(SPEEDWAY 1)
THE draw has been made for the British Under-19 Final at Plymouth on Thursday.
There are two changes to the original line-up with Kelsey Dugard and Luke Ruddick having withdrawn, and they are replaced by Woodhull twins Luke and Ben.
The Young Lions Management are delighted to have received a tyre sponsorship deal from Poole co-promoter Gordon Pairman benefiting all 16 competitors.
British Youth boss Neil Vatcher said: “Mr Pairman has been a long-time supporter of the Young Lions and again has stepped forward to enable each of the riders to have a new tyre, which is a fantastic gesture.
“A number of supporters have also offered their support for the event which is fantastic. Our thanks go out to Bob Cole, David Graveling, Steve Andrews, Brian Royle, the Dunlea Family, Phil Courage and Marcus Stokes.”
DRAW: 1 Dan Bewley (Belle Vue/Glasgow/Belle Vue Colts), 2 Jordan Jenkins (Mildenhall), 3 Callum Walker (Plymouth), 4 Luke Harris (Cradley), 5 Kyle Bickley (Belle Vue Colts), 6 Jack Parkinson-Blackburn (Birmingham), 7 Luke Woodhull (Belle Vue Colts), 8 Nathan Greaves (Wolverhampton/Ipswich), 9 Jamie Halder (Buxton), 10 Tom Brennan (Eastbourne), 11 Ben Woodhull (Buxton), 12 Jack Thomas (Kent), 13 Henry Atkins (Plymouth), 14 Jack Smith (Belle Vue/Glasgow/Belle Vue Colts), 15 Joe Lawlor (Cradley), 16 Zach Wajtknecht (Swindon/Lakeside).
(SPEEDWAY 2)
BRITISH youngster Harry McGurk reached the A Final of the European 125cc Championship at Torun in Poland last Thursday.
McGurk narrowly missed out on a rostrum place as home rider Bartosz Tyburski just held on for third spot on the line, but it still maintained a record of at least one rider qualifying for the Final in every event the Young Lions have entered this season.
McGurk’s younger brother Sam competed in the B Final, whilst Britain also had the youngest rider in the competition with 10-year-old Luke Harrison winning the D Final. The meeting was won by Czech Republic rider Filip Sifalda.
British Youth boss Neil Vatcher said: “All three Brits did everyone proud, and all three will learn from the fantastic experience which took place at the Grand Prix venue.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
PETERBOROUGH collected East Anglian derby glory - as their Australian duo starred in a Heat 15 decider against Ipswich on Sunday.
Guest No.1 Josh Grajczonek and paid maximum man Jack Holder teamed up for a 5-1 in the finale as the Panthers saw off Ipswich 48-42 in a SGB Championship thriller at the East of England Arena.
Peterborough trailed early on and never led by more than two points until their duo from Down Under delivered a memorable climax to roar clear of Witches captain Danny King after Rory Schlein retired on the opening lap.
Holder kept up his blistering form with 14+1 from five rides, whilst King top-scored for the visitors on 10+1.
Holder said: “It's awesome for me to get another maximum and to help us beat a really tough Ipswich team. It was a difficult meeting and we were behind in the early heats, but we turned it round and got a great result.
“I love riding round our track, my bikes are going great and I can’t complain about anything at the moment.
“But it’s not just about me. The other guys are all doing their bit to help us get the wins we need to reach the play-offs.”
Ipswich boss Ritchie Hawkins was content with a league point, saying: “I think on a different day, with the rub of the green we could have got the victory. I have no complaints and we go away happy as I’m not sure there was much more we could have done. We put in a good performance.
“I think we have looked solid away from home in the past few meetings and I am really pleased with where we are at. We will need to keep improving before the end of the year but at the moment I am quite happy and there are no complaints about the team or anything.”
The Witches’ margin over fourth-placed Redcar is down to two points after the Bears raced to an emphatic 50-39 win at Scunthorpe.
