A significant milestone has been reached at the Northside track on the way to the return of Workington Comets.
Bikes were back in action, testing the new surface after many months of dedicated work to get the sport up and running again in the town.
Steve Lawson, who has been heavily involved in the upgrading of the old training track, led the riders taking a spin around the new-look raceway.
The former Workington and Glasgow star did four laps on one of Dan Bewley’s bikes that he had left in his native West Cumbria.
Dan’s dad Neil, a former Moto-X riders also had a spin round, as did Carlisle businessman Andrew Bain who is financing the venture.
Steve said: “There is still a lot of work to do before we can be up and running. All the electrical work, fixtures and fittings have to be installed but I think this was a significant milestone.
@stevelaws1uk taking The first laps round the new Workington speedway track @nthsidespeedway pic.twitter.com/V8Ql61UYdn
— Simon Lawson (@_SL74) July 3, 2022
“I was pleased to christen the track and it was very smooth, a good experience.”
The plan is still to be shipshape and ready for next year with a team in the National Development League, although they might be encouraged to try the Championship.
He said: “We were actually watching the live streaming of the match and watched in horror. The commentary was in Polish and we couldn’t understand what they were saying.
“I rang Mark Courtenay who actually lives in Poland and he knows a lot of the mechanics who are involved there.
“He was able to tell us that Dan was okay but had been a very lucky lad, bruised and sore but no broken bones.
“Dan was actually going to test two of his bikes at Northside this coming week as he’s due to ride at Glasgow for Team GB but I’m not sure how he’s going to be, fitness-wise, for that.”
