Comets take on The Witches of Ipswich

Kyle Bickley – on the way to his best-ever score in Comets colours last Saturday (Photo: Adrian Randall)

[T]OMORROW evening at 7:00pm sees the Workington Comets take on the Ipswich Witches at Derwent Park as they continue to eat into their backlog of Championship fixtures in an effort to break into the top-four play-off places.

The Comets emerged victorious from their league visit to Ipswich just over five weeks ago but following a team shake-up in an attempt to improve performances there are now only two riders that were in the Witches side that night lining up at Derwent Park tomorrow.

Following victory in last Saturday’s rain-affected clash with Sheffield at Derwent Park the Comets are keen to maintain their winning run, but co-promoter and team manager Tony Jackson accepts that tomorrow’s clash with the Witches has all the makings of a hard-fought encounter.

“The Witches will certainly be looking to avenge their home defeat at our hands, that’s for sure,” said Jackson.

“Shortly after losing at home to us they made several team changes and that seems to have helped their push for a play-off place, which makes tomorrow’s match ‘a six-pointer’ as they sometimes say in football!

“Missing from the Witches line-up through injury, as he was when we visited their place, is former British Champion Danny King but in Scunthorpe number one Steve Worrall they have a more than capable guest, while at number one in their side is Australian Rory Schlein. Rory proved that he knows his way around Derwent Park at the end of March when he won our season-opening Cumberland Open Championship.

“With Argentine rider Nico Covatti as their third heat leader, supported by Cameron Heeps and former Edinburgh rider Mark Riss, the Witches have a very solid line-up. Meanwhile, at reserve they have Nico Covatti’s fellow countryman Coty Garcia and, making his debut in the Championship having turned sixteen last weekend, is highly-rated youngster Drew Kemp.

“We will certainly have to hit the ground running and, unfortunately, for the second week running we will be without Dan Bewley as he is representing Team GB at Outrup in Denmark in the World under-21 Team Cup Final. Once again we will be operating rider replacement in Dan’s absence with every Comet apart from number one Nicolai Klindt eligible to take one of his rides.”

Following the Comets versus Witches encounter on Saturday there will be a six-heat Northern Junior League fixture between the Workington Meteors and the Newcastle Gems.

THE Comets push for a play-off place continues next week when they travel to Redcar on Thursday for a Championship fixture before a ‘Bumper Bank Holiday of Speedway’ at Derwent Park next weekend, which sees them race two crucial Championship home meetings in two days.

Lakeside will visit Derwent Park at 7:00pm on Saturday 25th August and then Redcar come to town the following day, Sunday 26th August, with a slightly later 7:30pm start time.

Comets owner Laura Morgan admits it will be a busy weekend but a necessary one in order to get caught up on fixtures, although there is also some good news for supporters, as she explains.

“After exploring all options this was the most realistic way of fitting an extra home meeting into our calendar as we want to avoid ‘double-headers’ if possible as they put too much strain on everyone.

“But, by having two meetings in one weekend it has all the makings of a great weekend of speedway entertainment for our supporters who, after having had to endure many gaps in our fixture list earlier in the season are now getting speedway every weekend at Derwent Park once again.

“However, we do realise this makes it a more expensive weekend than normal for our fans, so we will be announcing plans for a ‘ticket deal’ to help supporters that are attending both of next weekend’s home matches, and we will also using a single programme to cover both matches, which will also represent a saving for the supporters.”

COMETS UPCOMING FIXTURES: