(SPEEDWAY 1)
SWINDON moved through to the semi-finals of the Premiership KO Cup with aggregate victory over Rye House.
The Robins led by eight points going into the home leg and although the Rockets kept things tight for much of the night, three 5-1s in the last three races enabled the home side to take a 51-39 win, for a 20-point overall margin.
Nick Morris continued his blistering start to the season with 16+1 whilst skipper Jason Doyle (12+1) and Bradley Wilson-Dean (10) added double figures, with Scott Nicholls scoring nine for the visitors.
Swindon boss Alun Rossiter said: “It was what the crowd like to see – a nice, close, tense meeting, but our top-end boys are really going at the moment.
“The other boys are still feeling their way in, it’s only their second home meeting, and we knew this would be a close meeting on perhaps a more levelling track than Rye House.
“Nick and Jason are there to get the 5-1s at the end, and although I was criticised by a certain few for persevering with Nick, at the end of the day I knew what was to come.”
Rye House boss Peter Schroeck said: “Overall, there were a lot of positives from tonight. The last three races spoiled it a bit, but we generally hung on in there and kept fighting. It gives us something to build on when we go back there in the League.
“It was good to see Robbo (Stuart Robson) back amongst the points. Now we just need to get Davey (Watt) going. His form is very important to us, and there were a few glimpses tonight that he is turning the corner; we just need to get the full breakthrough the way we have with Robbo.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
SHEFFIELD sent out a major statement of intent with a 57-33 home win over Ipswich in the SGB Championship.
Skipper Kyle Howarth produced an unbeaten display from four rides, whilst Mark Riss proved an ideal guest at reserve with a 14+1 haul as the Tigers coped without Robert Branford due to a Premiership commitment and Josh Bates, whose partner was rushed into labour hours before the meeting.
Josh Grajczonek (11+1) and Lasse Bjerre (10) also scored double figures for the hosts, and although Nico Covatti notched 11 for the visitors they were hampered by a heavy third-ride crash for Danny King.
Sheffield boss Simon Stead said: “After the disappointment of our defeat at Workington last weekend, that was just the response I was looking for and more,
“Mark was exceptional for us tonight and we thank him for standing in at reserve. Kyle really impressed me once again but there were so many positives from all areas of the team.
"Ipswich are a really strong side in this league - yet we've just beat them pretty comfortably in the end!”
Witches boss Ritchie Hawkins said: “I don’t think we will have many meetings where we will struggle at one and five. Danny and Rory (Schlein) got eight between them and you wouldn’t expect that to happen very often.
“They (Sheffield) are a very good team and we knew that before we started. I think we will be better prepared when we come back here in a month or so and I think we will put up more of a fight.”
Meanwhile Peterborough made progress into the KO Cup quarter-finals with a successful defence of their first leg lead over Redcar.
The Panthers travelled to Teesside with a ten-point advantage and won 46-44 on the night despite being without Bradley Wilson-Dean (SGBP commitment) and Kenneth Hansen (medical tests).
Ulrich Ostergaard scored 11 against one of this former clubs with Paul Starke adding 10+2, whilst the home side’s scoring was dominated by Ben Barker (13+1) and Jason Garrity (12+1) as they fell at the first hurdle of the competition.
Peterborough boss Carl Johnson said: “The aim was to win the meeting rather than worry about the 10-point cushion from the first leg.
“It was important to take control by hitting Redcar hard early on. We didn't want to give them the opportunity to put us on the back-foot.
“We knew at the interval that the next couple of heats were going to be important. We told the boys not to do anything stupid and just ensure we got ourselves over the line.
“We managed that with three races to spare and we were already through by the time Redcar came back with a couple of heat advantages at the end.”
Unattached Stefan Nielsen sent out another message to promoters with victory, and a new track record, in the Vince Mapley Memorial Trophy at the Isle of Wight.
Nielsen won all of his qualifying races and was then awarded victory in the Final after race leader Ben Wilson fell, with Rob Shuttleworth and Joe Jacobs second and third respectively.
(SPEEDWAY 3)
LAKESIDE have handed their final team place to Ryan MacDonald for the start of the season.
The Scotsman, who has previous National League experience with Scunthorpe and Stoke, impressed at the Hammers’ official practice session on Thursday.
Team boss Kelvin Tatum said: “Ryan showed good pace, and he improved with every lap at a tricky circuit which was new to him.
“His pace was very encouraging, and the fact he’s made the effort to come all the way from Glasgow shows how much he wants to ride for the club.
“We’ll give him the No.7 race jacket for this weekend against Eastbourne, and then we’ll take things from there.”
(FIXTURES)
SATURDAY APRIL 15:
SGB PREMIERSHIP: Rye House v King’s Lynn 7pm
PREMIERSHIP KO CUP 2nd leg: Leicester v Somerset 7.30
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Glasgow 7pm, Ipswich v Peterborough 7.30, Workington v Scunthorpe 7pm
SUNDAY APRIL 16:
SGB PREMIERSHIP: Swindon v Poole 5pm
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP: Glasgow v Berwick 3pm, Newcastle v Sheffield 6.30, Scunthorpe v Redcar 3pm
EASTER CHASE 2nd leg: Mildenhall v Kent 3pm
YOUTH CHALLENGE: Scunthorpe Stags v Halifax Dukes (follows SGBC fixture)
EASTER CHASE, 1st leg
Kent 49 (Jack Thomas 12+2)
Mildenhall 39 (Jordan Jenkins 11+2)
LEE RICHARDSON MEMORIAL TROPHY, 2nd leg
Eastbourne 51 (Tom Brennan 10+1)
Lakeside 39 (Zach Wajtknecht 14)
Eastbourne win 93-87 on aggregate
Results : Friday April 14, 2017
SGB PREMIERSHIP
King’s Lynn v Rye House - OFF
Somerset 47 (Josh Grajczonek 13)
Poole 43 (Hans Andersen 13+1)
SGB Premiership points: Somerset 3 Poole 1
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP
Edinburgh 57 (Erik Riss 15)
Berwick 33 (Kevin Doolan 8/Claus Vissing 8)
SGB Championship: Edinburgh 3 Berwick 0
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE
Birmingham v King’s Lynn - OFF
NATIONAL TROPHY
Plymouth 53 (Steve Boxall 15)
Isle of Wight 35 (James Cockle 12)
National Trophy points: Plymouth 3 Isle of Wight 0
SGB PREMIERSHIP
Belle Vue 54 (Kenneth Bjerre 15)
Wolverhampton 38 (Freddie Lindgren 12+2)
SGB Premiership points: Belle Vue 3 Wolverhampton 0
Poole 54 (Brady Kurtz 12)
Somerset 36 (Patrick Hougaard 12)
SGB Premiership points: Poole 3 Somerset 0
LEE RICHARDSON MEMORIAL TROPHY, 1st leg
Lakeside 48 (Ben Morley 15)
Eastbourne 42 (Tom Brennan 9+2)
