(SPEEDWAY 1)
GREAT Britain boss Alun Rossiter insists his side will go into the World Cup Final in Poland tonight (Saturday) with a totally positive attitude.
GB opened the tournament with a hugely impressive performance at King’s Lynn last weekend, in which they scored 53 points out of a possible 60.
That result sent Australia into last night’s Race-Off at Leszno, an event they failed to get out of as Russia took the remaining spot for the Final along with hosts Poland and Sweden.
Rossiter said: “You have to believe, it’s as simple as that. Just keep believing and anything can happen.
“We all know how strong the Poles are in their own country. I got criticised last year for being happy with silver, but everybody wrote us off.
“I have a great group of boys in the team, the atmosphere amongst them is brilliant, and we’re going there to hopefully surprise everyone again in a positive way.”
(SPEEDWAY 2)
EDINBURGH continue to lead the SGB Championship table after a 53-39 win over bottom club Berwick at Armadale.
Stand-in captain Erik Riss notched a 14-point haul for the Monarchs, dropping his only point when starting from the 15-metre handicap in Heat 15, whilst guests Rory Schlein and Justin Sedgmen gave solid displays.
Kevin Doolan collected 10 points for the Bandits, who have only won once at the Scottish venue in 19 years.
Sedgmen said: “It was a bit frustrating really I’ve certainly had better nights round here. All I did was change a spark plug for my last ride and things worked better – such a small thing.”
Berwick boss Gary Havelock said: “It’s fair to say we've had more of our fair share of nightmares at this track over the seasons, so the way we rode most of this match would mean we have to be reasonably happy.
“Again, with Lewis Bridger and Nick Morris in harness that score could have been dramatically different.”
Scunthorpe gained a morale-boosting home win by getting the better of Newcastle 54-39 at the Eddie Wright Raceway.
Ryan Douglas piled up 15+2 from six rides for the Scorpions, who operated rider-replacement for Michael Palm Toft, with Theo Pijper chipping in with 13 and Josh Auty 10.
Guests Richie Worrall (13) and Kyle Howarth (12) dominated the Diamonds’ scoring, but reserve Ben Hopwood was withdrawn after a first ride fall.
Newcastle boss George English said: “We're still suffering travel sickness away from home and we have to start quelling the away trip nerves before it's too late.
“Our guests proved their worth and confirmed we had made the right choices, and young Alfie Bowtell had his bike wiped out in Heat 2 yet rode his heart out in his seven rides, and he really was a huge positive on a night of otherwise disappointment.”
(SPEEDWAY 3)
SOMERSET’S National League-level Select side defeated the Isle of Wight 51-38 at the Oaktree Arena on Friday.
British Under-19 Champion Zach Wajtknecht top-scored for the home side with 13+1, whilst Adam Roynon scored 11 despite a last-race fall. Mark Baseby picked up 14 points for the Warriors.
Somerset boss Garry May said: “I think all the lads who took part tonight deserve praise for putting on such a good night of racing.
“I was a very entertaining meeting, with some excellent action, and was one which I am sure was appreciated by the fans who were here.”
(SPEEDWAY 4)
WORKINGTON move into a hectic summer programme in the SGB Championship with a home clash against Sheffield tonight (Saturday).
The Comets have raced just eleven fixtures so far this season giving them matches in hand on all of their rivals as they look to make up ground on the top four.
Former club No.1 Ricky Wells stands in for Craig Cook, who is racing in the World Cup Final, the Tigers are led by two ex-Comets in Josh Grajczonek and Kyle Howarth as they bid to take advantage of fourth-placed Redcar’s home slip on Thursday.
Workington owner Laura Morgan said: “Obviously it is not ideal to be going into the meeting without ‘Cookie’ but unfortunately we have no choice as this is a fixture on the list – and having ridden less matches than any other side in the Championship right now, and missed a number of weekends due to the weather or other events taking place at the stadium, we really have to catch up on our league fixtures.
