Wolves Speedway suffered their first injury setback of 2008 yesterday before the season has even begun, as David Howe crashed out of Telford’s indoor ice meeting.

Competing at the annual pre-season spectacular at Telford Ice Rink, Howe tangled with Martin Smolinski during a heat of the England v Rest of the World international, and was taken to hospital with a badly gashed foot.

Howe needed stitches for the injury and will be out of action for three weeks but Wolves are hopeful he will be fot for the start of the regular season.

The injury ruled him out of the Pairs championship later in the meeting and also the British Open Ice Championship in the evening – which Smolinski ironically went on to win.

Young gun Craig Branney was also involved in a heavy spill during the afternoon session, and was hospitalised with broken bones in his leg.

The 20th staging of the event saw its usual high level of action and harum-scarum thrills and spills.

Local favourite Wayne Broadhurst celebrated his swansong event by scoring well for England, and in the evening won his first four British Open rides in style, only to fall in the crucial deciding race handing the spoils to Smolinski.

Edward Kennett joined them on the podium. Kennett also took the Pairs championship along with Tony Atkin, with the latter’s British Open getting off to a bad start as he hit the safety fence on the run to the line and his machine caught fire.

The experienced Newport rider completed the meeting on borrowed bikes.

There was also amusement for the fans when a group of riders took part in a Dancing on Ice tournament with ice skater Danielle. Jack Hargreaves was best in the afternoonand Smolinski at night.

Scorers: England 40 (David Howe 12, Wayne Broadhurst 8, Tony Atkin 7, Jack Hargreaves 6, Edward Kennett 3, Craig Branney 3, Shaun Tacey 1)

Rest of the World 31 (Martin Smolinski 10, Phil Morris 7, Tom Brown 7, Matyas Hlavacek 4, Marek Mroz 2, Luke Priest 1, Josef Franc 0)

Pairs: Edward Kennett/Tony Atkin beat John Branney/Shaun Tacey.

20th British Open Championship: Martin Smolinski 14, Wayne Broadhurst 12, Edward Kennett 11, John Branney 10, Gary O’Hare 10, Phil Morris 8, Tom Brown 8, Shaun Tacey 8, Tony Atkin 7, Josef Franc 7, Jack Hargreaves, Luke Priest 5, Matyas Hlavacek 5, Marek Mroz 4, Alun Bagshaw 3, Nick Simmons 2)