BRITISH SPEEDWAY ROUND-UP #28
HERE’S the latest news and fixtures from around the tracks up and down the country.
PIC OF THE WEEK…
POOLE have retained the Cab Direct Championship after a dramatic conclusion to the Grand Final against Scunthorpe.
For the second season running the title decider went down to a Super Heat with aggregate scores level at 90-90 after the Pirates won 49-41 on the night.
The Super Heat saw Michael Palm Toft relegated to the back by home duo Richard Lawson and Zach Cook, with the Scorpions claiming Cook had gone over the inner white line as he battled with Josh Pickering, but the result stood as a 6-3 to the Pirates.
Photo credit: TAYLOR LANNING
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP LATEST
HOW IT STANDS
BELLE Vue lead the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership Grand Final by four points at the halfway stage after a 47-43 win in the first leg at Sheffield on Monday.
BOSS PRAISE FOR ZISCHKE
BELLE Vue boss Mark Lemon highlighted the improvement of reserve Tate Zischke who collected important points from the back in the first leg of the Premiership Grand Final at Sheffield.
Zischke was injured in a big crash during his Aces debut over two years ago, and after a tough resumption campaign last season he has taken huge strides forward in his second top-flight campaign.
Lemon said: “Tate has just been improving week on week, and I’ve said a few times that it’s credit to the young man for bouncing back from such a serious injury in 2024 and perform like he has been doing.
“I said to him after one race tonight that it was a really smart ride, and I wouldn’t have said that twelve months ago – he’s improved out of sight.”
ACES TOP FOR A REASON
SHEFFIELD manager Simon Stead admitted Belle Vue had showed their league-leading form in the closing stages of Monday’s Grand Final first leg.
The Tigers had been hoping to take a lead to Manchester on Friday and twice built an advantage of six points, but two late 5-1s from Brady Kurtz and Jason Doyle meant the Aces were winners on the night.
Stead said: “Ultimately Belle Vue showed why they’ve been top of the league for pretty much the entirety of the season and we’ve left ourselves with a task on our hands – but there’s still 15 heats to go.
“We’ll go to Belle Vue on Friday and give it our best shot, that’s all we can do.”
FOXES’ FABULOUS FINISH
NORTHAMPTON ended a successful debut campaign with a home win over King’s Lynn which also saw them take their first aggregate point.
The Foxes opened up a 14-point lead in the first half of the meeting and although this was trimmed to four, it was enough to see them collect all three points from the contest.
Manager Chris Adams said: “Once again we had some ups and downs during the night, like we’ve had all year, but we stuck at it and stuck together as a team.
“It was good to get the result and to come away with a home win for our last one, and now we can look ahead to 2027.”
STARS’ INCONSISTENT AGAIN
KING’S Lynn’s inconsistency issues dogged them to the end of the season as they were beaten 47-43 at Northampton last Tuesday.
Stars No.1 Max Fricke won four of the last five races at the Shaleway but his side were coming from 14 points down after a slow start, and they just ran out of time.
Manager Rob Lyon said: “It was a typical performance from us this season, but we made it respectable and ironically two 5-1s in Heats 14 and 15 would have seen a win.
“It was a better performance than what it was looking like earlier on in the meeting, but it was a typical example of how it’s gone, a couple firing and a couple not, and that’s racing.”
THE WEEK AHEAD…
THE Premiership league title will be decided at the National Speedway Stadium on Friday with Belle Vue looking to wrap up a third crown in five years, taking a four-point lead into the second leg of the decider against Sheffield.
CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP LATEST
HOW IT STANDS
POOLE’S controversial Super Heat victory over Scunthorpe at Wimborne Road last Wednesday has secured the Championship title for the Pirates for a fifth season out of six. The Pirates also won the BSN Series this season, whilst Berwick clinched the MAXiCab KO Cup at the expense of Plymouth in the Final.
PRESSURE POINT
POOLE heat leader Richard Lawson was delighted to handle the pressure of a Super Heat as he kept Scunthorpe’s Michael Palm Toft at the back of the most vital race of the season to help secure the league title for the Pirates.
