Tape’s Up, Your Local Paper, Wednesday, June 11, 2025
The Stars grabbed a much-needed two league points with a 49-40 win against a determined Birmingham Brummies side on Monday night.
In truth, the Stars probably made heavy work of winning the meeting as they struggled to win enough races, but in the end our strength in depth saw us through.
It was good to see Chris Harris (11+1) continue his good form from last week and he produced two stunning rides to overtake Tobiasz Musielak, with his ride in Heat 15 being the ride of the night as he passed the Birmingham skipper off the final bend to grab the win on the line.
There was also a welcome return to form for Nicolai Klindt (10+1) and Niels-Kristian Iversen (8), who both struggled last time out against Ipswich.
Credit has to be given to the Brummies for not laying down, especially after the early loss of Jason Edwards with a dislocated shoulder following a coming together with Jan Kvech in the opening stages of heat 2.
Predictably, Tobiasz Musielak, on his first return to the Adrian Flux Arena since his controversial departure last season, put up a fine display with an 18-point haul.
He was well supported by Matej Zagar (11) and Jonas Jeppesen (8+1).
Those three managed to win eight of the 15 heats between them and it is still a cause for concern that we aren’t winning enough races to make life a bit more comfortable for ourselves.
The win sees the Stars now jump to fifth in the table but we remain eight points behind Leicester, although we do have a meeting in hand.
That makes Thursday’s away match at Oxford another vital meeting.
Hopefully, we can repeat our early-season performance at Oxford, where we came away convincing 53-37 winners in the Knockout Cup quarter-final.
However, the Spires form has certainly picked up since then and I’m sure they will be just a desperate for the win to leapfrog the Stars back into fifth place and keep their own ambitions for the play-offs alive.
Kyle Howarth is a shrewd choice of guest to replace the injured Ben Cook and Jody Scott gets the call in the rising star position on a track he knows well through his connections with Oxford over the past three seasons.
On Monday evening, local rivals Ipswich make a quick return to the Adrian Flux Arena following a classic local derby two weeks ago.
That meeting was played out in front of a large crowd with a good atmosphere. Another Stars win in the same circumstances would be great for everyone connected to the club.
It is looking likely that the Ipswich meeting will prove too early for Ben Cook to return to the side with the meeting at Belle Vue on June 23 now looking the favourite option for his return to the side.
All being well, we should have Ben Cook as a guest on this week’s Pride of the East podcast and it will be great to hear from the man himself on how his recovery is going.
All roads lead to the National Speedway Stadium in Manchester as the SGP series throws up a rare double header with meetings on Friday and Saturday night.
Hopefully, the weather forecast will improve as the week goes on, as it would be a shame for the weather to ruin what should be a great weekend of speedway.
For Robert Lambert, the two meetings present a great opportunity for him to improve on his current eighth position in the standings.
Lambert was an impressive winner of the British Final on the same track only a month ago and hopefully that will give him confidence going into the weekend.
He has been struggling recently with his engine setup but made a welcome return to form for his Polish side Torun at the weekend as he scored 10 points in a win over a strong Lublin side featuring the likes of Bartosz Zmarzlik, Jack Holder and Freddie Lindgren.
For Jan Kvech, it provides another opportunity for the likeable Czech to get amongst the points and improve on his current 11th place in the standings.
While Kvech has struggled for consistency in the series overall, he has shown glimpses of his ability on more than one occasion.
If he can get a setup working early in the meeting, a top 10 finish in both meetings should not be out of the question.
Kvech also took a big step towards sealing a place in the 2026 SGP series by finishing fourth in a qualifier event at Lonigo, Italy, last weekend.
That was enough to seal a place in the SGP Challenge Final being held at Holsted, Denmark, on August 9.
A top-four finish there would be enough to seal a spot in the series next year.
This weekend could also play a big part in how the final championship positions will play out.
Five-time world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik is currently eight points clear at the top of the standings, but Brady Kurtz (second) and Jack Holder (third) will be much more familiar with the Manchester circuit than the Pole.
Kurtz especially has an advantage with Belle Vue being his UK home track.
If Kurtz scores big this weekend, it could really blow the title race wide open with half the series still remaining.
