BRITISH SPEEDWAY JULY 8, 2025
(SPEEDWAY 1)
SAYFUTDINOV STEERS WITCHES TO VICTORY
EMIL Sayfutdinov held his nerve to collect second place in Heat 15 to seal a 46-44 win for Ipswich at Oxford in a pulsating televised ROWE Motor Oil Premiership clash at Oxford.
There was high drama in the final race when with the Spires requiring a 5-1 to level the scores, Witches No.1 Jason Doyle was disqualified for triggering a pile-up which resulted in all four riders coming to grief on lap two.
That meant Sayfutdinov had to go alone in the re-run, and he duly finished between Maciej Janowski and Rohan Tungate to secure a narrow win as his side went back to the top of the table.
Spires had earlier fought back from an early ten-point deficit in an incident-filled encounter, but they just fell short at the end.
Sayfutdinov scored 12+1 for the visitors with reserve Dan Thompson (7+2) involved in two vital 5-1s in the second half of the meeting, whilst Janowski (11+1) led the way for the battling home side.
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was a tough meeting, we started off superbly, but they came back into it, and we got over the line in the end.
“It is another away win on the board, and we got the result we needed so I am happy with that. All the boys contributed again which is really pleasing to see so I leave here happy.
“Danny (King) touched the tapes in his last ride when he was desperate to make up for a fall earlier on and we had a couple of crashes, but I put that down to them putting everything in it to win.”
Oxford manager Peter Schroeck said: “When you lose by just a couple of points, it’s tough, because you reflect on how close you were to winning, but the boys dug deep and we pushed Ipswich all the way.
“Witches knew they were in a battle as well. Afterwards, Ritchie Hawkins said to me: ‘wow Pete, you gave us a hell of a match.’
“We’ve shown we can compete with anyone around here, while Maciej was on it and he beat Emil twice in the closing stages. I’m hoping everyone went home entertained tonight and wants to come back to see some more.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
BELLE Vue slammed Birmingham 60-30 at the National Speedway Stadium to run up their biggest ROWE Motor Oil Premiership win of the season.
All three of the Aces’ heat leaders scored maximums with Jaimon Lidsey taking the full 15 from five rides, whilst Dan Bewley and Brady Kurtz were both unbeaten from four outings, which was a fourth successive home match without defeat for Kurtz.
Zach Cook also piled up 13+3 from six rides as the home side coped without the injured Norick Blodorn, whilst Rising Star Sam Hagon took the Brummies’ sole race win in Heat 2.
Belle Vue manager Mark Lemon said: “These boys obviously had an assignment, and they achieved that quite well. The impressive thing tonight was the effective way they worked as a team.
“The confidence is growing in the team as a whole. Great to see Jaimon pick up a maximum. I’m really impressed with the group.
“Confidence is important in sport and especially speedway. These guys are growing in stature.”
Brummies boss Chris Adams said: “I expected a bit more, but as we saw again tonight we were just second out of the gates all night, and on the back foot straight away.
“It’s a difficult track to come to, and they tried as best they could, but unfortunately today it just wasn’t good enough.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
BERWICK skipper Danyon Hume has undergone successful surgery to stabilise the two vertebrae in his back damaged during his spectacular crash on Saturday.
Hume was taken to the Northern Specialist Care Hospital in Cramlington after colliding with the bike of opposing rider Jonatan Grahn and being thrown down the home straight at Shielfield Park in the Bandits’ Cab Direct Championship clash with Edinburgh.
The 28-year-old was taken into theatre yesterday (Monday) and was able to confirm to the Borders club’s management later in the evening that surgeons had successfully operated on the damaged vertebrae.
(SPEEDWAY 4)
BIRMINGHAM Bulls were victorious in a Super Heat against Kent after a 44-44 draw in the National Development Trophy at Perry Barr.
The Eagles fought back from eight points down to force a last heat decider, which ended in a 3-3 as home racer Tom Spencer ended the unbeaten run of Ben Morley.
That gave the teams a point apiece, but it was the Bulls who took the extra after Kent guest Freddy Hodder was disqualified when Spencer came down in the Super Heat.
Bulls captain Darryl Ritchings (10) said: “For me coming back after missing two meetings with the boys, it’s been nice to get back and as a team to take them to a Super Heat, that’s fantastic.
“It’s a real shame this is the last (NDT) meeting at Perry Barr for us, but all of the boys are still riding and we’ll go again at their place.”
Kent boss David Graveling said: “We are incredibly proud of our riders who gave their all in tonight’s meeting. After 15 thrilling heats, finishing level demonstrates a remarkable team effort.
“While we were disappointed with the Super Heat outcome, particularly Freddy’s disqualification in the final race, we respect the referee’s decision, as that’s part of the sport.”
(FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY JULY 9:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Oxford v Berwick 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 10:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP R1: Ipswich v Belle Vue 7.30, Leicester (49) v Oxford (41) 7.30
FRIDAY JULY 11:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh (40) v Redcar (50) 7.30, Scunthorpe (47) v Plymouth (42) 7.30
