BRITISH Speedway's top brass have slammed Peterborough's decision to release young sensation Jack Holder from the showpiece Fours Championship.

The prestigious meeting, which is part of Speedway Great Britain's major events series, takes place at the East of England Arena and Events Centre today (April 6) at 2pm - and features every Championship club.

Holder, however, will ride in Poland for Torun after Panthers agreed to release him - a move which the British Speedway Promoters' Association Management Committee refused to sanction.

Chairman Keith Chapman said: "The absence of Jack Holder from one of the biggest meetings in the domestic calendar is nothing to do with the British Speedway Promoters' Association Management Committee.

"We are appalled by Peterborough in allowing this situation to arise. I have been desperately trying to protect British Speedway with dates and contracted fixtures for riders and when a club ignores that we might as well all give up. Contractually and by agreement the rider should be at Peterborough, not in Poland.

"If the rider had gone to Poland and raced without the permission of his club he would have been banned for withholding his services for 28 days - this is not the case with Jack Holder as his club have given him their blessing and we have evidence of the true reason. They have sold British Speedway down the river.

"It is not to our satisfaction and we will now put in place the relevant sanctions to apply to the Peterborough Speedway promotion.

"I am passionate about defending British Speedway. This is a major blow to the sport in the UK and the blame is very firmly at the door of Peterborough Speedway."

(SPEEDWAY 1)

GLASGOW skipper Aaron Summers believes his side are well placed to mount a serious challenge in today’s (Sunday) SGB Championship Fours at Peterborough.
Summers ran a shock last place in the final race of the Tigers’ group last season, resulting in their elimination at that stage, but he feels the line-up of himself, Richard Lawson, Riche Worrall and Nike Lunna – with Dan Bewley as reserve – can produce the goods at the East of England Arena.
Summers said: “Plymouth were probably the underdogs last year and look at where they finished up - so hopefully we can do a little bit better than we did there in our league meeting, but we'll just have to see.
“I struggled there in our league meeting, so hopefully I can do a bit better this time. I've just got an engine back and it seems to be working.
“If we can get some silverware out of it, it would be awesome, to bring our first bit back of the season.”
 
(SPEEDWAY 2)

PETERBOROUGH promoter Ged Rathbone says Jack Holder could still have a future with the club in 2018 – despite his controversial release from today’s (Sunday) SGB Championship Fours.
The Panthers have allowed Holder to race for his Polish club Torun as a replacement for the injured Greg Hancock in a move which Rathbone describes as “beneficial to all parties” with Bradley Wilson-Dean stepping up from reserve into their Fours quartet.
Rathbone said: “Jack has been a model professional from our very first phone call to him during the winter. He loves racing for Peterborough and he has already indicated that he wants to be back with us again next year.
“Ourselves, Torun and Jack have come to an agreement that suits us all. Torun did initially ask us to release Jack for the rest of 2017, but the rider himself refused that.
“Depending on Torun's results, we will continue to assess the situation going forward. We may be prepared to allow him to race for them on two further Sundays when we ride at Newcastle and Scunthorpe.
“I fully understand that some of our supporters may be disappointed that we are without Jack in the Fours, but I ask them all to understand that the deal we've done is beneficial to all parties.”

(SPEEDWAY 3)

SWINDON are now six points clear at the top of the SGB Premiership after their winning roll continued at Rye House on Saturday.
The Robins surged to a 53-37 victory in Hertfordshire for an eleventh successive victory, seizing control of proceedings with 5-1s in each of the first two races.
Nick Morris led the visitors’ charge with 12 points whilst Edward Kennett made a winning return to Hoddesdon as a guest with 8+3. 
Ricky Wells (11) top-scored for the hosts, who raced without recent signing Krzystof Kasprzak and are left second-from-bottom in the table after Somerset’s win on Friday.
Swindon boss Alun Rossiter said: “We got off to a great start and controlled the meeting from that point on.
“When we weren't winning races we packed in the second and third places like we needed to, so it was a very good performance.
“It's a great win for us, and we head into a bit of a break full of confidence, and they've got a chance to recharge the batteries now before we prepare for a busy schedule at the end of the month.”
Rye House Team Manager Peter Schroeck said: “This hurts. We just did not make any starts at all tonight. The boys tried everything, but it just wasn’t working, and that’s what happens when you go against a side which is on the crest of a wave and you are back-peddling. It was tough; very, very tough tonight.”
Meanwhile Leicester demolished a sub-strength King’s Lynn side 62-28 at Beaumont Park for their biggest win since returning to the sport in 2011.
Skipper Danny King was unbeaten from his first five rides (13+2) for the Lions in a one-sided encounter against a Stars side who tracked just two of their regular riders.
Josh Bates added 12+4, Erik Riss 12+2, Lasse Bjerre 12 and guest Josh Grajczonek 10+1 in a points bonanza for the hosts, whilst Dan Bewley impressed in a guest appearance for the Stars with 11.
Leicester star Lasse Bjerre said: "I wasn't feeling 100 per cent tonight but I wanted to get out there and do my bit for the team.
"It was a bit bumpy which didn't help my knee and it was different too because I couldn't do much digging on the start gate.
"But of course I'm delighted to win my four rides and hopefully I feel okay when I wake up in the morning.
"Whether King's Lynn had riders missing or not, we still had to go out there and race and we can still take a lot from this win tonight."
King’s Lynn skipper Robert Lambert said: "Riding with four guests and using rider replacement is never ideal.
"But Monday we've got a big home meeting against Somerset and as a team we know how important it is.
"I've had to take a few days off this weekend but hopefully after a bit of time away from it I'll be okay.
"We can still make the play-offs, and with a full-team against Somerset we could definitely get things back on track."

