SPEEDWAY fans are in for an extra special Sunday with a double bill of racing featuring both the Newport Wasps and the Newport Hornets.
Starting at 2.30pm Queensway Meadows will stage 30 heats of top class action.
First up will be the Premier Trophy South clash between the Wasps and the Birmingham Brummies.
The Wasps will be desperate to get back to winning ways after three successive defeats, the latest of which saw them beaten 63-31 at King’s Lynn Stars on Wednesday night.
And they can achieve their first double of the season against Birmingham, having claimed a thrilling 47-43 win in the Midlands on April 1.
The Brummies will be no pushovers, however, as they are spearheaded by the vastly experienced Jason Lyons – a former World Cup winner with Australia and a former Grand Prix rider.
Alongside such experience they will aslo track three teenagers – Sweden’s Ludvig Lindgren, Austra-lian Richard Sweetman and Brit Ben Taylor.
All are hugely ambitious and not likely to worry about the reputations of their opponents so exciting racing is on the agenda.
One man who could play a big part in a Wasps revival after this weekend is Hornets skipper Tony Atkin.
Providing he is happy with his performance for the Hornets against the Bournemouth Bucanneers in the first round first leg of the National League KO Cup competition on Sunday he will step back up to the senior team as a replacement for Nick Simmons next week.
“We obviously had to start reviewing matters after last week’s defeat against Stoke,” explained Wasps owner Steve Mallett.
“Tony had to work his diary out, plus he is committed to leading the Hornets against Bourne-mouth this weekend so we left him where he was.
“Nick has the opportunity with his involvement at the Isle of Wight in the National League to find his form again racing where he can win races,” he added.
“We all know what Tony brings to his racing on track – first or fourth he is always getting stuck in and we need that attitude at present.”
Wasps: Mark Lemon (C), Chris Kerr, Jordan Frampton, Paul Fry, Brent Werner, Kyle Newman, James Holder.
Brummies: Jason Lyons (C), Richard Sweetman, Robert Ksiezak, Ludvig Lindgren, Tomasz Piszcz, Ben Taylor, Daniel Halsey.
Following on from an impressive debut victory over Mildenhall at Hayley Satdium on Easter Monday, the Hornets will be confident of another positive result against Bourne-mouth, who actually race out of Poole Speedway.
Kyle Newman will compete for the visitors having represented Newport earlier in the day under the doubling-up facility in British Speedway.
They are led by Jay Herne, son of former Newport legend Phil Herne who raced for the Wasps at their Somerton Park track in the 1970s.
Ex-Wasps Karl Mason, Lee Dicken and Atkin provide a spine of tall scoring for the home side alongside Newport training school products Tom Young and Richard Andrews and, with Jay Pickard on international duty in Hungary, colourful Australian Rookie Champion Shelby Ruther-ford makes his home debut.
The Bournemouth and have assembled a very solid young team and this should produce a close match for fans.
Hornets: Lee Dicken, Richard Andrews, Sam Hurst, Karl Mason, Tony Atkin (C), Shelby Rutherford, Tom Young l There will be a special admission promotion for children aged five to 16 on Sunday – kids for a quid.
Full admission prices for two matches and 30 heats of professional speedway: Adults £16, concessions £13, children (aged five to 16) £1, children under five get in free. Full more details visit www.newportwasps.co.uk.
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