The BIRMINGHAM Brummies have moved to bring former skipper Justin Sedgmen back to the club as a replacement for Vaclav Milik.
The Australian returns on a 5.07 average and will go straight into the side for Thursday (May 16, 7.30pm) night’s ROWE Motor Oil Premiership trip to league leaders Ipswich.
Sedgmen will start in the main body of the team in a switch which sees Wiktor Lampart move into the reserve berths.
Having spent a season-and-a-half with the Brummies in the Championship, ‘Sedgy’ was initially overlooked as the Perry Barr outfit stepped up into the top-flight during the winter.
But club bosses have now turned to the familiar face with Czech international Milik making way after a difficult return to British speedway.
Team manager Sam Ermolenko said: “First of all I’d like to wish Vaclav well.
“He was a super guy, he was a good team player, but it just wasn’t working for him and it might have only been for a couple of meetings, but we expected so much more from him when he dropped down to reserve.
“The results weren’t going the way we wanted them to and the fans deserved more so we had to make a change.
“An initial shortlist was whittled down even further and in the end we decided Justin was our man.
“I’ve known him since he was a kid when I used to travel out to Mildura in Australia and we’ve had a history since he came over to race in the UK.
“I’ve helped him mechanically in the past with his engines and Justin has been known to pick up the phone from time-to-time to ask me for advice.
“I had a good chat with him when we were looking to make this change and he assured me he can do the job we need him to.
“We need someone who is going to give us consistency across their races and Justin is usually quite a solid rider.
“He’s really pleased with how his own 2024 season has got started and he believes that racing in the top league with Birmingham will only better that.
“He really knows how to get out of the starts as well and particularly at home, that’s going to be a big advantage to him as a rider and therefore to us as a team.
“He’s ridden for the Brummies in the past and therefore he already knows the club well.”
Birmingham are back at Perry Barr on Monday, May 27 (7.30pm) when current league leaders Ipswich are the visitors.
Meanwhile, Monday’s postponed fixture against King’s Lynn has now been confirmed for Monday, August 26.
