James Sarjeant is ready to banish Glasgow’s Newcastle nightmares this weekend – by beating them twice in one day.
The Tigers visited the North East in May on league duty and managed to throw away a nine-point lead and lose to a depleted Diamonds side.
No 2 Sarjeant was racing for his Elite League side Coventry that night, and was a massive miss for the Ashfield men.
Now, the Yorkshireman will join his team-mates in taking on Newcastle twice on Sunday as they race their KO Cup quarter-final home and away. The first meeting in Glasgow is at 1.30pm before an 8pm start at the Newcastle Stadium.
Sarj, 21, is also desperate to make amends for his last visit to the track. He said: “They’ve got a few injuries so this would be the time to beat them. The last time we were there, we lost, but I definitely think we could win.
“I did a guest booking a few weeks after that for Sheffield there, and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I got knocked off and excluded for it – it wasn’t my meeting. But we’ll just forget about that this time, it’s a new meeting and a new day.”
With both Glasgow and Coventry challenging for honours on several fronts, Sarjeant could walk away from the 2015 season with a handful of medals – and he says that’s a real possibility.
He said: “That’s the plan – to win with both of them would be nice, that would be the best thing. I still think we can both win silverware.
“Coventry are a good team, they’ve just signed Kyle Howarth as well. At Glasgow, once Kauko Nieminen is back, we’ll be all right.”
The Sheffield-based racer has had an eventful season – and he’s been part of the odd controversy in the top tier. He’s also drawn negative comments for a series of tapes offences in both leagues.
But Sarj insists he’s not listening to his critics – and is ready to prove his point on the track.
He said: “I’m not bothered about that any more – I just get on with it. I’m there to race. It doesn’t bother me.
“They can say what they like – if you start listening to what people say about you, that’s when you start going downhill.”
And he added: “I’m loving it up at Glasgow at the minute. It’s been one of my best seasons. Everyone gets along well.
“I get along well with Stewart (Dickson) – he’s a brilliant manager. He’s helped me out quite a bit this year with riding the track and getting you ready for your race. You couldn’t ask for much more.”
Nick Morris is fit to take his place in Sunday’s line-up despite a heavy spill in the defeat to Somerset on Sunday. Rider replacement continues to operate at No 4 for Nieminen, who is expected to return from a collarbone break early next month.
Newcastle bring in Redcar’s Matej Kus to guest for the injured Lewis Kerr.