(SPEEDWAY 1)

LEICESTER captain Nicolai Klindt’s remarkable 21-point paid maximum was not quite enough to steer his side to a home win over Lakeside.The Hammers snatched a 46-44 win over their depleted hosts at Beaumont Park thanks to a last-heat 4-2 from guest Craig Cook and skipper Andreas Jonsson.The Lions were using rider-replacement for the unavailable Szymon Wozniak, with Paul Starke ruled out due to a family bereavement, with Klindt’s unbeaten seven rides keeping them in with a chance.Lakeside co-promoter Jon Cook said: “The meeting was on a knife-edge throughout, so we were delighted to get over the line and get the win in the last race.“Craig Cook was an absolutely superb guest for us, and with AJ he did the business in the last race which was superb. “We weren't at our best, we perhaps had a win that was too easy last night, and we made hard work of it.”Leicester boss Norrie Allan said: “After Lakeside turned us over quite badly the night before we owed our fans a performance at home and I was proud of how my riders responded.“All things considered, to take the Hammers to a last heat decider was a major achievement. We still have much work to do to convert narrow near misses into wins but can take heart from how we applied ourselves tonight.”

(SPEEDWAY 2)

WORKINGTON bounced back from Friday evening’s defeat at Plymouth with a convincing 55-37 victory over an in-form Sheffield side at Derwent Park.The result blew the Tigers’ chances of taking over at the top of the Premier League table as Claus Vissing (13) and Kenneth Hansen (10+1) led the Comets to victory.Jason Garrity (11) and Kyle Howarth (10) were in double figures for the visitors, whose co-boss Marc Bates had no complaints over the outcome.Workington boss Tony Jackson said: “We all knew that this was arguably our toughest match of the season so far and asked the lads for a response to the defeat of previous evening, and we got it! “Every team member rode superbly in what was a great team effort and despite the score-line the match was very keenly contested throughout and, as expected, it provided some great entertainment for the supporters, so fair play to Sheffield for that. “We established a lead very early on and steadily built on that; in fact it wasn’t until Heat 12 that the Tigers gained a heat advantage, but by then we already had the match won.”Bates said: “It was a disappointing night at the office, and it was just one of those meetings where nothing went our way.“Jason (Garrity) rode well, but we missed Josh (Bates) and only got three points from his rides which cost us.“As a team we struggled and didn't do as well as we can, but we just have to move on and try to bounce back at home on Thursday.”Meanwhile Berwick overcame the absence of Sebastian Alden, in hospital with broken bones to his neck, to secure a dramatic 46-44 win over Redcar at Shielfield Park.The Bears gradually clawed back a deficit to go into a last-heat decider and initially held a match-winning position in Heat 15 only for Kevin Doolan and Thomas Jorgensen to pass Hugh Skidmore off the second bend.Both Bandits riders finished with double-figures, Doolan on 12+1 and Jorgensen 10+2 with Romano Hummel making an impressive home debut (7+2), whilst former Berwick rider David Bellego piled up 14 for the visitors.Bandits boss Scott Courtney said: “It’s been a week of many different emotions especially with having Seb laid up in a Sheffield hospital with a broken neck and welcoming a new guy from Holland to our side who could really make it big.“Romano made the best home debut I think I can remember for a new guy coming in. He was excellent and we can’t wait to see what else he is capable of.“We got the win, just, but a win it was and well deserved which has given all the guys a real boost, which is exactly what we needed to bounce back and get back on the winning trail.”(SPEEDWAY 3)

EASTBOURNE ran up their biggest win over the season with a 55-35 victory over Cradley at Arlington.The home side lost Gary Cottham with a suspected broken collarbone but tamed the Heathens’ powerful heat leader trio as Adam Ellis and Jake Knight raced to 5-1s in both Heats 13 and 15 of the Travel Plus National League encounter.Ellis scored a paid maximum with 14+1 and Knight added 12+1, whilst Max Clegg (11), Ashley Morris (10) and Luke Chessell scored all but six of the Heathens’ points.Eagles chairman Martin Dugard said: “It was a great win. They kept it quite close to the middle of the meeting.“Our reserves were much better than they had been previously. That was a good turnaround. We have done a lot of work on Charley Powell's bike to help him stay on it.“We had a good chat and everyone knows where we are coming from. I think you can see now that we are quite stable and we have a bit of atmosphere back in the place again.”Cradley boss Will Pottinger said: “We were pretty close for the majority of the meeting, but they came on strong in the last three heats and made the scoreline bigger than it perhaps should have been. “We matched them in terms of race wins but we just had too many lasts places unfortunately which cost us.”Meanwhile Stoke pulled off their first league win of the season with a 48-41 victory over Rye House at Loomer Road.Paul Burnett (9+3), Danny Phillips (9+1) and Ben Wilson (9) topped a solid Potters display which was enough to overcome the scoring of the Raiders’ top three with Ben Morley (13), Luke Priest (13) and Robert Branford all in double figures (10+1).Stoke boss Malcolm Vasey said: “It was a funny sort of meeting as Rye House had three excellent riders and then a number of riders who are not used to this track because they’ve not been here before, and that obviously gave us a slight advantage where they were concerned.“I always felt we had the upper hand and would take the three points available to us and prevent them from taking anything back to Hoddesdon with them.”Raiders manager Peter Schroeck said: “Tonight came down to the same old thing of not being able to get anything out of rider-replacement and struggling a bit at the bottom end, but we’re not too disheartened, given our philosophy of bringing on the youngsters.”

