BRITISH SPEEDWAY MAY 20,2025

Date: Tuesday May 20, 2025

(SPEEDWAY 1)

WITCHES WIN TOUGH ENCOUNTER 

IPSWICH overcame their injury problems to retain leadership of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership with a 49-41 win at bottom side Birmingham.

The Witches were without Jason Doyle and Dan Thompson following weekend crashes, but they still got the job done at Perry Barr despite several mechanical issues.
Reserve Jordan Jenkins starred with 11+1 with Tom Brennan picking up 10+2 against the club he rode for last season, to get the visitors back to winning ways after they were narrowly beaten at Sheffield last week.

Brummies skipper Tobiasz Musielak racked up 16 points in a losing cause for the team, winning his last five outings after a slow start to the meeting, but the next highest scorer was Paco Castagna on seven.
Witches manager Ritchie Hawkins said: “I thought it was a great performance, and we bounced back from Thursday despite being two riders down.

“We needed a full team performance to cover R/R and Dan’s absence, and we had a performance from six riders that all had a win or a paid win. It was solid throughout and I’m really happy with that.
“We had a few mechanical gremlins that made life hard for us but on reflection it was good to have them tonight and get them out the way all in one go seeing as we still got the win!”

Brummies captain Tobiasz Musielak said: “It was another disappointment. It is very frustrating to have another loss.
“I see some guys struggling with the set-ups and whilst Matej (Zagar) was very pumped and motivated for the meeting, I think a lack of racing for him did not help.
“We just need to keep focussed and keep our heads up because if we go in with our chins down, this will make it worse.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

SHEFFIELD collected their first away win of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership season with a hard-earned 48-42 victory at King’s Lynn.
Former Stars racer Lewis Kerr was the key man for the Tigers as he racked up 16+1 from six rides at reserve, winning his first five outings in a tremendous performance on his old home track.

Jack and Chris Holder then steered the visitors to victory with a 5-1 in Heat 13 and then a 4-2 in Heat 15 after the Stars took maximum points in Heat 14 to give themselves an outside chance.
The Holder brothers both scored 9+1 to back up Kerr’s efforts, whilst Lynn captain Nicolai Klindt scored 12 from seven rides and Jan Kvech added 10+1.

Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “For a lot of the meeting we couldn’t quite get any distance between ourselves and King’s Lynn, but a real team performance tonight got the job done.
“It was an outstanding performance from Lewi. I’m really pleased for him because he’s put in a lot of hard work since coming back to us.

“He’s done a really good job so a big shout out to him, great performance, but collectively it was very, very good.”
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “The problem with the way we’re built is that you can’t cover rider replacement very well especially when it’s at the lower end of the team.
“We got found out tonight with that, four points from Ben’s (Cook) rides is just not enough, and the better team won on the night.
“Lewis Kerr had a terrific night for them and he was probably the difference. We’ll have to think about Birmingham away next Monday and go again there, but at the moment it’s a sore one to take tonight.”

 (SPEEDWAY 3)

BELLE Vue are just one point off top spot in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership table after a 52-38 win over Leicester in Manchester.
The Aces took all three points from the meeting after a narrow defeat in the reverse fixture as they put in another consistent display following last week’s away success at Oxford.

Dan Bewley led the way with 13+1 from five rides, combining with captain Brady Kurtz (9) for a thrilling 5-1 over Max Fricke in Heat 13 which secured the league points, whilst Jaimon Lidsey scored 10+1 before breaking the tapes in Heat 15.
Fricke scored nine for the Lions who battled hard but were only able to provide four heat wins as their three-match run of victories came to an end.

Lidsey said: “The team is so solid. We have Brady and Dan, Brady is leading the World Championship at the moment and Dan is very good in the GPs, and then we have me and Zach (Cook) in the engine room.
“Zach has found some form at the moment, I think he’s got some different equipment now and he’s doing quite well, so that’s good, and the reserves are doing their part as well.

“All in all, the team effort has been good. At the very start of the year we had a bit of a hiccup, but I think that was more of a slap in the face ready for the season, and everything is going good.”
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “We have to remain sensible about things. Sometimes you can come here and have good and bad nights, but as the visiting team it never quite happened for us tonight.

“I look at the programme and most of the riders have had one good race, but you need two or three good races from all the riders if you’re going to have a chance.
“We were beaten by the better team tonight, so we can only draw a line under it and move on to Thursday at Ipswich.”

(FIXTURES)

THURSDAY MAY 22:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Ipswich (49) v Leicester (41) 7.30, Oxford (33) v Sheffield (57) 7.30

FRIDAY MAY 23:
MAXICAB KO CUP Q/F 2nd leg: Scunthorpe (35) v Oxford (55) 7.30 ; 1st round 1st leg: Edinburgh v Workington 7.30

SATURDAY MAY 24:
FIM SGP2 QUALIFIER: Glasgow 7pm
MAXICAB KO CUP 1st round 2nd leg: Workington v Edinburgh 3pm; Q/F 1st leg: Plymouth v Poole 7pm

SUNDAY MAY 25:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester (48) v Belle Vue (42) 3pm, Oxford v Edinburgh 3pm