Lawson said: “It doesn’t get any easier. That pressure is pretty surreal, but as I came to the tapes I could hear all of (the fans) and it wasn’t normal.
“I mean, (the fans) are loud usually but you had an extra gear tonight and as I pulled up to the start I could hear that roar and I was just like, ‘right this is on, we are going for it,’ and I pulled it off.”
MIXED EMOTIONS
SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey had high praise for his battling Scorpions as they took champions Poole right down to a Super Heat which will be talked about for months to come in the race for the league title at Wimborne Road.
Godfrey said: “In one way I’m completely gutted for the lads, but in another way, I’m extremely proud with what they’ve done. We’ve been written off all season – I saw some comments heading into tonight which again wrote us off. They proved a lot of people wrong tonight, just as they have all season.
“After we lost Nathan Ablitt with a dislocated shoulder, the boys kept on battling. Even when the meeting seemed to be running away from us, Michael (Palm Toft) came up with a great ride in Heat 14 and so did Picko (Josh Pickering) in Heat 15.
“The boys can be proud of their efforts across the season, including tonight.”
BANDITS’ CUP JOY
BERWICK fans made the marathon journey to Plymouth in massive numbers last Saturday to see their side lift the MAXiCab KO Cup.
The Bandits led the tie by 26 points heading into the second leg and wrapped up the silverware with a 3-3 in Heat 10 from Reid Battye and Victor Palovaara, with honours even on the night to confirm a big aggregate victory.
Club owner Jamie Courtney said: “I couldn’t be prouder of the boys, or more delighted for the fans who travelled in huge numbers and created a quite unbelievable atmosphere.
“Losing Peter (Kildemand) was a huge blow and I am so upset that his career has ended this way. But he remained in the pits and helped keep the boys focussed on the job in hand.
“We knew Plymouth would come hard early on but we weathered that and in reality had the answer for everything they threw at us.
“Jye’s (Etheridge) getting the party he spoke about at the start of the season and I’ve a feeling it will be going for some time yet!”
THE WEEK AHEAD…
REDCAR stage their popular Teesside Silver Helmet individual event at the ECCO Arena on Saturday.
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE LATEST
HOW IT STANDS
KING’S Lynn’s win at Leicester last Sunday ensures a top three finish for the Young Stars – and mathematically they could still finish second, with the Lion Cubs needing to avoid defeat by 22 points against Edinburgh in their season finale in order to hold on to runners-up spot.
YOUNG STARS’ FINAL FLOURISH
MANAGER Jason Pipe says King’s Lynn’s season has now met his expectations after the Young Stars were 50-40 winners at Leicester to secure a top three finish.
Pipe said: “This is the strongest team we’ve had all season, and before we started I had it in my head that I’d be happy with a third place finish overall, because we were the new team coming into the NDL.
“We’ve got to be happy with that performance. Leicester had a couple of injuries but they were still a tough team to beat, and everyone rode to their capabilities.”
LION CUBS LOSE OUT
LEICESTER manager Jen Crossland admitted her side were short on top-end strength to counter the threat of King’s Lynn following the late-season injury to No.1 Freddy Hodder.
Crossland said: “It was always going to be a tough day especially after Freddy’s injury and with Vinnie (Foord) not being able to ride.
“I’m proud of how the boys battled against a team with three Championship riders. It’s another learning experience for them and they can’t worry too much about the result given who they were facing.”
THE WEEK AHEAD…
THE final fixture of the WSRA NDL campaign sees Edinburgh look to complete an historic 100 per cent winning campaign when they travel to second-placed Leicester on Saturday, with the Lion Cubs seeking to confirm runners-up position.
FIXTURE PICTURE…
FRIDAY OCTOBER 16:
ROWE MOTOR OIL PREMIERSHIP GRAND FINAL 2nd leg: Belle Vue (47) v Sheffield (43) 7.30
SATURDAY OCTOBER 17:
WSRA NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE: Leicester (25) v Edinburgh (65) 7pm
TEESSIDE SILVER HELMET: Redcar 7.30
