9:54am Thursday 18th March 2010
By Ned Payne
A PLETHORA of big names will descend upon the Abbey Stadium tonight as Swindon hosts its first meeting of the 2010 speedway season.
Current world champion Jason Crump, Russian ace Emil Sayfutdinov and explosive talent Nicki Pedersen are just three of a number of stars confirmed to take part in the Bob Kilby Memorial, held to honour the memory of one of the Robins’ favourite sons.
Leigh Adams, Grzegorz Zengota and Thomas H. Jonasson are among the current Swindon riders named as part of the 16-man field, nine of which raced regularly on the Grand Prix circuit last year.
A huge crowd is expected for the 23-heat, Grand Prix-style event (tapes-up 7.30pm), and no one is more excited than current Robins captain Leigh Adams, who is one of the names fancied by many to win the meeting.
“It’s a fantastic field,” the Aussie told the Advertiser.
“It’s a big plus with all these guys not doing England that we’re putting a big meeting on, because they all want to do meetings before they start in Poland or do the Grands Prix or whatever.
“That’s been a real feather in our cap and a lot of other teams have cottoned onto it and are trying to do the same now.
“But we had the march on them and a lot of guys want to come and race at Swindon.
“It’s going to be absolutely awesome and it would be pretty cool to get one over the Grand Prix guys.”
The Swindon skipper added that Kilby, who died in January last year, was “a great guy to respect” by holding the meeting.
Adams began his season in earnest last weekend at the Ben Fund Bonanza, held at Rye House.
He secured four points from four rides to miss out on the semi-final by a distance, as Nicki Pedersen took overall victory.
Should tonight’s meeting at Blunsdon be called off due to the weather, it will be held at the Abbey Stadium on Sunday (tapes-up 6pm).
The full-line-up is: Jason Crump, Emil Sayfutdinov, Nicki Pedersen, Leigh Adams, Freddie Lindgren, Hans Andersen, Seb Ulamek, Greg Walasek, Chris Harris, Lee Richardson, Simon Stead, Mads Korneliussen, Grzegorz Zengota, Morten Risager, Thomas H. Jonasson and Steve Johnston.
Meanwhile, off the track, the Robins have announced that ex-rider Malcolm Holloway will be inducted into the Swindon Speedway Legends’ Lounge.
Holloway, who will pen a fortnightly column for the Advertiser this year, rode for Swindon from 1977-83 and went on to represent the Sprockets side later in his career.
He joins the likes of Bob Kilby, Phil Crump and Barry Briggs, who are among those to have already been inducted.
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