BRITISH SPEEDWAY AUGUST 22, 2025
(SPEEDWAY 1)
WITCHES’ IMPRESSIVE WIN IN CHARGE TO PLAY-OFFS
IPSWICH are now six points clear at the top of the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership after beating local rivals King’s Lynn 51-39 at Foxhall.
The Witches dominated the race wins with Tom Brennan (12+1), Jason Doyle (11) and Emil Sayfutdinov (9) all taking the flag on multiple occasions.
The Suffolk outfit can now only be caught for the league leadership ahead of the play-offs by Sheffield, who they face in their final two regular matches.
Meanwhile the fifth-placed Stars battled hard with Richard Lawson (13) taking three of their four race wins on the night.
Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “Another three points on the board and it felt quite a comfortable evening for us, I expected King’s Lynn to push harder to be honest.
“The boys still had more left in them if they needed it, but it is another one ticked off before a couple of meetings against Sheffield in the next couple of weeks.
“We have taken all the full set of aggregate points so far this season and we needed to get that one done after the Cup disappointment. We have done very well since then and had a good run of results, so I am happy that is done, and we can move onto bigger things now in the next few weeks.”
Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “I think heat winners told the story, we had four to their eleven, and obviously four race winners is not necessarily going to win you a meeting.
“We did well in the Cup with not too many race winners because we filled the seconds and thirds, but I think the difference for them tonight was Tom Brennan, he came to the party for them.
“So fair play to Ipswich, they always had enough in the tank, and we tried to make it as respectable as possible. We certainly didn’t disgrace ourselves with 39 points.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
SHEFFIELD finally ended their Leicester jinx with victory at the sixth time of asking this season as they defeated the Lions 50-40 at Owlerton.
Jack Holder scored a 14+1 paid maximum from five rides for the Tigers, who also took the aggregate point and are now second in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership, and are the only side who can catch leaders Ipswich.
Sheffield opened the meeting with two 5-1s in the first three races to go eight points up, although the Lions did mount a comeback from 14 points down to force a last-heat decider on aggregate.
Holder was backed up by an all-round display which saw five of the home side winning at least one race, whilst Max Fricke racked up 14 points from six rides for the Lions and Ryan Douglas added 10+1.
Tigers skipper Josh Pickering said: “They’re a great team, they’ve been good all year and they’ve had good riders in the right positions which has continued to make them strong the whole way through.
“So for us to turn them over the way we did and get the aggregate win is most important, but I felt the track was more of a racetrack as well.
“It was a great effort throughout, even if we’re not getting heat advantages, as long as we’re not getting a disadvantage and we’re getting those 3-3s that’s what we need.”
Douglas said: “It wasn’t our best performance here obviously, but it wasn’t bad.
“It’s one of those ones where we can take a lesson from it and if we have to come back here I’m sure we can keep it a bit closer.
“A few of us tried a few different bits of equipment tonight, myself included. I think we’re still riding good and we’ll just keep chipping away.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
EDINBURGH and Glasgow both have significant targets as they prepare for tonight’s (Friday) big Scottish showdown in the Cab Direct Championship at Armadale.
The Monarchs require one more point to secure their place in the play-offs, whilst the Tigers are four points behind Poole in the race for top spot.
With the Pirates having completed their fixtures, Glasgow will look to overhaul them with an away trip to Workington to come on Saturday, and then next Friday’s return against Edinburgh.
The home side track a full-strength line-up whilst the visitors bring in ex-Monarchs rider Jacob Hook to guest for Villads Nagel who is racing in the European Under-19 Championship.
Edinburgh star Kye Thomson said: “We have the team now that all work as one, we all help each other out and I feel like we are riding better as a team and looking out for each other on the track.
“So we are determined to keep this going, not just into the play-offs but beyond that. Paco (Castagna) and I keep telling the boys how much we really want it.”
Glasgow boss Cami Brown said: “As always, the target is to win every meeting. We will be all guns blazing to win at Edinburgh and Workington.
“There’s no motivation needed when it comes to taking on the Monarchs, that’s always a massive fixture.
“But the extra incentive is now finishing top of the league. It would be nice to finish above Poole.”
EDINBURGH: Victor Palovaara, Paco Castagna, Justin Sedgmen, Michael Palm Toft, Kye Thomson, Jonatan Grahn, Jordy Loftus.
GLASGOW: Chris Harris, Jacob Hook, Dan Thompson, Leon Flint, Kyle Howarth, Freddy Hodder, Max Perry.
(SPEEDWAY 4)
REDCAR can take a further step towards the Cab Direct Championship play-offs when they face Scunthorpe at the ECCO Arena tonight (Friday).
Victory would put the Bears on 21 points with two matches to go, a total which can only be matched by Berwick or Workington should they win all of their remaining fixtures, and race points difference is also very much in Redcar’s favour.
The Bears bring in their former heat-leader Lewis Kerr to guest for the unwell Erik Riss, whilst for the Scorpions Declan Kennedy is ruled out with injury and Luke Killeen stands in.
Redcar manager Gavin Parr said: “We can’t relax, Scunthorpe may be bottom of the league but they don’t ride the ECCO Arena like a bottom placed side at all.
“Some of their side such as Simon Lambert, Connor Mountain and Jake Allen probably rate our place as one of their favourites.
“I’d like us to finish as high as possible. We haven’t qualified yet, we need some points from our last three matches but if we qualify, we could leapfrog Edinburgh and finish third, but my main focus is on getting enough points to make the top four.”
REDCAR: Charles Wright, Jody Scott, Jason Edwards, Lewis Kerr, Danny King, Jake Mulford, Ace Pijper.
SCUNTHORPE: Steve Worall, Zaine Kennedy, Luke Harrison, Connor Mountain, Jake Allen, Luke Killeen, Simon Lambert.
(SPEEDWAY 5)
OXFORD star Jordan Jenkins was taken to hospital following a crash in the Cheetahs’ home defeat to Poole on Wednesday.
Jenkins suffered an injury to his abdomen in the Heat 12 incident where he spun on the second lap and his machine was clipped by the following Lewis Kerr, leading to a heavy fall.
He was able to stand up before being driven back to the pits, where it was deemed that further checks would be necessary.
Manager Peter Schroeck said: “Jordan took a nasty knock to his abdomen. His oxygen levels were low, so the medics were concerned about it and took him to hospital, and we wish him well – Jordan has been in the wars this season.”
(FIXTURES)
FRIDAY AUGUST 22:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh v Glasgow 7.30, Redcar v Scunthorpe 7.30
SATURDAY AUGUST 23:
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP: Plymouth v Berwick 7pm, Workington (42) v Glasgow (48) 3pm
SUNDAY AUGUST 24:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester (56) v Middlesbrough (34) 3pm, Oxford v Steelers 3pm
