The 2022 speedway season at Smallbrook Stadium launches this coming Thursday (23rd June) as the Wightlink Warriors prepare to take on the Cradley Heathens and Weymouth Wildcats in the first of a series of three meetings where aggregate scores will decide the destination of the newly created Michael Richardson Trophy.
Warriors will warmly welcome back Ben Morley and Connor King as those two former Warriors link up with 2021 homesters Danno Verge and Alex Spooner (pictured) with team manager Steve Piper on a revenge mission to drive his charges on to improve on their second place in last seasons’ equivalent competition.
That ambition will require his quartet to be fully ‘on-point’ as the opposition have been very shrewd with their rider selections with Island experts Alfie Bowtell, Connor Coles and Henry Atkins being supported by several ever-eager young guns such as Ben Trigger and George Congreve.
Speaking earlier this week, Warriors co-owner Barry Bishop said,
“I can’t wait to get racing underway this Thursday. We have been busy over the winter months with our normal preparations and this time round, in addition to the usual stadium maintenance we have had to deal with the major flood last January and the mindless damage from visiting football ‘fans’ in April, however we have overcome these setbacks with the unceasing dedication of our loyal volunteers.
Our Warrior team has been in place for some time now and it will be an exciting and an evenly matched way of getting our summer season under way. With our speedway school ‘My First Skid’ continuing to produce emerging talent we will also parade a second development team (the Wightlink Warlocks) who will tackle the Wightlink Wizards in a series of six heat matches over the course of the season and as always, we will be giving our youth riders track time pre-meeting in front of an appreciative crowd. Their development has been superb and I’m sure our regular supporters will see their improvement.”
Expected teams (alphabetically):
Warriors: Connor King, Ben Morley, Alex Spooner, Danno Verge.
Heathens: Alfie Bowtell, Connor Coles, Tom Spencer, Chris Watts.
Wildcats: Henry Atkins, Jacob Clouting, George Congreve, Ben Trigger.
Gates at Smallbrook Stadium open at 17.15. Spectators are welcome to visit the pits and listen to the rider briefing at 18.00. The pre-meeting demonstration races will then follow ahead of the main event which will be at 19.00. Full refreshment facilities will be in operation throughout.