“We are delighted that Ricky has agreed to help us out, and by being prepared to jump straight back on a plane in order to do so shows his commitment to the cause of his former club and the friendships that we all built up during his time with us.”
Sheffield boss Simon Stead is keen to see his team recover from a poor display at Glasgow last week, and said: “We know Workington are a very strong team, particularly at home, and we were disappointed with the loss we had at their place towards the beginning of the season.
“But we were hurting after last week at Glasgow so it’s time to get ourselves back on track and hopefully we can walk away with a much more positive result.”
Ipswich have the chance to keep up the pressure at the top when they visit bottom club Berwick.
It’s an important weekend for the Witches as they are on a Northern tour which also takes in a match at Newcastle on Sunday – and boss Ritchie Hawkins believes they are well-placed to keep up their good form.
Hawkins said: “If we can get a win on Saturday it will help with the momentum for Sunday and everyone will be on a high going to Newcastle, where all things considered we did well at earlier in the year
“If we can go there having picked up a win it will be a real boost. We have been to Berwick twice this year so we should have recent experience of the track and we have done well both times.”
Meanwhile Glasgow boss Stewart Dickson is hoping Ashfield is now a fortress as the Tigers prepare to welcome in-form Peterborough.
Former Glasgow star Ben Barker guests for fellow Cornishman Chris Harris in the Panthers’ ranks, and Dickson is aware the visitors will be on a high going into the meeting.
He said: “Peterborough beat Ipswich on Sunday and us the week before. Their tails will be up. They've found a bit of form and it should be a tough meeting.
“But if we ride to our capabilities they should be going home pointless. They'll be given the utmost respect but we intend to send them home with nothing.
“Hopefully we can start getting a run of results now, because it would be nice to do what we were doing last season and start scoring between 53 and 57 points every home match - then teams will start looking and saying, 'We're not going to get anything at Glasgow.’”
Peterborough team boss Carl Johnson said: “We’ll go to Glasgow full of belief. We’re on a good run and we were very impressive against them at our place recently.
"We’ve booked a very capable guest at number one in Ben. He knows Glasgow well after riding there for a chunk of last season, and scored double-figures there recently.
“We know he will be feisty, we know he will be hard on track, and we know he will ride with his heart on his sleeve.
“That’s exactly the sort of attitude when facing a formidable team on their own track, and hopefully the other boys will follow suit.”
(SPEEDWAY 5)
STOKE skipper Tony Atkin knows his side must be at their best when they entertain Plymouth in the National League tonight (Saturday).
The Potters got the better of local rivals Cradley last weekend and now go up against a Devils team whose fortunes have been transformed in recent weeks, as underlined by their performance in eliminating Birmingham from the KO Cup.
Atkin said: “It is going to be an extremely tough meeting especially with the top three riders that Plymouth have - but on our day and on our own track we are capable of beating anyone as we proved last Saturday against Cradley.
“The likes of Steve (Boxall), Adam Roynon and Benji Compton are all former riders’ champions and go well around here, so we will need everyone to play their part and if we do then there is no reason we cannot bag the three points on Saturday.”
(FIXTURES)
SATURDAY JULY 8:
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP: Berwick v Ipswich 7pm, Glasgow v Peterborough 7pm, Workington v Sheffield 7pm
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Stoke v Plymouth 7pm
SUNDAY JULY 9:
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP: Newcastle v Ipswich 6.30
BRITISH YOUTH CHAMPIONSHIP: Leicester 3pm
MONDAY JULY 10:
SGB PREMIERSHIP: Wolverhampton v Rye House 7.30
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Kent v Mildenhall 6.30
Results Friday
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP
Edinburgh 53 (Erik Riss 14)
Berwick 39 (Kevin Doolan 10)
Championship points: Edinburgh 3 Berwick 0
Scunthorpe 54 (Ryan Douglas 15+2)
Newcastle 39 (Richie Worrall 13)
Championship points: Scunthorpe 3 Newcastle 0
CHALLENGE
Somerset Select 51 (Zach Wajtknecht 13+1)
Isle of Wight 38 (Mark Baseby 14)
