BRITISH SPEEDWAY JUNE 19, 2025

(SPEEDWAY 1)

MONARCHS ON THE MOVE

EDINBURGH are up to third place in the Cab Direct Championship after holding on for a dramatic 45-44 win at Oxford.
Victor Palovaara and Kye Thomson secured a vital 3-3 in Heat 15 after the Monarchs had seen a nine-point lead whittled away, with Thomson re-passing Mitch McDiarmid at the end of the opening lap.
Palovaara marked his elevation to No.1 with another double figure haul, as he scored 11, whilst reserve Jonatan Grahn was a key figure at reserve with 9+1.

Sam Masters scored 14 for the Cheetahs with both Luke Killeen and Cameron Heeps scoring 9+1, but they slipped to a second home defeat in the league with the Monarchs also taking the aggregate point.
Edinburgh boss John Campbell said: “It became very, very tense at the end. I think Victor did well at No.1, and Kye was the only one that really got going round the outside.

“He said that had he made starts he would have won all his races by miles! He never makes the start, but he was building up such momentum and that is why he was the man for Heat 15.
“Gate 4 was atrocious so we needed someone who could pass, and Kye was the only rider who was going to do that.”
Oxford manager Peter Schroeck said: “Of course, in some ways it’s worse to lose by one point at home than 20 points because it’s so deflating when you’re so close to victory and miss out.

“But, at the same time, I could not fault for the boys for effort tonight. They battled over every point, but we just fell short.
“We had a bit of bad luck again – I feel I must have run over a black cat at some point. Cam (Heeps) isn’t quite 100 per cent, which is why he didn’t go out in Heat 15, while Jordan (Jenkins) also took a knock tonight.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

POOLE extended their lead at the top of the Cab Direct Championship to five points with a 55-35 home win over Berwick.
Richard Lawson competed a 13+2 paid maximum for the Pirates and skipper Zach Cook (13+1) dropped just one point from five rides in a comfortable victory.
The hosts had Darryl Ritchings withdrawn after a Heat 2 crash, but they took control of the meeting with a hat-trick of 5-1s from Heats 5 to 7.

Cook said: “Good luck to Darryl for a speedy recovery of course, but it ended up being a good night for the team.
“Everyone was making decent starts and we kept their race wins to the minimum, which is always good and so everyone can take some positives out from tonight.
“We’ve got a bit of a break now before our next meeting, so we’ll all be ready for the next one.”

Craig Cook top-scored for the Bandits with 10+1 with Sam Hagon and captain Danyon Hume supplying their other two race wins.
Manager Stewart Dickson said: “I cannot fault the effort from the boys, but we are just not strong enough to challenge the top teams in the league at the moment.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

LEICESTER host Belle Vue in a clash of two sides in the top four of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership at the Hydroscand Arena, Beaumont Park tonight (Thursday).
The Lions are fourth in the standings but their advantage over King’s Lynn has been cut to three points by the recent run of wins from the Stars.

Meanwhile the Aces are in third place, four points off the top, having not raced in the league since their narrow defeat at Birmingham at the start of the month.
Leicester again operate rider replacement for long-term injury victim Luke Becker with the rest of their line-up unchanged, whilst Belle Vue are without captain Brady Kurtz following his crash in the GP last weekend, and they also go with r/r.
Lions boss Stewart Dickson said: “We were ten points up against Belle Vue earlier in the season and we ended up hanging on, and I mean hanging on, to beat them by two.

“In fairness since the Birmingham loss at home we’ve raced Sheffield twice and put in two dominant performances, so I’d like to think that will continue on Thursday.
“I know there will be people who say it’s a waste for us to be using Max (Fricke) in Heat 8, but Dougy (Ryan Douglas) and Kyle (Howarth) were really strong last week and I don’t want to meddle with that, plus it does also give us protection in Heat 8 with Max.
“It would be nice to say I’d like to win by ‘x’ amount to get the chance of the aggregate point, but at the moment the main focus is to keep winning at home and keep the confidence up.”

LEICESTER: Max Fricke, Luke Becker r/r, Ryan Douglas, Kyle Howarth, Sam Masters, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson.

BELLE VUE: Dan Bewley, Norick Blodorn, Jaimon Lidsey, Zach Cook, Brady Kurtz r/r, Tate Zischke, Jake Mulford.

(SPEEDWAY 4)

SHEFFIELD and King’s Lynn reach the halfway stage of their ROWE Motor Oil Premiership campaigns when they meet at Owlerton tonight (Thursday).
The Tigers know a home win will take them to the top of the standings, whilst the Stars arrive in great form having won their last four matches in all competitions, three of them in the league.
Skipper Josh Pickering is still sidelined by a shoulder injury for the home side, who operate rider replacement, but Anders Rowe is back after missing the win at Birmingham on Monday.

King’s Lynn operate rider replacement for Ben Cook, who is due back with them next week, whilst Luke Harrison takes over Rising Star duties alongside the free-scoring Jan Kvech at reserve.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “We’re going to need to be at it as a group against King’s Lynn because they’re riding well right now.

“They’ve had a reshuffle in the team and they now really have got a super strong reserve in Jan Kvech.
“So we’re going to need to be firing on all cylinders but if we do what we can do, we know we can get another win on the board.”

Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “Sheffield have had a few problems of their own lately, and we need to go there and put on a performance.

“We’ve got an open mind going there now, and we’re looking forward to it.
“Sheffield is a difficult track to go to and they are very good at home, as they’ve proved all year, but you never know in speedway – we might cause a shock!”

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Anders Rowe, Josh Pickering r/r, Lewis Kerr, Chris Holder, Justin Sedgmen, Leon Flint.

KING’S LYNN: Richard Lawson, Nicolai Klindt, Chris Harris, Ben Cook r/r, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Jan Kvech, Luke Harrison.

(FIXTURES)

THURSDAY JUNE 19:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Leicester v Belle Vue 7.30, Sheffield v King’s Lynn 7.30

FRIDAY JUNE 20:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Glasgow (50) v Plymouth (40) 7.30, Redcar v Edinburgh 7.30, Scunthorpe (41) v Oxford (49) 7pm
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Steelers v Oxford (follows Champ fixture)

SATURDAY JUNE 21:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Redcar 7pm, Workington v Plymouth 3pm

MONDAY JUNE 23:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R2: Belle Vue v King’s Lynn 7.30, Ipswich v Leicester 7.30
NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT TROPHY: Birmingham v Plymouth 7.30