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BRITISH racer Max Clegg heads into the biggest individual meeting of his career on Saturday at Belle Vue.Wolverhampton, Edinburgh and Cradley youngster Clegg competes in the World Under-21 qualifier, with four places available for the three-round Final series starting next month.Clegg said: “I’ve won a British Under-21 semi-final, I’ve been on the rostrum in the British Under-19’s so I know I’ve got what it takes. “Obviously though when you’re racing against riders you’re not used to it can be totally different but I’ve just got to go out there and focus on my own racing and see where I finish. “Competing against some of the sport’s other top youngsters is going to be an awesome feeling. It’s certainly going to teach me a lot and it’s another step to helping me progress a bit more quickly. “
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SWINDON returned to the top of the Elite League table with a hard-fought 55-38 win over King’s Lynn at the Abbey on Thursday.Justin Sedgmen became the latest rider to make a big impression at reserve with a six-ride paid maximum for the Robins, whose margin of victory was increased by a strong end to the meeting.The Stars only trailed by three points after Niels-Kristian Iversen and Mads Korneliussen collected an 8-1 in Heat 10, but the home side took the final five races by a 22-8 margin.Swindon’s Rohan Tungate crashed out of the meeting in his third ride, whilst King’s Lynn’s Robert Lambert was unable to take the re-start of Heat 14 after another fall.Robins boss Alun Rossiter said: “We knew they would come at us early-doors, but I always felt we would be stronger towards the end of the meeting and that’s how it turned out.“It was tough early on, I was a bit surprised with a couple of the decisions which I thought were a bit harsh, but hopefully Rohan and Robert are okay. Rohan has hurt his shoulder, I don’t know how bad it is but he’s pretty sore.”Stars manager Rob Lyon said: “There were 5-1s backwards and forwards early on, but the track got progressively worse as the night went on and it was a disappointing end after a bright start.“Fortunately I think Robert is pretty much okay, but he’s tweaked his groin and we won’t really know too much until Friday.”(SPEEDWAY 3)
EDINBURGH boss John Campbell slammed referee Dave Robinson after his side suffered a narrow 45-48 Premier League defeat at Ipswich on Thursday.Campbell was incensed by the events of Heat 15 which saw Witches skipper Danny King secure victory in a re-start after he had come to grief at the first staging.King top-scored for the home side with 12 points, whilst opposite number Sam Masters scored 12+1 for the Monarchs with Ryan Fisher on 11+1.Campbell said: “We were robbed by the referee. In the first staging King missed the start, and there’s no doubt that he just flopped off hoping that he’d get a re-run – and it worked for him. “And then in the re-run, a completely rolling start from the outside. Ryan said to me ‘I didn’t even race to the corner because I thought he had touched the tapes’. It had to be stopped because it was so blatant but the referee of course tried to justify it. Dreadful refereeing.“Obviously we would have won fairly easily with Erik (Riss) fit. We only got one and a bonus from rider replacement, most teams will win here I think. Danny King is not the rider he used to be at the moment.”Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I'm really pleased with their heart, we stuck in there and didn't crumble. When you're having a tough time that can easily happen. I thought we were really solid for the first 11 heats, even Heat 12 as that would have been a 3-3 too if it wasn't a tactical ride. “We kept knocking in the 4-2's, they had one big heat and the double points and it pulled them back into it. It was a massive ride by Danny in Heat 15, he stepped up like a No.1 and a captain like we needed him to.“It's three points on the board but I'm disappointed that Edinburgh took one point away from it.”In the League Cup, Workington moved six points clear at the top of the group with a 47-43 win at Redcar.Comets No.1 Ricky Wells won the decisive Heat 15 whilst Rasmus Jensen top-scored on 11+1. Jonas B Andersen scored 12 for the Bears.In the National Trophy, the Isle of Wight defeated Mildenhall 46-43 with James Cockle scoring 13 for the Warriors and Connor Mountain 11 for the Fen Tigers.(SPEEDWAY 4)
