Wolverhampton Wolves angry following semi-final fixture clash

Wolves have been forced to fulfil the fixture with only two of the teams own riders due to a clash with the Championship play-offs and the FIM Speedway Grand Prix.

It could have been only one rider – but Swedish star Jacob Thorssell has elected to sit out practice for the Stockholm FIM Speedway Grand Prix, where he is reserve, in order to fly back to the UK and race for his team.

Club owner Chris Van Straaten said: “In no way are Wolverhampton Speedway party to the decision to allow this meeting to go ahead on Friday.

“One of the biggest embarrassments this sport has to deal with right now is the amount of guests and missing riders because of a clash of fixtures and we had an opportunity to avoid this.

“We contacted the British Speedway Promoters’ Association to inform them of our position and by delaying the meeting by a week to September 29 there would be every chance both sides would have full teams.

"A simple solution and I am dismayed the BSPA didn’t take this seriously.

“As a sport we are being made to look foolish. This isn’t about who goes through to the final, it’s about the credibility of the sport for me and it’s embarrassing.

“As soon as the Championship play-off dates were announced on Monday I knew Wolverhampton were down to one rider on Friday. Thankfully Jacob has changed his plans and will be with us so we now have two.

“Somerset Speedway have decided to press ahead with the meeting, that’s their choice, they’ve chosen to go down this route.

“But here was an opportunity for the BSPA to rule on something which would have cut out the farce and embarrassment we are now facing. It’s something the sport cannot afford to allow.

“We are not to blame, we tried everything to switch it back seven days, but it wasn’t to be. We are now scrambling around trying to get a team together.”