More significantly, the Teesside outfit are now five points clear of Sheffield in fifth, although the Tigers have three matches in hand.
Ben Barker (11+2) and Ellis Perks (9+1) headed a strong all-round Bears effort in Lincolnshire, whilst the home side lost Tero Aarnio to a suspected broken thumb in a Heat 6 crash. Ryan Douglas was their top-scorer with nine.
Scorpions boss Dave Peet said: “There’s so many incidents in this meeting, that I could spend all night talking about them all. But there’s no point saying we didn’t have any luck with the refereeing decisions, because that’s speedway.
“The thing that was more frustrating were the breakdowns, because that’s something we can do something about.
“A meeting like this is frustrating for everyone, and that includes the riders. They don’t turn up wanting to have a bad day.”
Meanwhile Newcastle moved up to seventh with a convincing 60-33 win over Berwick at Shielfield Park.
Glasgow regulars Richie Worrall (10+1) and Aaron Summers (10) both hit double figures as they deputised for the Diamonds’ GB World Cup duo Robert Lambert and Steve Worrall, whilst Lewis Rose (13+1) and Ludvig Lindgren (11+3) were both paid for 14 points.
The Bandits’ chief resistance came from Richard Lawson, who stood in for Nick Morris and scored 15 – but they remain seven points adrift at the foot of the table.
Newcastle boss George English said: “Berwick have been ravaged with injury, but I didn't foresee such a dominant performance from the Diamonds but we got our heads down early and took a stranglehold on the meeting which Berwick found hard to shake free from.
“I think we both chose well on the guests, and thank-you Glasgow for your firepower!”
Berwick co-promoter Dennis McCleary said: “It was another match we'll have to put down to experience and whilst not totally forget about, at least file away and move on to the next challenge in the League at Edinburgh on Friday and back home with Ipswich on Saturday. Hopefully we can welcome back some of our injured lads.”
(SPEEDWAY 4)
EASTBOURNE’S unbeaten National League run was finally ended by Mildenhall in a thriller at West Row on Sunday.
The home side raced into a early ten-point lead and looked to be controlling the meeting – until, with the gap at six points, two successive Eagles 5-1s in Heats 13 and 14 suddenly put them ahead.
But the Fen Tigers had the final say as youngster Jordan Jenkins (10+1) made the start in Heat 15 with the experienced Jon Armstrong (11+1) coming through for second place to get the better of Georgie Wood (10) and Jake Knight (12+1) as the hosts won 46-44.
Mildenhall promoter Kevin Jolly said: “With Connor Mountain with Ipswich and both reserves missing this was always going to be very difficult for us, but the lads kept battling to the end and I felt we deserved it - although we threw too many points away that on another day may have cost us.
“I must praise young William O’Keefe who did a fine job for us at reserve, and what can you say about that last heat? Jordan rode it like an old hand and Armo was just superb keeping their pair at bay.”
Eastbourne boss Connor Dugard said: “It was a tremendous fightback by the team. Our unbeaten streak had to come to an end sometime.
“I am proud of how we performed today. Our job is now to set out on another winning run to ensure our place in the end-of-season play-offs.”
Meanwhile Stoke were able to celebrate their second win of the season as they got the better of close rivals Cradley 47-43 at Loomer Road.
The Heathens were left to rue the points that got away after five falls and three mechanical issues, which left them battling to salvage merely a consolation league point.
Reserve Paul Burnett made a key contribution for the Potters with 12+1 whilst No.1 Mitchell Davey added 10, and Tony Atkin returned from injury with nine.
Cradley guest Ben Morley (13+1) combined with captain Tom Perry (9+2) for late 5-1s in Heats 13 and 15 to ensure they took a point.
Atkin said: “It’s obviously good for the team to beat Cradley and good for Stoke Speedway. We needed a win and we got it, before the meeting if you have said we would win by four points I’d have been happy with that.