COVENTRY and Lakeside meet at Brandon on Friday in the first of back-to-back clashes between the clubs over the next two nights.Former Bees favourite Andreas Jonsson leads the Hammers, whilst the home side have called in squad member Adam Roynon to guest for Josh Bates, who is on World Under-21 duty.Coventry promoter Mick Horton has called on his side to build on their recent home win over Wolverhampton, whilst Hammers coach Kelvin Tatum is targeting an improvement to their away record.Horton said: “I was far more encouraged with the win over Wolves, and now we have to keep things going. “It’s always good to see AJ (Jonsson) back at Coventry and I’m sure he’ll get a warm welcome but hopefully the likes of KK (Krzysztof Kasprzak) and Bomber (Chris Harris) will be able to handle him.”Tatum said: “We’ll be making the trip to Brandon looking to hopefully come back with at least a point, then we are keen to maintain our wonderful home run on Saturday night, which really has been brilliant so far.“It's not going to be easy, so we will be looking to get off to a positive start to give ourselves something to build on.”In the League Cup, Somerset will look to make up ground on Southern section leaders Rye House as they face Plymouth at the Oaktree Arena.The permutations show that the Rebels would top the group if they win by ten points or more on Friday and then take any victory in Saturday’s return fixture.Kyle Newman is set to return for the Devils, who again bring in Ben Barker to guest for absent No.1 Charlie Gjedde.Somerset boss Garry May said: “While there are a number of possible outcomes in the two matches against Plymouth by which we can top our group and progress through to the semi-finals, the way we are going to approach the matches is the same as we go into every match, with the intention to win them both and picking up the maximum league points.“Of course, despite not being able to qualify themselves, Plymouth will be going all out to put a spanner in the works and stop us from topping the group.”Devils boss Lee Trigger said: “Although we cannot make any further progress ourselves, it is in our hands to put Somerset out of the competition.“Bearing in mind the local rivalry, we will be looking to put one over on the Rebels and claim the local bragging rights.”Meanwhile Edinburgh stage an Intermediate Challenge fixture between a young Monarchs Select side and the Belle Vue Colts.Current senior Monarchs Max Clegg and Jye Etheridge and former Edinburgh men William Lawson and Mitchell Davey are in the home side, along with juniors Dale Lamb, Kev Whelan and Lewis Millar. Dan Bewley lines up for the Colts.Edinburgh boss John Campbell said: “I’m aware that we must expect better scoring from Dan, Jye and Max if we are to get anywhere this season. “Thankfully Max showed a bit of form last weekend and I’m sure it is just a matter of time before Dan flourishes but we do need Jye to get involved in the action rather than looking good a long way behind. Hopefully Friday will launch his career in this country.”Belle Vue’s Tom Woolley said: “We’ll be going up to Edinburgh very eager to impress. I've heard good things about Armadale so hopefully the track will have a nice bit of grip on there.“I personally have never been there before but like I’ve said, from what I believe they always prepare a great race track which creates great racing so I'm really excited to be going.”(FIXTURES)
FRIDAY MAY 20:ELITE LEAGUE: Coventry v Lakeside 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Somerset v Plymouth 7.30INTERMEDIATE CHALLENGE: Edinburgh v Belle Vue Colts 7.30
SATURDAY MAY 21:WORLD UNDER-21 QUALIFIER: Belle Vue 7.30ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Coventry 7.30, Leicester v Wolverhampton 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Plymouth v Somerset 7.15NATIONAL TROPHY: Stoke v Buxton 7pmCUMBERLAND PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIP: Workington 7pmSUNDAY MAY 22:PREMIER LEAGUE: Rye House v Edinburgh 6pm, Scunthorpe v Sheffield 6.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP 1st round 1st leg: Glasgow v Redcar 3pmLEAGUE CUP: Peterborough v Ipswich 5pmTRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Belle Vue 3.30
