As the clock ticks down to the start of the speedway season, news released by the Speedway GB details the rider line up for the very important British Under 21 Riders Semi-Final to be staged at the Smallbrook Stadium on Tuesday 16th April (7.00 pm).
This will be the second meeting of the 2019 season at Smallbrook following on from the Vince Mapley Memorial Trophy on Thursday 11th April and ‘Wightlink’ Warrior fans will be delighted to see new home reserves Connor King and Chad Wirtzfeld included in the Under 21 field.
In an unexpected change to the twenty heat race format used in previous seasons, the Under 21 meeting will follow the fifteen heat format successfully used for the Mapley meeting comprising twelve qualifying races, two semi-finals and a grand final from which the top three riders progress to the British Final at Redcar later in the year.
British Youth Speedway boss Neil Vatcher said, “It’s an exciting opening to our British Championship events for the new season with the Under 21 semi-finals at the Isle of Wight and later that week at Somerset on Good Friday. Traditionally the Bank Holiday is a very busy speedway day up and down the country and with the potential for fixture clashes, the decision has been taken to increase the number of seeded finalists to ten leaving six places to fill, three from each semi-final.
The Isle of Wight semi-final features three riders who will be plying their trade in the Championship – Ryan Kinsley, Anders Rowe and Luke Ruddick – as well as three 15 year olds who are all new to the National Development League in 2019 namely Jordan Palin, Nathan Ablitt and the Island’s own Chad Wirtzfeld”.
‘Wightlink’ Warriors co-promoter Martin Widman said, “With the backing of our main sponsors Wightlink Ferries, we are delighted to stage this prestigious meeting that will feature two of our Warriors and brings together some of the best up and coming young riders from both the Championship and National League. I’m sure Connor and Chad will have fantastic support from our fans. Originally we informed that this meeting was going to follow the format of twenty heats as used in previous seasons, however with the increase in the number of seeds to the final and the reduced number of qualification places from the semi-finals, we are still able to offer an exciting fifteen heat meeting that should culminate in a real cut and thrust battle for those three prized qualification places”.
In addition to the seven riders already mentioned the line up will be completed by Jordan Jenkins, Ben Woodhull, Alex Spooner, Joe Alcock and Jamie Bursill.