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WORKNGTON, Plymouth and Berwick have joined Peterborough in the Premier League Fours Final.The four clubs will meet at the conclusion of Fours weekend at the Showground on Sunday afternoon after some dramatic semi-final action on Saturday.The Comets trailed Glasgow throughout the first semi but remained in touch and were three points down prior to a dramatic final race which saw Kenneth Hansen win with the Tigers’ Aaron Summers relegated to the back – and with the scores level, Workington went through on countback of race wins.Plymouth dominated the second semi with both Brady Kurtz and Jack Holder dropping just one point as they finished five clear of Sheffield, with Redcar’s Lasse Bjerre scoring a nine-point maximum.The third semi went right down to the wire with Edinburgh, who had Sam Masters unbeaten on nine points, and Berwick tied on 20 points ahead of Heat 12.The two clubs found themselves vying for third place in the decisive heat with the Bandits’ Kevin Doolan holding the Monarchs’ Kevin Wolbert at bay to take the Border club through.Sunday’s action begins with an Individual meeting for riders who did not qualify on Saturday at midday, with the Fours Final at 4pm.
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BIRMINGHAM moved nine points clear at the top of the Travel Plus National League table with a 51-37 win at Stoke on Saturday.The meeting was marred by three early withdrawals as the Potters lost Shaun Tedham with a bang to the head and Chris Hay with bruising, whilst Brummies No.1 Zach Wajtknecht suffered two broken fingers in a freak accident.Skipper Tom Perry racked up 13 points for the visitors with Tom Bacon adding 10+1, whilst Ben Hopwood top-scored for the Potters on 9+1.Stoke boss Malcolm Vasey said: “I don’t think anyone can complain about the effort we put in, but the disparity between Birmingham and us and in fact most of the National League doesn’t help and then our situation was not helped with the news that we’d lost both Shaun and Chris in the opening two heats through injury. “I know they lost Zach Wajtknecht but there really is not much difference between the Birmingham riders, and they managed to cover his next two rides with their reserves - and I have to give credit where it is due because Jack Smith and Jack Parkinson-Blackburn are a probably the best reserve pairing in the league.”Birmingham manager Graham Drury said: “It was a good performance, but I don’t really take any great deal of joy going to a meeting like that and winning it.“When your opposition lose two riders within the first two races it isn’t good for the meeting as a whole, and it was a shame things turned out like that. “It was an unusual incident with Zach, and it looked very nasty at first, but I gathered the riders up and told them the best thing they could do was to go on and win it for him which is exactly what they did.”Meanwhile Eastbourne moved second in the table with a hard-fought 47-43 win over Kent at Arlington.Both sides suffered disqualifications in a tight meeting, but 4-2s in Heats 13 and 15 were enough to secure victory for the Eagles.Adam Ellis top-scored with 14 points for the home side whilst opposite number Luke Bowen picked up 11 for the Kings, who went away with a league point.Eastbourne boss Connor Dugard said: “That was a tense meeting, to say the least. Pretty much everyone said before the match that Eastbourne will not beat Kent, they’ll get a draw if they are lucky, so to turn them over makes me pretty happy.“My top four really scored well, even though Jake Knight had a slightly off night. Ellis Perks and Georgie Wood as a pairing is starting to really work.”
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MILDENHALL chairman Kevin Jolly has described the trip to bottom club Buxton on Sunday as vital to their National League play-off hopes.Confirmation of the Fen Tigers’ three-point penalty deduction following the postponement of their match against Cradley has left them 13 points adrift of the top four, and in urgent need of their first away win of the league campaign.Jolly said: “This is simply a must-win meeting for us, and if the lads ride with the same application, concentration and skill as they did on (last) Sunday we must surely break our run of meetings without an away win. “We will not take Buxton lightly and give them the utmost respect but I feel we cannot afford to miss out again this weekend. “Our top four have all scored good points there in recent times and if they all fire and receive decent backup I am confident we can gain victory.”Buxton hand a seasonal debut to Lee Dicken, who last rode competitively in 2011 but made his first appearance for the Hitmen back in 1994. Manager Jason Pipe said: “I still feel we are still one heat-leader light. 7 or 8 points against Belle Vue would have made all the difference. “We are talking to another rider of that quality, and there aren’t that many around. No one is working harder, believe me, to sort out a team worthy of the name.”
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RYE House are to stage the one-off British 150cc Final on Sunday September 11.The event will take place prior to the Raiders’ National League match against King’s Lynn with up to eight riders competing over qualifying races and a winner-takes-all Final.GB Youth boss Neil Vatcher said: “Rye House is the perfect place to host this final, as not only is it a great venue for this class of bikes that produced some fantastic racing at the Mitas British Youth Championship round just a few weeks ago, but also the majority of the riders that complete in this class are based around the London area.“Nathan Ablitt, who is yet to lose a race in the entire Youth Championship series thus far, will surely go in to the Final as red-hot favourite, but due to the format of a winner-takes-all Final, then it is anyone's guess.“We’d like to thank the Rye House promotion for agreeing to host the event, and the BSPA for their continued support.”(FIXTURES)
SUNDAY JULY 24:PREMIER LEAGUE FOURS WEEKEND: Peterborough 12pmTRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Mildenhall 3pm
MONDAY JULY 25:TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Cradley v Buxton 7.30, Kent v Stoke 6.30
TUESDAY JULY 26:TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Isle of Wight v Kent 7pm
