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FORMER Poole rider Paul Starke scored a paid maximum on a guest appearance for his old club as the Pirates defeated Lakeside 52-41 at Wimborne Road.The home side rode one man short with no facility to replace the unavailable Adam Ellis, but with reserves Starke (13+2) and Bjarne Pedersen (10+1) both hitting high scores and Chris Holder also scoring 10+1 they had enough to see off the Hammers.Andreas Jonsson top-scored for the visitors with 13+1 but had to withdraw from the re-run of Heat 15 after taking a heavy fall in a clash with Hans Andersen.Poole promoter Matt Ford said: “Paul has been a fabulous stand-in for us. After the late objection to us declaring Charles Wright and thus having no time to reconsider any options we had to go with just six men, but to be honest Paul was good enough for two men and it was a delight to see him picking up the points. “The rest of the lads all rode well too and I am very satisfied with the outcome. We were always in control and even though there was a mid-meeting recovery to some extent by Lakeside I was confident that we would come through that and be strong enough to get the win.”Lakeside coach Kelvin Tatum said: “It’s getting a bit tiring, saying the same thing after every away meeting and it’s frustrating to miss out on a point once again.“We were all over the place initially, but credit to the team, they battled hard and actually got us back within touching distance.“Poole always had the upper hand, and although it was a valiant effort under trying circumstances they just had too much strength for us in the end.”Meanwhile the Travel Plus National League clash between Birmingham and Coventry was abandoned after eight races due to heavy rain at Perry Barr.The Brummies led 28-20 at the time of the stoppage but the match will now have to be re-staged.
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KING’S Lynn will look to close the gap on the Elite League’s top four as they host bottom club Leicester at the Adrian Flux Arena on Thursday.The Stars reignited their play-off ambitions with a dramatic 47-46 win at Coventry on Monday, and have named Lewis Kerr as their guest for Simon Lambert whilst Robert Lambert returns from injury.The Lions are without Ludvig Lindgren due to a commitment in Sweden, with Ashley Morris stepping in to guest.Stars boss Rob Lyon said: “We have to be looking at two wins from these matches, no doubt about that, we’re at the stage now where it’s win or bust really, and we then have another important home match against Swindon coming next week. “It’s all to play for still, and it keeps our chances alive if we can win these meetings. We do have some hope for the rest of the season with a reasonably solid looking line-up, and hopefully now we can take the fight to all of the other teams.”Leicester manager Norrie Allan said: “So far we have managed to keep the fixture clashes down to a bare minimum and have only needed to call upon eight guests prior to the match at King’s Lynn. “Compared to this time last year we had used 36 guests to plug the gaps for riders who were missing for one reason or another.”
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SHEFFIELD and Berwick have top place in the Premier League in their sights if they can secure positive results on Thursday.The third-placed Tigers host Plymouth and are looking for their eighth successive home win, although they remain without the injured Jason Garrity and operate rider-replacement – with the Devils also using that facility for Kyle Newman, whilst Todd Kurtz and Sam Simota both return.Sheffield skipper Simon Stead said: “It’s been difficult with a lack of track time, but we are getting busier again now and we’re looking forward to getting back at Owlerton on Thursday.“We’ve been riding well as a team, so we just need to try and pick up where we left off and come away with another positive result.“If the team get the right result then I’ve done my job so that’s always the main focus for me, and we’ll be looking to keep our good home run going with another three points against Plymouth.”Devils boss Lee Trigger said: “We need to get back to the form that we are capable of producing. If we do that we can start winning matches again, which is important because we need to start putting some points on the board.”Second-placed Berwick visit third-from-bottom Ipswich, who can themselves climb into mid-table with a win at Foxhall.Connor Mountain gets another opportunity at reserve for the Witches, who are looking to gain revenge from a heavy defeat at Shielfield Park last month.Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “It was the worst performance I've ever been involved in at Ipswich and we need to do a lot better than that and I'm sure we will. “We need to carry on from last week and hopefully have more of a dominant display. We're getting ahead in meetings and then letting the opposition back in so we need to stop that.”Meanwhile Redcar have slipped to the bottom of the table ahead of their clash with champions Edinburgh at the Media Prime Arena.The Bears have called on club asset Robert Branford to guest for Simon Nielsen, who remains on the sidelines with ankle ligament damage.Manager Jitendra Duffill said: “I'd like to show that last week (against Scunthorpe) was no fluke and I believe that we can win this meeting. Rob impressed me when he guested for us a few weeks ago and if he can repeat that performance we should be stronger at the tail end than the Monarchs. “We will need to at least match the performances of their heat leaders to win. I'm expecting this to be a very close contest and it is very possible it could go to the last heat.”The Isle of Wight host a Pairs event with the ‘Slide in Ryde Bonanza’ at the Smallbrook Stadium, with six pairings in action. Co-promoter Barry Bishop said: “Pairs racing is becoming massively popular in Europe where there is a pairs team GP-style tournament. “We hope that we can replicate this on the Island and shall be inviting sponsors to provide a tyre and fuel for their pair on the night and they can enjoy an evening supporting them.”
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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
SATURDAY JULY 16:ELITE LEAGUE: Leicester v King’s Lynn 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Workington v Rye House 7pmTRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Stoke v Cradley 7pmSTARS OF TOMORROW + BRITISH 125cc FINAL: Berwick 6.45
SUNDAY JULY 17:PREMIER LEAGUE: Glasgow v Rye House 3pm, Scunthorpe v Edinburgh 6.30PREMIER LEAGUE KO CUP Q/F 1st leg: Newcastle v Sheffield 6.30TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Belle Vue 3pm, Mildenhall v Isle of Wight 3.30