(SPEEDWAY 4)

GLASGOW boss Stewart Dickson is urging his side to cut out the lost points when they face Newcastle in the Premier League on Sunday.The Tigers comfortably overcame Redcar in the KO Cup but Dickson feels their team-riding could be sharpened up, especially with a strong Diamonds team in town.Dickson said: “Although we won at Redcar, we also threw a couple of points away. It wasn't the best team riding I've seen, and that's something we're going to have to look at because I don't think we're looking enough for our partners in races.“We'll need to do it when we come up against the Newcastles of this world. We're going to have to start riding as pairs, rather than individuals.“I think it'll be a cracker on Sunday with Robert Lambert and Steve Worrall, and Ludvig Lindgren can ride our place. The forecast is good and I think we'll get a big crowd - they'll come up in their numbers - and we need to be on our game on Sunday.”In the Travel Plus National League, Mildenhall host Coventry with the hosts almost back to full strength.Danny Halsey is back after missing the win over Belle Vue last week, whilst injured reserve Luke Ruddick is due for a run-out after the meeting ahead of a return at Kent on Monday. The Storm continue to use rider-replacement for Liam Carr.Mildenhall promoter Kevin Jolly said: “It is a relief to see that Dan is able to return and also that Luke is close to coming back into the seven. Hopefully Luke will have a good run-out in the MDL on Sunday and then be ready to take his place at Kent on Monday. “Lee (Springthorpe) has done a good job for us and will ride again on Sunday but having Luke back will I hope be a considerable boost, and he and Chris Widman can give us some real scoring power at reserve.”Coventry boss Laurence Rogers said: “We know the likes of Jon (Armstrong) and Dan (Halsey) are experts around there, but we’ve got to work on the ones we can get points off, as we did at Cradley.“It’s good to have Jamie (Halder) back after his exams but we’ve still got to use rider-replacement, which we’ll keep at No.3 because I feel it worked there on Monday. It’s another tough match, but getting something out of it is very do-able for us.”Meawhile Buxton and Cradley contest the first leg of their Knockout Cup tie at the D&P Raceway.Steve Jones is due back for the Hitmen after a recent lay-off, whilst the Heathens continue to operate rider-replacement in the position vacated by Jack Kingston.Buxton boss Jason Pipe said: “Cradley are not the force they once were and if all our boys ride to their capabilities then there's no reason why we can't go through to the next round.“Our three heat-leaders are capable of beating Cradley's heat-leader trio around our own track. I'm looking for us to gain a minimum of a 12-14 point advantage from the first leg on Sunday, so we have a decent enough lead to try and defend in the return leg at Monmore on June 13.”(FIXTURES)

SUNDAY MAY 29:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Newcastle 3pmTRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Mildenhall v Coventry 3.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Buxton v Cradley 3pm

MONDAY MAY 30:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Coventry 12pm, Swindon v Poole 4pm, Wolverhampton v King’s Lynn 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Newcastle v Glasgow 7.30, Rye House v Redcar 2pm, Scunthorpe v Peterborough 2pm, Peterborough v Ipswich 8pmTRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Kent v Mildenhall 3pm, Rye House v Eastbourne (follows PL fixture)BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP Round 3 (250cc and 125cc): Scunthorpe 3.30

WEDNESDAY JUNE 1:ELITE LEAGUE: Lakeside v Wolverhampton 7.30, Poole v Swindon 7.30TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Birmingham v Eastbourne 7.30

THURSDAY JUNE 2:ELITE LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Wolverhampton 7.30, Swindon v Leicester 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Sheffield v Workington 7.30LEAGUE CUP: Redcar v Newcastle 7.30