BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 28, 2026
(SPEEDWAY 1)
DRAWN RESULT LEADS TO FINAL DECIDING SHOWDOWN
IPSWICH and Leicester fought out a 45-45 draw in the first leg of the Premiership KO Cup Final to set up a winner-takes-all showdown in Thursday’s return.
The Lions performed the perfect containing job at Foxhall, never dropping more than four points down on the night, and in fact it took a last race 4-2 from Witches duo Danny King and Richard Lawson to salvage a share on the night.
The crucial contribution came from Lions reserve Drew Kemp, who piled up a remarkable 15 points on his old home track with five race wins out of six.
Ryan Douglas (10) also reached double figures for the visitors despite a fall in Heat 1, whilst King’s (12) only defeat came when he fell on the first bend of Heat 8.
King said: “There’s a lot to do on Thursday – that’s pretty obvious. I feel we slipped up a little bit. We all struggled here and there in places. But we have nothing to lose on Thursday. We go there and it’s a track we all ride well and a place we have won at.
“We can’t get our heads down too much. We just have to go there and put up a fight. It’s frustrating and we are all frustrated – I can assure you. But we are all up for the challenge now.
“We are going to use that frustration in our favour and go to Leicester and throw everything at them on Thursday.”
Leicester manager Stewart Dickson said: “We’ve put ourselves in a good position, and we’ve been on the other side of it with a reserve in that kind of form, so I know what it’s like!
“Drew has done very well tonight, and that’s the Drew Kemp that we know he can be – he just needs to do it a bit more consistently, and he knows that more than anybody, but that’s what he can do for us.
“We’ve done the job that we wanted to do, and I would have taken a score of 43 or 44 points, so to get a draw sets things up perfectly for Thursday night.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
NEWCOMERS Northampton collected their second win of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership season by overcoming King’s Lynn 48-42.
The Foxes took control of the meeting with three 5-1s in the first six races, with the Stars then fighting a rearguard action to protect the aggregate point.
A 5-1 in Heat 15 from Max Fricke and Chris Harris levelled the scores overall, and it was the visitors who claimed the extra point in a Super Heat with Fricke passing Jaimon Lidsey for the vital third place.
Fricke, with 17 from six rides, was the outstanding rider of the main meeting, whilst Harris notched 10+1, but the home side were far more solid with reserve Troy Batchelor scoring 10+2.
Northampton boss Chris Adams said: “Obviously the lads are a little disappointed that they didn’t get the aggregate point, but at the end of the day their focus was on a win and finally we got one.
“All seven of our riders were paid for at least one win, which is definitely what we’re looking for, and in Heats 13 and 15 Jaimon was there or thereabouts, but it’s a tough old game against good riders.
“He’s a bit disappointed but he needs to keep his head high because we won the meeting, and that’s what it was about.”
King’s Lynn manager Rob Lyon said: “We were never in it in some ways, in terms of trying to win the meeting, but we held on enough to be able to focus on getting something out of it.
“Then as it came towards the end, Max and Bomber (Harris) pulled us out of the mire, and fair play to them for that.
“At least we’ve come away with a point which could be crucial at the end of the day, because the league is very tight and anything can still happen.”
(FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY JULY 29:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Poole v Berwick 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 30:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Sheffield (48) v Northampton (42) 7.30
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP FINAL 2nd leg: Leicester v Ipswich 7.30
FRIDAY JULY 31:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Glasgow v Edinburgh 7.30, Oxford v Poole 7.30, Redcar v Berwick 7.30