“There were a lot of good things to come out of tonight’s meeting Paul did well and David Wallinger had a great Heat 14, and for us there are plenty of positives to be taken into our next few meetings.”
Cradley boss Will Pottinger said: “In my mind we should have won that meeting and I'm extremely disappointed that we didn't.
“We threw far too many silly points away and you can't afford to do that in any meeting.
“The track was tricky and far from ideal, but it's the same for both sides so we can't use that as an excuse.
“Stoke simply adapted to conditions quicker and better than we did - thankfully all the lads are walking away in one piece though after a couple of the incidents.”
(SPEEDWAY 5)
CRADLEY boss Will Pottinger is urging his side to cut out the errors when Buxton visit Monmore Green in the National League tonight (Monday).
The Hitmen arrive with former Heathens duo Max Clegg and Matt Williamson offering a major challenge at the top of the order, whilst Shelby Rutherford makes his home debut for Cradley against his former club.
And Pottinger, who felt his side should have taken more than a point from their trip to Stoke on Sunday, says securing the three points will be vital to their play-off hopes.
Pottinger said: “We threw far too many silly points away and we were extremely disappointed that we didn’t come away from Stoke with the win.
“But thankfully we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves more-or-less 24 hours later so in many ways that’s a big relief.
“There’s nothing worse than sitting around mulling on things when you’ve had an off day. So it’s a great chance for the lads to get Sunday out of their system, get back to winning ways and hopefully we’ll see some sort of a response.”
Buxton boss Jason Pipe said: “Cradley is never an easy place to go to but it's these sort of meetings our riders really look forward to.
“Thankfully we have both Max and Matt available for this fixture and the score line will hopefully be a lot closer than some of our meetings we've competed in this season.”
Meanwhile seventh placed Kent have called on former skipper Ben Morley to guest in their home clash with the Isle of Wight.
Morley steps in for injured captain Luke Bowen, whilst George Hunter makes his official home debut for the Kings, who have so far won their three league matches at home.
Meanwhile Scott Campos appears in Warriors colours for the first time having signed for the Smallbrook club to replace Kelsey Dugard.
(FIXTURES)
MONDAY JULY 3:
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Cradley v Buxton 7.30, Kent v Isle of Wight 6.30
WEDNESDAY JULY 5:
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Belle Vue v Kent 7.30, Birmingham v Cradley 7.30
THURSDAY JULY 6:
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP: Ipswich v Scunthorpe 7.30, Redcar v Peterborough 7.30
BRITISH UNDER-19 FINAL: Plymouth 7.15
VFM and AS CHALLENGE: Isle of Wight 7pm
FRIDAY JULY 7:
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP: Edinburgh v Berwick 7.30, Scunthorpe v Newcastle 7.30
CHALLENGE: Somerset Select v Isle of Wight 7.30
Results Sunday July 2, 2017
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP
Newcastle 60 – Lewis Rose 13+1
Berwick 33 – Richard Lawson 15
Championship points: Newcastle 3 Berwick 0
Peterborough 48 – Jack Holder 14+1
Ipswich 42 – Danny King 10+1
Championship points: Peterborough 3 Ipswich 1
Scunthorpe 39 – Ryan Douglas 9
Redcar 50 – Ben Barker 11+2
Championship points: Scunthorpe 0 Redcar 4
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE
Mildenhall 46 – Jon Armstrong 11+1
Eastbourne 44 – Jake Knight 12+1
National League points: Mildenhall 3 Eastbourne 1
Stoke 47 – Paul Burnett 12+1
Cradley 43 – Ben Morley 13+1
National League points: Stoke 3 Cradley 1
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP, Scunthorpe
500cc
1 Drew Kemp
2 Dan Gilkes
3 Liam Little
250cc
1 Jason Edwards
2 Leon Flint
3 Jordan Palin
4 Dan Thompson
