Glasgow’s speedway season bursts back into life this Sunday following an enforced 3 week break since, disappointingly, exiting the Knock Out Cup at the hands of Newcastle.
Berwick Bandits’ are Sunday’s visitors at Ashfield (start time 3:15pm), however now being deep into October and with just one further scheduled meeting Vs Workington (see change to start time below) which may prove difficult to restage should the weather intervene, the Bandits’ clash could well prove to be THE final speedway action of 2014.
There is, of course, no prospect of League Cup progression for either club on Sunday given that Edinburgh have recently won the tournament! However, having had no race action since 28th September, the Allied Vehicles Tigers’ and our supporters will be keen to once again rally together at Ashfield and look to gain some element of revenge over the Bandits’ who easily won our league clash back in July.
Team news from the home camp confirms that Tigers’ will line-up on Sunday without two injured riders – each of Rusty Harrison and Tero Aarnio have been forced to withdraw, and are now side-lined for the rest of this season, as they continue to feel the effects of falls in recent meetings. Rusty has had to seek a medical referral to provide any improvement in his shoulder mobility since his heat 13 crash at Peterborough (9th September), whilst Tero has been diagnosed with a fracture to a bone in his lower back, the consequence of recent falls at Ashfield and Armadale, and advised to rest.
All at Glasgow send our best wishes to both riders for all their effort and commitment to the club this season and wish them a speedy and full recovery (Rusty will be in attendance at tomorrow night’s Annual Awards Dinner).
With these enforced rider withdrawals, Tigers have turned to USA World Cup rider Ricky Wells and former Tiger Joe Jacobs as replacements as we look to, eventually, open our league cup account against Berwick – better late than never!
The visitors have enjoyed a successful season and have been particularly effective on their travels with several wins, including that one at Ashfield, which launched Bandits’ comfortably into a 4th place league finish and a first ever play-off place. With Sunday possibly also being their final outing of the year, Berwick will arrive in town confident of repeating their previous success and securing a 4 meeting white wash of Tigers this season.
Bandits’ too have some injury problems with skipper Matthew Wethers still suffering the effects of his fall last weekend, David Bellego is unavailable for this fixture.
The full, and revised, line-ups for Sunday are as follows:
GLASGOW
1 Theo Pijper (C) 2 Joe Jacobs 3 Kevin Wölbert 4 Tero Aarnio R/R 5 Ricky Wells (G) 6 Kasper Lykke Nielsen 7 Victor Palovaara 8 Steven Jones
BERWICK1 Matej Kus 2 Danny Phillips (G) 3 Kevin Doolan 4 Steen Jensen R/R 5 Claus Vissing 6 Alex Edberg 7 Ben Hopwood (G)
Tigers’ will be all out to get themselves back on the winning track against the Bandits’ on Sunday and dish out just a little revenge for defeats earlier this season, however Berwick track several riders who are confident and highly effective around our home circuit.
There is a long speedway-less winter just around the corner, we’ve recently been starved of enjoying the great race action which the Ashfield circuit has generated all season long. With no guarantee – due to the uncertainties of the October weather – that we will be able to stage any further meeting beyond this Sunday, let’s make sure that there’s a BIG gathering of Team Tiger to cheer us on against those Bandits!
In other news …
Annual Awards Dinner
A final reminder to those supporters attending tomorrow night’s event at the Eagle Lodge, Bishopbriggs that arrival should be planned at 6:30pm for 7:00pm – we look forward to seeing you there!
Tigers Big Sale
Pick yourself – or perhaps another member of Team Tiger – up a bargain at our track shop on Sunday as we crank up our end-of-season sale where discounts of up to 50% are available on most items from Tigers fridge magnets to Tigers jackets! An early opportunity perhaps to put away a couple of Christmas presents for a loved one?
Workington start time
With the clock’s due to go back an hour in the early hours of Sunday, 26th October, both clubs have agreed to bring forward the scheduled start time to 2pm – so, remember to set your clocks AND your reminders to get along to Ashfield early a week on Sunday!