(SPEEDWAY 1)
MICHAEL Palm Toft returned to haunt his former club as Scunthorpe pulled off a stunning 46-44 Premier League win at Peterborough on Tuesday.Palm Toft, released by the Panthers earlier in the season, racked up 15+1 to help the Scorpions move off the foot of the table with a dramatic win.With Palm Toft’s rides completed, it was left to skipper Josh Auty to hold off home No.1 Craig Cook for second place in Heat 15 to ensure the visitors held on for victory.Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We believed we could do it at Peterborough. You’re only as good as your last result, and we wanted to put things right after the heavy cup defeat at Newcastle on Monday evening.“Obviously Newcastle is something of a technical track, whereas at Peterborough we knew we could get stuck in and we knew we had someone at reserve in Michael Palm Toft who was capable of scoring a lot of points around the place.“Heat 15 was simply world class. We knew we needed a second place to win the meeting, but Craig Cook was riding such a wide line and it looked like it was going to pay off. But Josh wasn’t ready to give up that second place and grabbed it back on the line.”Peterborough manager Jason Attwood said: “We were behind almost all night and although we got level at one point, we could never quite get control of the meeting.“Speedway is one of those sports that is full of what ifs and maybes, but I’m not going to start pointing the finger at any individuals. We win as a team and we lose as a team, and now the challenge is to put it right.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
POOLE promoter Matt Ford is urging his side to take nothing for granted when Lakeside visit Wimborne Road in the Elite League on Wednesday.A patched-up Pirates side recorded a shock away win at Purfleet earlier in the month, but the men from Dorset have not ridden at home since June 1.Poole are without Kyle Newman (injured) and Adam Ellis (unavailable) with Paul Starke and Charles Wright stepping in as guests.Ford said: “Anyone who thinks that Wednesday's result is a foregone conclusion would do well to think again. Yes we did turn them over on their patch in our last meeting but few gave us a chance on that occasion and that in itself should underline that you can ill-afford to take anything for granted in this sport.“They will arrive here still smarting from that defeat. We hurt them that night and dented their pride but if I know my counterpart Jon Cook then he will have his side more than fired up for this visit. “A wounded animal is a dangerous animal and so we will respect that and go about our business with no preconceived ideas.”Lakeside coach Kelvin Tatum said: “We were obviously bitterly disappointed with the result at home last week, and although Poole will be very strong and red-hot favourites I’d like to think we’ll see a reaction.“For the majority of the meeting we competed quite well on our first visit to Wimborne Road, so we’ll go there with clear minds and if we could come away with something that would be fantastic.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
BIRMINGHAM are looking to complete a quickfire double over Coventry when the sides meet at Perry Barr in the Travel Plus National League.The Brummies raced to a rampant 61-29 win at Brandon last month, and will now aim to extend their lead at the top of the table in their first home league match for five week.The home side operate rider replacement for the unavailable Zach Wajtknecht, whilst Coventry call up Bradley Andrews as a guest at reserve for the injured Jamie Halder.Birmingham boss Graham Drury said: “Other clubs have been able to close the gap on us at the top but we're still in a very strong position. It would be nice to open up a tiny bit of breathing space again with a couple of meetings in hand over our rivals.“Coventry will be looking to come to Perry Barr and leave with a shock result and we will have to be at our best because they are a much stronger outfit with the inclusion of Mitchell Davey.”Coventry manager Laurence Rogers said: “Obviously it’s going to be a very tough one for the boys, but you never know in speedway.“We have Conor (Dwyer) back, and also Dan (Greenwood) has changed back to last year’s frames, so hopefully that will get him going. Mitchell, naturally, hasn’t seen the place before, but he hadn’t seen ours either and did well there.“The boys haven’t ridden since that home defeat so hopefully they won’t be too stale, and we’ll be looking to do our best.”
(SPEEDWAY 4)
JACK Holder has committed his long-term future to Poole after agreeing to become a full asset of the club.Holder, younger brother of current Pirates star Chris, currently rides for Plymouth in the Premier League.Poole promoter Matt Ford said: “There has been news of the potential stadium development within the next year or two and I am keen to make certain that we can also develop the team too. “I see Jack as an integral part of my plans and in bringing him to the club we are creating a good foundation on which to move even further forward.“I will stress that the addition of Jack to our asset base does not indicate that we will be seeing the Holder siblings in the same team this season, as Jack will continue to gain valuable experience at Premier league level with Plymouth, but who knows what 2017 will bring.”
(SPEEDWAY 5)
GREAT Britain will have a representative at the FIM 250cc Youth World Cup at Gustrow, Germany on Friday - where 13-year-old Leon Flint will be making his World Final debut.Flint qualified from the first semi-final in Poland last Saturday with an impressive 11-point score in his first attempt at the competition and as the youngest rider in the field, with some of his rivals up to four years his senior.For the first time in this competition’s history, the Final is five days later than the semi, and is raced not only at a different venue but also in a different country.Flint, who is spending time between the semi and Final practising in Poland, will be heading to Germany later this week in plenty of time for the Final on Friday evening.Fellow British Youth rider Kean Dicken contested the second semi-final on Sunday, and although he started in good form, he unfortunately failed to make the cut for the Final with his 5-point score.
(FIXTURES)
WEDNESDAY JULY 13:ELITE LEAGUE: Poole v Lakeside 7.30TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Birmingham v Coventry 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 14:ELITE LEAGUE: King’s Lynn v Leicester 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Ipswich v Berwick 7.30, Redcar v Edinburgh 7.30, Sheffield v Plymouth 7.30PAIRS: Isle of Wight 7pm
FRIDAY JULY 15:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Leicester 7.30, Coventry v Poole 7.30, Lakeside v Wolverhampton 8pmPREMIER LEAGUE: Peterborough v Berwick 7.30, Somerset v Newcastle 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Edinburgh v Glasgow 7.30
