SPEEDWAY

Freddie Lindgren returns to Monmore tonight after a profitable weekend increased his standing in Swedish speedway.

The race is on to succeed the now-retired Tony Rickardsson as the nation's long-term No 1, and whilst Wolves skipper Peter Karlsson and Andreas Jonsson are currently the outstanding two riders Lindgren is one of a number of youngsters rapidly making their way to the top.

Jonsson, who has taken over as Swedish captain, appears to have raised his game with his recent Grand Prix form and his national Championship win on Saturday. But Lindgren managed to take a podium finish with third place behind Antonio Lindback, keeping Karlsson out of the top three.

The Wolves youngster had been the odd man out in the final of the Under-21 event 24 hours earlier as he touched the tapes and was thrown out of the race, leaving the way clear for Lindback to win.

Now Wolves will be hoping he can maintain the form which has taken him to third in their averages as they look to boost their chances of a late move into the top four of the Elite League table.

Lindgren takes over the No.5 race-jacket tonight as he has just overhauled Billy Hamill in the averages, and that will see him teaming up with Karlsson in the vital Heat 13 - the race which puts together the top two riders in each team.

Hamill, who has not been quite so consistent at home in the last month or so, moves to the No.4 riding position where he will be relied upon to cover the penultimate race of meetings.

Wolves' recent win at Reading has ignited their prospects, and they should add a further three points to their total tonight against second from bottom Oxford.

The Cheetahs did win at struggling Arena-Essex last Wednesday though, and boast plenty of Monmore knowledge in the shape of Wolves assets Adam Skornicki and David Howe - whose performances on his old home track so far this season have been surprisingly quiet.

Wolves are currently seven points off the top four so there is little room for error, but they do have at least two matches in hand on all of their immediate rivals with the exception of Poole. As the season moves into its final quarter, eight clubs still have realistic aspirations of securing a play-off place, but Coventry's chances were hit by a narrow defeat at Eastbourne on Saturday.

The Bees are currently struggling to cope without their injured reserves Martin Smolinski and Pawel Hlib, and whilst they overcame that to edge to a two-point win over Ipswich on Friday, they lost out by a single point at Arlington 24 hours later.

They will do well to increase their play-off prospects this Thursday in their trip to current table-toppers Swindon, a notoriously poor away venue for the Bees, and aside from winning their final five home matches they will almost certainly need an away win at either Ipswich or Reading - or possibly both.