With the pressure now on the play-off chasing clubs to fulfil their league fixtures by the mid-September cut-off, the next few weeks will be a particularly hectic time throughout the Premier League.
Closer to home, this very weekend will be a busy one for the Allied Vehicles Tigers as we compete in 3 league meetings in 4 days, starting with a trip to Cumbria tonight to take on Workington.
Tigers – Tonight
The Comets, defeated in a league clash at Ipswich last night, now track former Tiger Joe Jacobs in their line-up having recently been released by Peterborough, and of course have former Tigers Josh Grajczonek and Mason Campton in their side too..
Tigers will tonight operate Rider Replacement for Victor Palovaara (competing for Sweden’s U21s in the World Team Cup Final in Denmark), however will otherwise be at full strength as skipper Theo Pijper re-joins the side and latest signing Tero Aarnio makes his Tigers debut at his former Derwent Park home track. Glasgow have booked former Comet Jason Bunyan to guest at reserve. Whilst Tigers won’t necessarily be expected to take any league points from Cumbria we do ‘owe’ the Comets some payback for our home League Cup defeat earlier in the season. Having been selected by the Comets at the start of the season, both clubs will face each other in home and away league clashes TWICE before end of this season.
Tigers – Sunday
In what will perhaps be a dress rehearsal for our forthcoming KOC quarter-final tie, Tigers expect to be back to full-strength when we line-up at Ashfield on Sunday to face, for the first time this season, the Newcastle Diamonds (tapes-up @ 3pm). The Diamonds currently occupy one of the top 6 play-off positions however will be anxious to bank more league points to keep themselves ahead of the chasing pack, whilst Tigers will be determined to get back to winning ways following last week’s home defeat to title chasing Somerset.
Victor Palovaara will be back in the side for Sunday’s (and Monday’s) meeting and Tigers have booked Edinburgh skipper Derek Sneddon to guest at reserve – home and away – against the Diamonds.
Full line-ups for Sunday:
GLASGOW
1 VICTOR PAVOLAARA 2 THEO PIJPER (C) 3 KEVIN WÖLBERT 4 TERO AARNIO 5 RUSTY HARRISON 6 KASPER LYKKE NIELSEN 7 DEREK SNEDDON (G)
NEWCASTLE
1 DANNY KING 2 LEWIS ROSE 3 STUART ROBSON (C) 4 LEWIS KERR 5 LUDVIG LINDGREN 6 SIMON NIELSEN 7 CHRIS MILLS
The Diamonds’ are led by Team GB World Cup rider Danny King who makes his first racing appearance in Glasgow for several seasons, he is backed-up by a very solid looking team including their skipper Stuart Robson who never fails to entertain when he rides at Ashfield. With Lewis Kerr and Lewis Rose both hugely benefitting from Elite League experience this season too, the visitors will be certain to test the Tigers strongly on Sunday.
Tero Aarnio makes his home debut and will be keen to make his mark through a solid scoring contribution to please all Tigers fans.
The Ashfield circuit, and the high quality of racing entertainment which has been served-up this season, has, rightly, been attracting praise from supporters, referees and riders alike – both sides have riders who are known as entertainers and a cracking afternoon’s racing should be guaranteed on Sunday.
Tigers need the league points, Diamond’s want the league points – something has to give and only some hard fought, sensational speedway action will determine who wins out.
Make sure you come along to enjoy it all for yourself and round off your weekend by supporting the Tigers
Both sides will do it all again at Newcastle on Monday evening..
Other news …
Theo’s Testimonial – 28th September
The skipper’s big day is just a month away! Theo will shortly announce details of his event however meantime is looking for our support to pledge sponsorship in order to help offset meeting costs.
Listen out for more details on Sunday, and remember to pick-up some details of how you can support Theo from the track shop where you can also purchase some Theo Pijper Testimonial Merchandise!
What are you doing on Saturday, 18th October?
Hopefully the answer is that you will be joining the riders and fellow Tigers supporters for our end-of-season Dinner Dance!
Tickets – priced £35 (£32 for supporters club members) – are available now, and can be secured simply by a £10 deposit paid to supporters club secretary Sheena Downie who can be found selling raffle tickets just inside the stadium before meetings, and beside the GTSSC stand after heat 15.
Tickets are sold on a first come, first served basis and will allow you to thoroughly enjoy a night amongst fellow Tigers fans – and with the riders – to savour a 3 course meal, live music and all the rider speeches and presentations.
Enjoy your weekend – let’s get right behind the Tigers home and away as we look to pick-up some valuable Premier League points at the Comets’ and Diamonds’ expense.