The 2019 National League Pairs championship event will now take place at Sheffield Speedway club’s Owlerton Stadium on Sunday, August 25 (5.30pm start time).
The meeting was due to take place at Stoke a fortnight earlier (11/8) but following the move of the NL4s to the Potteries (this is happening next weekend, at Loomer Road on July 13th.) the decision has been made to switch the Pairs to Sheffield.
The date change is certainly a boost for the event with rider availability now far less problematical and is a double boost for the Kent TouchTec Kings as not only will number one Drew Kemp be available for sure but also Owlerton is his home circuit in the SGB Championship, as his side in that division is Sheffield Tigers!
NL co-ordinator Jason Pipe explained, “It's vitally important when staging this big set-piece events in the NL that we think of the fans and try to give them the best line-up we possibly can. “This term I’ve been brought back the Fours and the Pairs to this league, which many fans at this level also wanted and I think by using neutral tracks where we can (like Sheffield in this case) is also a big plus. And with Sheffield having a big attachment of clubs not too far away from them, hopefully this can help to draw in a bigger crowd than what it would be elsewhere. It would also be good to see some Halifax/Bradford fans of old coming along to Sheffield for this giving a boost to the sport in Yorkshire, one of its traditional hotbeds."
The Pairs was just contested in 2015 and won by Kent duo Danny Ayres and Ben Morley (who'll be lining up respectively for their current clubs Mildenhall & Isle of Wight next month) - so the Kings will go into this as holders of the event!
Jason concludes, "I’d like to assure fans that the National League Riders' Championship (the third big NL event on the calendar) at Leicester on Sunday 22nd September (3pm) the day after the Cardiff SGP, will definitely be going ahead on that date and at that venue.”