A tough break for Wolves speedway

Poole 56 Wolves 36

There is great news on the fixtures front for Wolves – they don't have another one until a week on Saturday.

Of course, such is the modern game that riders will still be jetting round to matches in Sweden, Poland and the like.

But the break until the cup match at Eastbourne on June 18 could not have come at a better time.

Ludvig Lindgren had a horrifying smash at Wimborne Road last night while Tai Woffinden, already nursing his injured shoulder, has now had five falls in his last two meetings. They look a team in need of a break to regroup.

Actually, Wolves attacked this fixture at the league's strongest side with plenty of zest, epitomised in the very first heat by Ty Proctor's surprise win.

The Aussie jetted out of the start and found the pursuing Dennis Andersson unable to lay a finger on him.

Top guns Fredrik Lindgren and Chris Holder were left to fight over the third-place scraps, a three-pass dogfight that was eventually resolved in favour of the Swede.

Christian Hefenbrock's inadvertent 360 degree spin enabled Wolves to split the reserves' race, as wins for Woffinden and the evergreen Peter Karlsson on a dusty and bumpy surface meant Wolves were still within eight points after heat nine.

But they had no punch at reserve, underlined by the need to cover for Ludvig Lindgren after his heat 10 wipeout.

Woffinden tried to cover Holder's burst out of turn two but could not manage it, the lively Andersson also getting past on the inside.

Into turn three and Woffinden just about got round Holder for second but acted fractionally too late in trying to shut the door, clipped the Aussie and took a heavy tumble on the home straight.

The younger Lindgren, at full speed, did wonderfully well to miss the fallen rider but hit his machine and took a sickening fall.

Poole cantered home after that with Lindgren's elder brother Fredrik suffering a rare winless night, his double-point tactical outing netting only four points thanks to Darcy Ward.

But the excellent Karlsson managed to put a dent into the scorechart of every home rider he faced at one time or another.

Wolves' second tactical ride should have gone to Woffinden in heat 14 – his easiest outing of the night, duly won.

But a suspicion of blurred vision from his crash initially put his further participation in doubt, so Karlsson had to carry the flag in the horribly difficult heat 13 and promptly had his one unsuccessful ride out of five.

It was that sort of night but, for young Lindgren especially, it could have been considerably worse.

By Tim Hamblin