MAY 16:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh v Poole 7.30, Scunthorpe v Glasgow 7.30

SATURDAY MAY 17:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Poole 7pm, Plymouth v Edinburgh 7pm
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Middlesbrough (44) v Steelers (46) 3pm

SUNDAY MAY 18:
BRITISH UNDER-21 FINAL: Glasgow 2pm