Gladiators dominate The Brummies + Weds team news
The Plymouth Westcolour Gladiators made an excellent return to action after a 6 week absence, mainly due to bad weather issues, at The Coliseum last night with a comprehensive 57-32 win over the Birmingham Brummies in their first Championship Jubilee League (Southern) Match last night.
The Jubilee League is a regional based mini League Competition where the winner of each of the three Groups goes to a three Team Tournament Final at Sheffield in September.
The Southern Group comprises Birmingham, Oxford , Poole and Plymouth with all Teams meeting Home and Away to decide the Regional victors. The Westcolour Gladiators will eagerly await visits from arch-rivals the Poole Pirates, whose sails have very much been de-masted by the Gladiators already in League this season; to The Coliseum NEXT Tuesday 19th July followed by the Oxford Cheetahs on the 26th July.
The Westcolour Gladiators will visit Birmingham tonight seeking to gain an Away victory after a narrow 46-44 defeat in the League encounter at Perry Barr 4 weeks ago in a Match which was controversial to say the least in terms of some of the decisions from the Referee on the night.
Tonight’s Teams will see one change each from last night’s encounter with Erik Riss replacing the excellent Kyle Howarth in the Westcolour Gladiators Team as Guest for the injured Edward Kennett and The Brummies bring in Josh Pickering instead of Ulrich Ostergaard to cover for their injured no 1 Josh Auty.
Looking back at last night’s Match, the opening 5 Heats saw 5 shared 3-3 Heats to have the scores level after 5 Heats. The Westcolour Gladiators then stretched into a lead they would never relinquish with 4-2 Heat victories in the following 3 heats to lead by 27 points to 21 after 8 keenly contested Heats which saw some excellent Racing on a superbly prepared and maintained Track with regular watering in the very hot conditions.
A 5-1 and 5-0 Heat advantage followed for the Westcolour Gladiators before Birmingham managed to stem the tide with a shared Heat 11 and their only Heat success of the night with a 4-2 Heat advantage in Heat 12. The Westcolour Gladiators did what all prospective Champions do though in the final 3 Heats with successive 5-1 advantages to cement their 57 – 32 success.
Ben Barker continued his excellent run of form and is in some of the best form of his career with a Paid 15 Point return from 5 rides. Hans Anderson roared back to top form too with 14 points from 5 rides, Kyle Howarth was again a superb Guest for the Westcolour Gladiators with 12 and 2 bonus points from his 5 rides and with Alfie Bowtell and Ben Morley again chipping in excellent returns with 9 and 7 points respectively and young Harry McGurk excellent value for his 1 point return, the Westcolour gladiators were again able to cope by using Rider Replacement for the still missing Michael Palm-Toft who hopes to return very soon.
Tonight’s Match will be a far tougher test and examination for the Westcolour Gladiators and we’ll bring you a Match Review tomorrow.
The Southern Group of the Summer Jubilee League is probably the toughest to get out of on paper; and therefore next week’s Match against Poole Pirates will have a massive bearing on which of the Teams represents the South in the Final at Sheffield.
The Westcolour Gladiators have already achieved a win of David v Goliath proportions; in beating the Pirates at home in the League, and having been desperately unlucky not to win at Poole in a Match which many independent scribes agreed they deserved to win, will be looking for another sensational win against the Pirates next Tuesday when we hope that a huge and bumper following of South Western based fans will turn out to support the Pride of Devon in a clash that shouldn’t be missed. With high hopes of making the league Play Offs when Championship League action resumes in August, the Summer Jubilee Cup is a fantastic opportunity for the Westcolour Gladiators to target 2 Competitions with confidence.
Tickets for the Poole Match are now ON SALE online and a reminder that you can also pay by CASH and CARD on the Night at all 2022 Plymouth Speedway Fixtures.
We’ll be back tomorrow with tonight’s Review and more details of the exciting Match NEXT Tuesday v Poole Pirates
Plymouth Gladiators = 57
1. Ben Barker – 3, 3, 3, 2′, 3 = 14+1 PAID MAXIMUM
2. Alfie Bowtell – 0, 1, 3, 2′, 3 = 9+1
3. Kyle Howarth (Guest) – 3, 3, 2′, 2, 2′ = 12+2
4. R/R for Michael Palm Toft – (HMG – 0, BM – 0, HA – 3, AB – 3 = 6)
5. Hans Andersen – 2, 3, 3, 3, 3 = 14
6. Harry McGurk – 0, 0, 1, (BM – F/X), (BM – 2′) = 1
7. Ben Morley – 3, 1′, 0, 1, F/X, 0, 2 = 7+1
Birmingham Brummies = 32
1. Ulrich Ostergaard (Guest) – 1′, 2, 2, 1, 1 = 7+1
2. Stefan Nielsen – 2, 1′, 0, 1′ = 4+2
3. Paco Castagna (Guest) – 2, 2, X, 3, X, 0 = 7
4. Ashley Morris – 1′, 0, F/X, (PC – X) = 1+1
5. Justin Sedgmen – 3, 2, 1, 0 = 6
6. Jason Edwards (Guest) – 2, 0, 2, (JP – 0), 1 = 5
7. James Pearson – 1′, 0, (JE – 2), 0, 1 = 2+1
Gates: Birmingham win toss and take gates 1+3 in Heat 1.
Heat Results
Heat 01: Barker, Nielsen, Ostergaard, Bowtell 3-3 49.59
Heat 02: Morley, Edwards, Pearson, McGurk 3-3 (6-6) 52.03
Heat 03: Howarth, Castagna, Morris, McGurk 3-3 (9-9) 51.78
Heat 04: Sedgmen, Andersen, Morley, Pearson 3-3 (12-12) 51.25
Heat 05: Howarth, Ostergaard, Nielsen, Morley 3-3 (15-15) 53.09
Heat 06: Barker, Sedgmen, Bowtell, Edwards 4-2 (19-17) 51.07
Heat 07: Andersen, Castagna, McGurk, Morris 4-2 (23-19) 52.09
Heat 08: Bowtell, Edwards, Morley, Nielsen 4-2 (27-21)
Heat 09: Andersen, Howarth, Sedgmen, Pearson 5-1 (32-22) 52.84
Heat 10: Re-Run X2: Barker, Bowtell 5-0 (37-22) 52.48 (Morris – Fell / Excluded, Castagna – Excluded)
Heat 11: Re-Run: Andersen, Ostergaard, Nielsen 3-3 (40-25) 51.97 (Morley – Fell / Excluded)
Heat 12: Castagna, Howarth, Edwards, Morley 2-4 (42-29) 52.47
Heat 13: Andersen, Barker, Ostergaard, Sedgmen 5-1 (47-30) 53.37
Heat 14: Re-Run: Bowtell, Morley, Pearson 5-1 (52-31) 52.56 (Castagna – Excluded)
Heat 15: Barker, Howarth, Ostergaard, Castagna 5-1 (57-32) 52.09
Courtesy of Speedway Updates
Image Credit: Jon Sproad