(SPEEDWAY 4)

SCUNTHORE stunned Workington with a 50-43 win at Derwent Park in the SGB Championship on Saturday.
The Scorpions limited their last places and romped into a ten-point lead at the midway stage before the Comets’ comeback cut the gap to just a single point.
Scunthorpe led by three going into the decider but Michael Palm Toft and Lewis Kerr secured a 5-1 over the previously unbeaten Craig Cook to take all four league points.
Kerr, with 10+2, and Tero Aarnio with 10 hit double-figures for the Scorpions, as the Comets’ play-off hopes were hit despite 13 for Cook and 10 for Ty Proctor.
Scunthorpe team manager Dave Peet said: “Make no mistake - this was a superb result for the club.
“We are a strength-in-depth side, and the key to us getting results is avoiding last places.  We did that perfectly at Workington.  Every rider came forward and contributed.”

(SPEEDWAY 5)

JAKE Knight struck a 15-point maximum to take Eastbourne back to the top of the National League with a 50-39 win over Birmingham at Arlington.
Knight reeled off five wins and received good backing from Matt Bates (11+2) and Tom Brennan (10+1) as the Eagles overcame the mid-meeting loss of Mark Baseby after a crash.
Jack Parkinson-Blackburn (12), Liam Carr (10+2) and Tom Bacon (10) led the way for the Brummies who were again left point-less from an away meeting.
Birmingham team boss Graham Drury said: “We went there believing we could get something, but unfortunately we didn’t quite have enough tonight.
“We matched them heat-leader for heat-leader, but they just had a bit too much strength in their lower order which made the difference in the end.
“We couldn’t question the effort from any of the team, everyone gave it their all, but everyone knows Arlington is something of a fortress and we saw that this evening.”

(SPEEDWAY 6)

LAKESIDE are gearing up for arguably their biggest Travel Plus National League fixture of the season as they host rivals Eastbourne today (Sunday).
The Hammers are currently seven points behind the table-topping Eagles and will look to consolidate third place with another home win.
Manager Kelvin Tatum is hoping his side can take confidence from last week's victory over reigning champions Birmingham.
“The boys stepped up to the plate, Ben (Morley) and Paul (Hurry) were magnificent leading the charge but the rest of the boys did their job and I drove away feeling very pleased with that," Tatum said.
“They will need to do the same again on Sunday because Eastbourne are a good side and they will come here looking for an away win. 
“If we’re to book our place in the play-offs we must continue to win our home meetings.”
The Hammers have booked Birmingham captain Jack Parkinson-Blackburn to guest at No.1 in place of injured star Zach Wajtknecht, whilst the Eagles will again be without Charley Powell due to grasstrack commitments.

(FIXTURES)

SUNDAY AUGUST 6:
SGB CHAMPIONSHIP FOURS: Peterborough 2pm
TRAVEL PLUS NATIONAL LEAGUE: Lakeside v Eastbourne 3pm

MONDAY AUGUST 7:
SGB PREMIERSHIP: King’s Lynn v Somerset 7.30, Wolverhampton v Poole 7.30
NATIONAL TROPHY: Kent v Mildenhall 6.30

TUESDAY AUGUST 8:
CHALLENGE: Isle of Wight v Reading NDL Select 7pm