By Henry Chard
All the details ahead of the fifth round of the Premiership Pairs.
WHEN & WHERE
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing travels to Manchester for the fifth round of the Premiership Pairs at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday 12th September which starts at 7.30pm.
TEAMS
PETERBOROUGH: Chris Harris, Benjamin Basso, Jordan Jenkins (RS). Team Manager: Rob Lyon
SHEFFIELD: Adam Ellis, Jack Holder, Connor Mountain (RS). Team Manager: Simon Stead
WOLVES: Sam Masters, Ryan Douglas, Leon Flint (RS). Team Manager: Peter Adams
BELLE VUE: Max Fricke, Brady Kurtz, Tom Brennan (RS). Team Manager: Mark Lemon
IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Rohan Tungate, Anders Rowe (RS). Team Manager: Ritchie Hawkins
KING’S LYNN: Nicolai Klindt, Josh Pickering, Jack Thomas (RS). Team Manager: Alex Brady
REFEREE: C. Ackroyd
PREMIERSHIP PAIRS TABLE
| Team | Points |
| Ipswich | 38 |
| King’s Lynn | 26 |
| Sheffield | 24 |
| Belle Vue | 22 |
| Wolverhampton | 10 |
| Peterborough | 8 |
TICKETS
Tickets are available to purchase here in advance or on the gate. The meeting will also be streamed online here. A BSN+ subscription is required to watch. Each round can be purchased individually, priced at £12.99. BSN’s web URL is watch.britishspeedway.co.uk. BSN also has an App which is now available on Amazon Fire TV and on all IOS (Apple) devices.
THE STORY
The ‘Tru Mix’ Witches pairing heads to Belle Vue on Monday for the fifth round of the Premiership Pairs. This round in Manchester was due to be the sixth and final one of the tournament but with the round at Sheffield postponed and yet to be re-arranged, the National Speedway Stadium now hosts the penultimate fixture.
Ipswich lead the competition having won the last three rounds at Ipswich, King’s Lynn and Wolverhampton. The lead is a healthy one with second place King’s Lynn 12 points behind, but the Stars, Sheffield and Belle Vue can all still catch the Witches with a strong showing at Belle Vue as they look to close the gap at the top before the final round at Sheffield. Wolverhampton and Peterborough are both out of contention.
Team manager Ritchie Hawkins has elected to field Jason Doyle and Rohan Tungate for this round with Anders Rowe as the ‘Rising Star’. Doyle has been sublime everywhere he has gone in British speedway this season and has been ever-present in this competition racking up the points. Tungate joined the club in August and makes his first appearance in the competition, having impressed at Belle Vue earlier in the season. Rowe comes in for the injured Danyon Hume and is guaranteed at least one ride as part of the regulations.
HOW IT WORKS
The competition is a new addition to the calendar for 2022 with all six Premiership clubs staging a round throughout the season. Each club will have two riders and a ‘Rising Star’ at each round with scores accumulated over all six rounds before the overall aggregate winner is declared after the final round of the competition at Belle Vue in September. 12 points will be awarded to each round winner, eight points to second, six points to third, four points to fourth, two points to fifth and no points to sixth.
There will be 15 qualifying heats of action at each round with the top scoring team from the qualifying heats going directly to the final. The teams placed in second and third will compete in a semi-final with the winning side from that race progressing to the final to decide the round winners. Each team has five qualifying heats each and the ‘Rising Star’ must take at least one ride during the meeting. The points scoring system for the competition in each race will be 4-3-2-0.
FROM THE BOSS
Ipswich ‘Tru Mix’ Witches team manager Ritchie Hawkins gives us his pre-match thoughts…
“We are looking forward to Monday because we are in a great position in the competition. Rohan goes very well at Belle Vue and was very good there when we went there earlier this season, he was our best rider. Doyley picks himself and they are clearly our best two for this meeting.
“We have got the opportunity to seal it on Monday. I have no knowledge of when the round at Sheffield will be re-arranged for. Going into Belle Vue on Monday with that pairing, we feel confident of another great result and depending on other teams and how well they do, we have a chance to win the overall competition. We need to focus on the result for the night to start with.
“I’d expect it to be a great meeting, you’ve got all the top boys there on a brilliant race track that everyone will enjoy going to. You will see the best of British speedway going at it and hopefully there will be a good crowd in, and we have a very good team in it, so we will hope to go very well.”
THE LINE-UP
Hosts Belle Vue have Grand Prix rider Max Fricke in their side and captain Brady Kurtz joins him as they aim for glory on their home track. Sheffield go with Adam Ellis who recently returned from injury and he is partnered by another Grand Prix rider in Jack Holder. King’s Lynn field Nicolai Klindt and skipper Josh Pickering with the Stars sitting second in the table going into the penultimate round. Wolves have Australian duo Sam Masters and Ryan Douglas representing them whilst Peterborough have ever-present Chris Harris in their pair with Benjamin Basso in for his debut with the two sides currently cut adrift at the bottom of the table.
AWAY DAYS
Ticket prices can be found here and official programmes cost £3. For more information about your visit to the National Speedway Stadium, head here.
For more information about the club head to Belle Vue’s official website.
Digital Media Manager at Ipswich Speedway