The British Championship Final is to be held at Coventry on May 23rd.
There will be ten riders seeded through to the final. The remainder of the field will be filled by qualifiers from a two legged semi-final. These are to be held at Wolverhampton on May 10th and Sheffield on May 13th.
The following are seeded through to the Semi-Final along with the top three from the British Under-21 Final
Semi-Final line-up:
Kelvin Tatum (Unattatched)
Carl Stonehewer (Workington)
Lee Richardson (Poole)
Glenn Cunningham (Swindon)
Sean Wilson (Sheffield)
Ben Howe (Ipswich)
Leigh Lanham (Arena Essex)
Lawrence Hare (Oxford)
Shaun Tacey (Coventry)
Ray Morton (Hull)
James Grieves (Edinburgh)
Savalas Clouting (Ipswich)
Stuart Robson (Coventry)
Riders seeded through to the Final:
Chris Louis(Ipswich)
Joe Screen (Hull)
Martin Dugard (Eastbourne)
Mark Loram (Poole)
David Norris (Eastbourne)
Gary Havelock (Poole)
Scott Nicholls (Poole)
Andy Smith (Unattatched)
Paul Hurry (Oxford)
Dean Barker (Eastbourne)
The local interest is provided by James Grives although he could be joined by Blair Scott, David McAllan, and Ross Brady. While a top three position in the Under-21 Championships at Peterborough is needed, the fact that Scott Nicholls and Lee Richardson are already seeded through to the British Semi-Final and British Final respectively suggests that a top five position may be enough. Blair Scott was fifth in te Final last year and Ross Brady should be a good bet on his former home track. Both Blair and Ross look good bets to progress from the Workington Semi-Final given their match winning performances for Monarchs in the Spring Trophy there.
The Speedway Control Board and the authorities have created more controversy by the way that the British Championship has been structured and the riders who have been included and those who have been excluded.
There was a decision to seed Dean Barker through to the final when he hasn't raced much after a serious injury and has yet to prove his fitness. Kelvin Tatum isn't even riding speedway in the UK and is in the Semi-Final. Riders such as Paul Pickering and Peter Carr have been excluded despite having higher Premier League averages than some excluded. Some of the excluded riders may not be interested but no-one really knows. The seedings bear no relation to averages or anything else that whim and subjective judgement.
There is much opinion that there should be a system that allowed all riders of 21 and over in the Premier or Elite Leagues to enter. This would require two separate Semi-Finals and (if necessary) one or more Quarter-Finals. Also any decision to seed riders through should be solely on the basis of average.