Elite League
Belle Vue Speedway: Aces hope for quick return by Jankowski.
By Admin
Apr 29, 2008, 20:45

BelleVue are hoping their Polish rider, Lukasz Jankowski, will only be a short-term absentee despite breaking a bone in his shoulder.

He crashed in Poland at the weekend and the One51 Aces are still waiting to hear the full extent of the damage when Jankowski has had further checks. But the early information from Poland has made the club hopeful that Jankowski will be back in action during May.

Team manager Chris Morton said: "We don't know how serious the injury is at the moment so we are keeping our fingers crossed until we receive further information.

"But, from what we've been told so far, he might not have to miss too many matches.

"Even so, it's a real blow for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we've only just got Steve Boxall back in the team after a month's absence with his shoulder injury and, secondly, Lukasz had been getting to grips with Elite League racing and the last thing he needed was an enforced break through injury."

The Aces will operate the rider replacement rule in Jankowski's absence in next week's home league match against Eastbourne which is on Wednesday instead of the usual Monday (7 30).

Captain Joe Screen, Billy Forsberg and the two reserves, Boxall and Michal Rajkowski, are eligible to share Jankowski's programmed rides.

The Aces will also call in their No 8, Glasgow's Robert Ksiezak, as they feel they need cover for Boxall. He made his return from the injury he suffered at Coventry on March 28 in the British Under 21 Final at Lakeside last Friday. He finished a creditable sixth with 10 points to qualify for the European Under 21 rounds which lead on the World championship

Morton added: "Steve did really well to come back in such a competitive meeting and he was pleased to get through to the next round. "It will be good for him and Belle Vue to have him riding in the European and possibly the World championship. However, his shoulder is still very sore so we are taking the precaution of calling in Robert Ksiezak at No 8 for the Eastbourne fixture."

The home Elite League A match against Coventry on Monday was postponed because of a waterlogged track and will be run on July 8 when the Bees were scheduled to visit for an Elite League B match.

That fixture has been pencilled in for August 18 subject to agreement from Coventry.

BELLE VUE: J Crump, B Forsberg, C Gjedde, L Jankowski (rider replacement), J Screen, M Rajkowski, S Boxall, R Ksiezak.

EASTBOURNE: S Nicholls, L Bridger, L Richardson, C Woodward, E Kennett, S Gustafsson, J Brundle.

The second half of the meeting will feature a special Academy League Challenge match between two teams of Belle Vue youngsters to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the famous Colts team in 1968.

The Speedway Control Bureau have given permission for Greggs North West Belle Vue teams to ride against each other in a six-heat match.

Team managers Stephen Williams and Graham Goodwin will stand down from their duties for the night and will be replaced by former Colts Eric Broadbelt and Ken Eyre who went on to successful senior careers. Both are still regular visitors to meetings at Kirkmanshulme Lane.

Broadbelt and Eyre were members of the 1968 Colts League winning team, Eyre riding in the first ever match.

They hold the distinction of being the only riders to win five consecutive league winners medals as they landed Second Division titles in 1968 and 1969 with the Colts, and First Division championships in 1970, 1971 and 1972 with the Aces

The Colts raced their first match on Wednesday, May 8 and it was also the first in the Second Division. They beat Canterbury 55-23 at Hyde Road (Taffy Owen 12, Chris Bailey 11, John Woodcock 11, Ken Eyre 9, Brian Bentley 6, Dave Brockbank 3, Ken Moss 3).

Goodwin said: "We are grateful for the sponsorship of Greggs Northwest Ltd, who are backing us for the seventh successive year. We believe it is the longest running sponsorship of a non-league team.

"We want to thank Managing Director Ian Pegg, Marketing Manager Natalie Hopper, and Karen Parker from the Marketing Dept."

The juniors will be at Buxton on Sunday afternoon, May 4, for a rearranged Conference Challenge match which was rained off last Sunday.