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BRITISH Champion Danny King says victory in Sunday’s Premier League Riders’ Championship would cap off a memorable year on a personal level.The Ipswich skipper heads to Sheffield as one of the meeting favourites with his British Final exploits having been followed by a Wild Card at Cardiff and a silver medal when representing GB in the World Cup Final.King said: “To win the PLRC has been one of my goals for a long time now and if I could do that then that really would be the only way I could make this unbelievable year even more memorable!“Sheffield is a track the majority of riders enjoy racing on – it’s a track you can build up plenty of speed on and on its day it serves up some great racing.“Hopefully that will be the case on Sunday because it’s always a well supported event and I think it’s consistently one of the best meetings of the season.”
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IPSWICH kept up the pressure in the Premier League play-off chase with a 59-34 home win over fellow contenders Sheffield.Danny King top-scored for the Witches with 11 points, whilst Morten Risager, Nico Covatti and Ben Barker were all paid for double figures in an impressive display for the hosts.Simon Stead was left out on his own at the top of the Sheffield scorechart on 16 as they suffered another heavy away defeat, not helped by the mid-meeting withdrawal of Jason Garrity with the recurrence of a hand injury.Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “"We have done the job we needed to do and we looked a very good team again.“The side look brilliant at the moment and we've got to do it again tomorrow night (at Redcar) Without a win tomorrow night we won't get the rewards from our good form at the moment. "We look like a good team and all of the boys are in good form and if we make the play-offs we've hit form at the right time so we just need a massive performance tomorrow.”Sheffield boss Eric Boocock said: “Unfortunately we seemed very disjointed, and Garrity pulling out after two rides meant we were down to six riders early on.“All we can say is thank goodness for Simon Stead, who only dropped two points all night and rode excellently after his first ride.”Meanwhile Danny Ayres scored a 15-point maximum as a Swindon Sprockets team defeated Coventry Storm 56-34 at Blunsdon. Guest Tom Bacon picked up 12 for the visitors.
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TWELVE of the thirteen Premier League clubs are in action on a fabulous Friday feast of racing in the second tier.There are five league matches, several of which could have a vital influence on top-six qualifying places for the play-offs.Scottish rivals Edinburgh and Glasgow meet at Armadale with the Monarchs in fourth place, and with three matches in hand on the Tigers who are eight points better off in second.Edinburgh boss John Campbell said: “We still have the opportunity of finishing second in the league. That requires us to arrange and win our three remaining home matches and Glasgow to fail to pick up a point here or at Workington. “Newcastle would also have to fail to arrange or win their three remaining home matches.”Glasgow star Rene Bach said: “Every meeting from now on is very important, but I'm looking forward to it and hopefully we can go and win at least one of them this weekend."Edinburgh is one of those tracks where I've scored 14 points and I've scored three. But it's one of the best-prepared tracks in the Premier League.”Third-placed Newcastle visit Plymouth, whose boss Lee Trigger knows they face a tough encounter in their penultimate home fixture of the season.Trigger said: “Newcastle are in the play-offs and still looking for a possible top two finish which will ensure a place in the semi-finals.“They have some useful riders at the St Boniface Arena with the likes of (Robert) Lambert and (Steve) Worrall along with our former rider Ashley Morris, who has recently joined them at reserve.”Sixth-placed Peterborough deploy their new-look line-up at home to Workington – and boss Carl Johnson is convinced they will be an instant success.Kenneth Bjerre and Richard Hall make their seasonal debuts as the club look to cling onto their play-off place.Johnson said: “Our promoter Ged Rathbone has again showed his ambition and commitment to deliver success by rebuilding the team at a stage of the season when many clubs would not have bothered. “He is not the sort of person to sit back and potentially see a season full of promise slip away. Instead he has pulled out all the stops to put this line-up together and to ensure crucial meetings are staged before the cut-off date.“We will not be taking any notice of Workington's away record. They are a very dangerous side who, like ourselves, will be desperate to keep the hopes of reaching the play-offs alive.”Ipswich are just two points behind Peterborough as they make the trip to second-bottom Redcar, and Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins says another away win is a must for his side.Nico Covatti missed out for the visitors due to the Italian Championship but former Ipswich and Redcar rider Kevin Doolan comes in to guest.Hawkins said: “We need the win and the pressure is all on us, our season depends on a win. We need a four point win, but to start with we've got to go there and just get the win and then hopefully it will be by as big a margin as possible." “It's a loss being without Nico but we need to cover that and there is no time to worry about it. We need a result whatever, so we can't think about anything like that. We've got to go there and do our jobs.”Redcar manager Jitendra Duffill said: “Ipswich this week will be another entertaining fixture with riders like Danny King and Ben Barker amongst their ranks. “Like Newcastle, they have a rider at reserve that is going very well in Joe Jacobs. Jye (Etheridge) and Lee (Payne) have to look at making heat 2 their own from now on as it will give our top 5 the support we need.”Meanwhile Scunthorpe welcome Rye House to the Eddie Wright Raceway looking to sign off their home fixtures in style.The Scorpions have found their form in the closing weeks to climb off the bottom of the table – where they have been replaced by the Rockets, who are just one point behind. Scott Campos guests for the injured Josh Bailey for the home side.Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “It’s stating the obvious to say that our season has been nowhere near as good as we’d hoped in terms of results.“But one consolation we have at Scunthorpe is that whether the team wins, or whether it loses, we are guaranteed to be watching some of the best speedway racing you’ll see anywhere. That’s certainly been the case this season. “And, in recent weeks, we’ve hit our best form of the season. It was great to move off the bottom of the league after beating Redcar and move up a couple of places, and now the task is to complete the job and ensure we don’t finish bottom.”
