Elite League

Swindon Robins 50 Leicester Lions 40

BASEMENT side Leicester Lions visited the Abbey last Thursday and with their two Danes having quit, it should have proved a fairly easy win.

But on Thursday morning we learnt that Peter Kildemand had aggravated an old injury in Denmark the night before and had pulled out.

Opting for rider replacement rather than bringing in a guest at the last moment can be a risky strategy and some home fans were understandably a little nervous.

Two 4-2s early on saw the visitors 11-7 up after heat three and it was not until a 5-1 from Nick Morris and Greg Zengota in the sixth race that Swindon took the lead.

Entering heat nine ten points down Leicester made a tactical blunder.

The complicated speedway rule book maintains that reserves cannot take double points tactical rides but Leicester nominated reserve Kyle Newman rather than his heat partner Szymon Wozniak.

So instead of the 8-1 they were hoping for with first and second places they had to settle for a 5-1.

The Robins had 4-2 heat wins in three of the remaining races to win the meeting 50-40 and move into the play-off places.

In the end it was a solid display with Morris and skipper Troy Batchelor each having three race wins while Zengota had a paid-14 from six races and reserve Charles Wright had two wins in his nine points.

Kyle Howarth, fresh from qualifying for the British final the night before, had two uncharacteristic last places in his five races. Lewis Rose gated well but lacked speed. Once he sorts out his mechanical issues he will only get better.

SWINDON: Grzegorz Zengota 12+2, Troy Batchelor 11+1, Nick Morris 11, Charles Wright 9, Kyle Howarth 6+1, Lewis Rose 1, Peter Kildemand r/r.

LEICESTER: Jason Doyle 9+1, Kyle Newman 8+2, Szymon Wozniak 7, Rory Schlein 7, Grzegorz Walasek 5, Simon Lambert 2+1, Lewis Bridger 2.

BRITAIN’S Tai Woffinden won his third successive Czech Republic Grand Prix in Prague on Saturday and in doing so doubled his lead over Nicki Pedersen at the top of the world championship standings to six points.

The two met in the final starting in adjoining gates but it was the Brit who took the championship as Pedersen got stuck in traffic coming out of the second bend on lap one.

After two poor events in Poland and Finland on one-off tracks, it was a pleasure to see the highest quality Grand Prix racing in Prague.

Swindon’s Troy Batchelor scored six points with two strong opening rides but an engine failure hampered his chance of making it to the semi final.

The next Grand Prix is in Cardiff on July 4 and with Woffinden leading the pack, hopefully another great Millennium Stadium night will follow.

World series standings after three rounds: Tai Woffinden 40, Nicki Pedersen 34, Jaroslaw Hampel 31, Greg Hancock 27, Matej Zagar 24, Andreas Jonsson 24, Maciej Janowski 23, Jason Doyle 22, Niels-Kristian Iversen 21, Michael J Jensen 19, Chris Harris 18, Krzysztof Kasprzak 17, Chris Holder 13, Troy Batchelor 13, Tomas H Jonasson 9.

THE following night Batchelor again showed that he is not far off full fitness with three wins in his 11 points as his Polish side won at Gnienzo.

Meanwhile, Adrian Miedzinski continued his comeback from injury with a heat win in his six points for Torun.

Peter Kildemand made it through to the qualifying semi final for the FIM Speedway Grand Prix on Monday.

He won a run-off for third place with Swedish international Kim Nilsson and Germany’s Kevin Wolbert at the quarter final on the German track of Abensberg.