It’s a Knock Out Cup weekend for the Western Commercial Glasgow Tigers with home and away ties against Rye House Rockets to determine which club progresses to face Sheffield in Round 2.
Tigers have had less track time than the Rockets in the early weeks of the season, however it is fair to say that Rye House have suffered from early season injuries which may yet be a telling factor.
Both Jason Bunyan and Simon Lambert have already been sidelined with nasty injuries following racing incidents in the same meeting with Ipswich a couple of weeks ago, the Rockets opting to utilise R/R. Despite such a blow the Rockets have showed some terrific resilience and have actually since managed an away win at Plymouth, earned a home draw against a strong looking Somerset side, and scored 42 points AT Somerset!
Leading the Rockets is former full time Elite League star Oliver Allen, his battles with Joe Screen this weekend should be something to behold.
The main support to their No.1 comes from Swede Anders Mellgren, Australian Tyson Nelson and a familiar face who sensationally guested for Tigers just a fortnight ago, Jason Garrity.
With none of the Rye House side having any huge experience of Ashfield (granted Jason Garrity was very impressive recently!) it is hoped that Tigers can earn themselves every chance of overturning any deficit from Saturday night.
Team manager Sean Courtney, who spent the 1992 season riding for Rye House, will have his riders well prepared for the challenge ahead and believes that a 10-14 point first leg defeat would be an ideal result – of course, the team will be aiming for better! Tigers are at full strength and all injury niggles are reported to have healed.
Speaking ahead of the Rye House cup tie, Sean spoke about his confidence in the side:
“I have been speaking to all the lads this week, and all are looking forward to this weekend, cup ties are a very nice distraction from league racing – not that we’ve yet managed to do any of that!”
“Everyone is fit, everyone is ready. Rye House can be a tricky circuit especially when you only ride there once a season. Only Harley and Joey haven’t ridden it, so I and the others will give them some support and make sure that they know what to look out for.”
“Clearly I will be looking to come back from Rye House with a first leg lead, however if so long as we can keep things tight, then I have every faith in the team to be able to come back to Glasgow and finish the job on Sunday”
Some other interest for supporters on Sunday, apart from the cup tie itself which promises to be highly competitive, will be in catching our first ever glimpse of 15 year old British speedway sensation Robert Lambert. Despite only having turned 15 at the start of this month, Norwich born Robert has been collecting grasstrack and speedway trophies for years and has been riding on the continent under a German licence. Rather sensationally for such a young man he can, amongst others, name Martin Smolinksi as one of his scalps! (yes, the same Martin Smolinski who has been scorching the Elite League this season!).
It is planned that Robert will perform a couple of demonstration rides on Sunday.
Supporters are encouraged to stop by the new Tigers merchandise stand on Sunday and check out the improved range of stock (still more to come in the coming weeks!) – everyone needs to have a Tigers mug!