BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 15, 2025
(SPEEDWAY 1)
STARS’ GREAT FIGHTBACK IN TWO POINT WIN
DEPLETED King’s Lynn fought back from eight points down to snatch a stunning 46-44 victory over ROWE Motor Oil Premiership leaders Ipswich.
Czech charger Jan Kvech (18+1) and captain Nicolai Klindt (15+1) inspired a remarkable Stars performance without two of their top five riders as they took the win despite the Witches having led 31-23 after Heat 9.
Klindt and Chris Harris levelled the scores with maximum points in Heat 12 when Emil Sayfutdinov suffered mechanical trouble, and Kvech defeated Jason Doyle in both Heats 13 and 15 to clinch the result.
Reserve Dan Thompson top-scored for the Witches with 10+1, who are now turning their thoughts towards Thursday’s KO Cup clash between the clubs.
Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “It’s incredible and I’m still struggling to get my head around it really, because of the team we had to put out being patched up and Ipswich coming at full-strength relatively speaking.
“But what a fantastic performance, and it will go down in the annals of history for King’s Lynn as one of the most backs-to-the-wall performance we’ve ever had.
“As a team, I was really proud of the boys tonight. There’s always a local rivalry with Ipswich, and it’s always been like that, so to get three victories over them at home is a nice feeling for the fans and the club.”
Witches manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a disappointing away defeat after getting ourselves in a good position. The night started off tough with Danny (King) and Dan (Thompson) both having punctures and shredding tubes.
“We managed to overcome that and get into a good position, but after King’s Lynn used the tactical sub we dropped away at the end of the meeting. We are usually very strong in the final heats but tonight we weren’t.
“We didn’t make starts in the later heats, but the boys fought hard. The big turning point was in heat 12 when Emil had a bike problem on the start line and that doesn’t help when one of your main riders is out.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
SHEFFIELD’S Rising Star reserve Leon Flint enjoyed a sensational performance with a paid maximum in the Tigers’ thumping 60-30 home win over Oxford.
Flint, in his first ROWE Motor Oil Premiership match back after a shoulder injury, raced to 13+2 from five rides as the home side stormed away in the second half of the meeting.
The Spires had opened up with a 5-1 from Maciej Janowski and Rohan Tungate and they trailed by just four points after Heat 7, but Sheffield ended the meeting with six 5-1s in the space of eight races to hit the 60-point mark.
Skipper Josh Pickering collected 12+2 from five rides and Chris Holder recovered from a last place first time out to reel off four wins for a 12-point total. Janowski top-scored for the Spires with nine.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “It was a pretty devastating second half we pulled out the bag there so a massive well done to all the lads.
“But a big shout out to Leon and a massive well done to him; to watch him ride the way he was and to see him score those points in his first meeting back from injury was brilliant.”
Oxford manager Peter Schroeck said: “We shook Sheffield a bit at the start of the meeting, but we just couldn’t hang on.
“Towards the end, rider replacement really started to hurt us, and we missed Erik (Riss) and Craig (Cook). I don’t want to make too many excuses. Sheffield are a strong side, especially around their own track, and they were the better side tonight.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
BELLE Vue fought off a strong Leicester challenge for a 50-40 win at the National Speedway Stadium, although it was the Lions who came away with the aggregate point in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership.
The dominant run of Aces skipper Brady Kurtz came to an end as he suffered his first defeat in 20 league races in Manchester at the hands of visiting skipper Max Fricke in Heat 1.
Fricke went on to put in a brilliant display on his old home track to keep his side in touch, scoring a massive 19 points from seven rides – although he was overtaken by a spectacular last-bend move by Kurtz in Heat 15.
The other rider to take points off Fricke was Zach Cook, who continued his recent upturn for the Aces with 11+2 as he was unbeaten prior to the last race, whilst Kurtz scored 13.
Belle Vue boss Mark Lemon said: “Leicester were a real handful. Max Fricke’s performance was sensational.
“What I liked about the result tonight was the collective. The whole team chipped in, a team effort. That’s vital moving forward.
“Our away form has been there or thereabouts. When we were at Leicester we didn’t have Brady and we got a bit of a pasting.
“Our performances haven’t been great but it’s a long season. The key is to get it right at the end of the season.”
Stand-in Leicester boss Jen Crossland, who took charge with Stewart Dickson stuck in a motorway closure, said: “They all dug deep and did really well, and I did think at one point we could have won it, but it just sadly slipped away from us.
“Max was absolutely inspirational and he’s such a great team player. He’s found his form at the minute, I know Brady got the better of him in the last one but he’s been brilliant.
“Every point counts now, we’re in that crunch time at the business end of the season, so absolutely every point is important and we’ve got another one here tonight.”
(FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY JULY 16:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Poole (48) v Edinburgh (42) 7.30
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY: King’s Lynn v Kent Eagles 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 17:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Oxford (32) v Belle Vue (58) 7.30
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP S/F 2nd leg: Ipswich (42) v King’s Lynn (48) 7.30
FRIDAY JULY 18:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (44) v Plymouth (46) 7.30, Glasgow v Redcar 7.30, Scunthorpe (35) v Poole (55) 7.30
