SPEEDWAY by Alan Goodman

It was not a good Saturday for travelling fans as both matches ended in defeat.

Storm was the first in action and after a win at King’s Lynn on Wednesday were hoping for another win at Rye House in the afternoon. Unfortunately after holding an eight-point lead at the halfway stage went down by eight points after a storming finish by their hosts.

In the evening it was over to Lakeside where a woefully weak Bees side took on a team still hoping for a play-off place. Not surprisingly they were soundly beaten but the eventual scoreline of 35-57 was far better than most people envisaged.

Bees’ Friday night home match against Lakeside was an early cancellation due to the weather.

King’s Lynn Young Stars 43, Storm 47

Storm once again recruited Ellis Perks as a replacement for the injured Dan Greenwood, but was otherwise at full strength.

Perks showed his worth by winning a shared heat one.

Storm’s reserves took advantage of both home riders falling in heat two to take maximum points and lead by four.

Lynn soon drew level before Storm took a second 5-1 in heat four after home star Nathan Greaves suffered machine problems.

Perks prevented the home side from drawing level by splitting the fast-gating home pair in heat five.

They did, however, do it in the next after Lewis Carr lost out in a good battle with Josh Bailey.

The next three heats were shared before Storm edged ahead in heat ten after Bailey had fallen.

Heat eleven was shared and then a good start from Ryan Kinsley with reserve Taylor Hampshire taking third saw the home side back level.

Perks split the home pair on the first turn to heat thirteen with Carr taking third to put Storm back ahead.

Mitchell Davey rode a good race to win a shared heat fourteen and leave it all on the final race.

It was Davey again in the final winning from the gate with Perks taking third to make the final score 47-43 to Storm.

This was a good all-round team effort on a track that Storm has had much success in recent times.

Storm scorers: Ellis Perks 12, Mitchell Davey 9(1), Liam Carr 9, Ryan Terry-Daley 7, Callus Walker 5, Jamie Holder 4(2), Connor Dwyer 1(1).

Rye House 49, Storm 41

Once again Storm had to employ guests and regular recruit Ellis Perks occupied the number one spot with Jack Parkinson-Blackburn coming in at number five.

Home star Robert Branford won a shared heat one before Storm reserves took a maximum from a rerun heat two to open up a four-point lead.

Parkinson-Blackburn split the home pair to lead heat three. The race was stopped when Luke Priest fell but was awarded with Ryan-Daley being awarded third place to increase the lead to six.

It was nip and tuck with the next four races being shared. It was also revealed that Ryan Terry-Daley had withdrawn from the meeting after aggravating a back injury received in a previous match.

Storm made the start to heat eight but home rider Matt Saul split the pair to make the halfway score 28-20 to Storm.

Another shared heat followed before the hosts started their comeback.

Parkinson-Blackburn was in a good position in heat eleven before shedding a chain at the end of the first lap and then Perks and Conor Dwyer held out for a share of the spoils in heat twelve.

Jamie Halder snatched second place in heat twelve but after this Rye’s top two of Branford and Ben Morley were in action and they finished up with three successive maximums to take the match by 49 points to 41.

Storm scorers: Halder 11(1), Perks 9, Walker 5(3), Dwyer 5(2), Davey 5(1), Parkinson-Blackburn 5, Terry-Daley 1.

Lakeside 57, Bees 35

It was a strange looking Bees team that took to the track in the evening. With Krzysztof Kasprzak in the European Championships and Kacper Woryna injured, further bad news came when the in-form Josh Bates reported sick. Also with Chris Harris not fully fit, Bees had a mountain to climb if they were to pull off a surprise.

No replacement facility was allowed for Kasprzak so Robert Branford joined the trek from Rye House as did Ellis Perks, who deputised for Bates. Rider replacement was operated for Woryna.

Not surprisingly Lakeside opened with a maximum although Jason Garrity held second spot for the first lap.

James Sarjeant won a shared heat two before Lakeside went further ahead in the next with a 4-2 over King and an obviously struggling Harris.

Heat four was shared after Lewis Kerr fell on the third lap when well placed.

The next was also shared when leader Garrity went too wide on turn two of the second lap allowing Edward Kennett through.

Heat six was stopped after a nasty collision between Branford and Richard Lawson. Branford may feel himself slightly lucky to be allowed back in the race but it was to no avail as Lawson picked himself up and combined with Bridger for maximum points.

Andreas Jonsson won heat seven but a good race for the minor places saw King miss out to Kim Nilsson for second on the run-in to the flag.

A home 4-2 in heat eight left the halfway score at 32-16 to Lakeside.

Garrity was given a tactical ride in what turned out to be an eventful heat nine. Garrity made the start and was joined by Sarjeant. A possible 8-1 was lost when Sarjeant fell, although many fans thought he was helped on his way by Robert Mear. In the event he was excluded and in the rerun Garrity again led, only to lose the lead on the final lap.

Garrity was in a similar position in the next, leading before losing the lead to Nilsson on the third lap.

Heat eleven was shared after Jonsson failed to leave the start, complaining to no avail, of a tapes malfunction.

The home side only tracked one rider in heat twelve leaving Sarjeant and Perks to take Bees’ only heat advantage of the night by 4-2.

By this time it was damage limitation but Bees did not give up and Sarjeant took a nasty tumble in the penultimate race but cleared the track to allow King to take his only race win of the night.

The home side finished off in style, taking maximum points to leave the final score at 57-35.

Bees should not be too disheartened as nobody would have expected to win with the team they had to track. The performances of Sarjeant and Garrity were heartening and both riders rode their hearts out. Unfortunately the only real support came from King.

Bees scorers: Garrity 11, King 9, Sarjeant 8, Perks 3(2), Harris 3(1), Branford 1(1).

Preview

There is a heavy night of speedway in prospect on Friday, when both Coventry teams are in action in a 30-heat programme.

With the fixture cut-off date rapidly approaching, the first match of the evening will be Bees v Lakeside in the fixture that was cancelled due to the weather last Friday. This will be followed by Storm v Mildenhall. The meeting starts at the usual time of 7.30pm.

Alan Goodman