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PREMIER League leaders Somerset turn their attentions to the League Cup when they host Sheffield at the Oaktree Arena on Friday.The Rebels are targeting an advantage from the first leg of the semi-final ahead of the return at Owlerton later this month.Somerset bring in Darryl Ritchings to guest for the injured Zach Wajtknecht at reserve, whilst Sheffield are hit by injury to Jason Garrity and they operate rider replacement. Rebels boss Garry May said: “The two league matches between ourselves and Sheffield would indicate that it this could go down to the wire.“In saying that, we did have some bad luck in losing by 10 points at their place, but that is speedway, and Friday’s home tie is a different match on a different day, so the obvious aim will be to build up as big a first leg lead as possible.”Sheffield co-promoter Damien Bates said: “If we can keep it within 14 points in the away leg then we have a fantastic chance at home, so that’s what we’ll be looking for.“We want to win, obviously, but Somerset are a very good team so we know that’s going to be difficult.“If we can keep it fairly close then we’ve shown we can beat them at home, so we’ll be looking to give ourselves the best chance possible ahead of the second leg.”
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COVENTRY manager Laurence Rogers is targeting an all-round effort to improve the Storm’s home record in a double-header on Friday.They take on the Isle of Wight and Kent at Brandon with the action starting the earlier time of 7pm.Birmingham No.1 Tom Perry guests for the Storm at No.1 with Mitchell Davey on the sidelines after an accident at work last week, and the home side use rider replacement for the injured Dan Greenwood.Rogers said: “Both the Isle of Wight and Kent are beatable if the boys get themselves going. I’m sure Tom will be a good guest, but it needs everyone pulling together if we’re going to get some points. “It’s been tough with fixtures again this year with matches being rained-off and moved so the boys haven’t had a consistent run on their own track, but hopefully we can get some wins from this end-of-season run.“Mitchell has taken the sensible course of action in pulling out of his meetings this week, but thankfully the damage isn’t touching the spinal cord or anything like that, and we’ll just have to judge things from thereon in.”Meanwhile Belle Vue are forced into several changes for their home clash with Buxton as they look to close the five-point gap to fourth-placed Cradley.Luke Priest, Jon Armstrong and Jack Smith all stand in for the Colts due to the heavy schedule of Premier League matches on Friday and injury to Rob Shuttleworth, whilst the Hitmen have Ryan Blacklock back from injury and Tom Bacon guests at No.1Belle Vue’s Andy Mellish said: “Buxton haven't had the best of years but we’d be foolish to underestimate them. They’ve got some good riders who on their day are quite capable of keeping us honest and on our toes.“Unfortunately quite a few of our usual team are either otherwise engaged or injured which is not ideal, but thats just the way it is. It’s that time of year when cut off dates are looming for everyone.”Buxton boss Jason Pipe said: “I can't remember the last time we raced a meeting with seven riders, it was that long ago! It's good to be going into a meeting where I'm not working out the r/r rides at home, days before.“This meeting will also see Shelby (Rutherford) and Davey (Wallinger) move into the top five, with is a real shame because they were both scoring some good points at reserve, but I've every confidence that the pair of them will get some good vital points still. I know we are not too far off our next win. It's coming!”
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FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9:PREMIER LEAGUE: Edinburgh v Glasgow 7.30, Peterborough v Workington 7.30, Plymouth v Newcastle 7.15, Redcar v Ipswich 7.30, Scunthorpe v Rye House 7.30LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINAL 1st leg: Somerset v Sheffield 7.30TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Buxton 7.30, Coventry v Isle of Wight 7pm, Coventry v Kent (follows previous fixture)
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 10:ELITE LEAGUE: Leicester v King’s Lynn 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Berwick v Rye House 7pm, Workington v Glasgow 7pmTRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Stoke v Cradley 7pm
SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11:PREMIER LEAGUE RIDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Sheffield 5.30TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Buxton v Cradley 3pm, Eastbourne v Stoke 3.30, Rye House v King’s Lynn 4pm, Rye House v Mildenhall (follows previous fixture)BRITISH 150cc FINAL: Rye House 2.30
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 12:ELITE LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Poole 7.30, Wolverhampton v Coventry 7.30PREMIER LEAGUE: Peterborough v Rye House 7.30, Newcastle v Workington 7.30NATIONAL LEAGUE KO CUP S/F 2nd leg: Kent v Birmingham 6.30
