At the third attempt, Workington Comets are hoping to complete their home programme at Northside tomorrow against Kent Royals.
The match has been called off twice but with weather forecasts more favourable the debut season in the National Development League should be completed this time.
This, of course, is a return leg of the League pairing against the Royals with a reasonable chance pof the Comets finishing the season on a high with a win and the aggregate point.
At Iwade in September the Comets were beaten by ten points so taking the re-run by more than ten points is the target for team manager James Denham and his squad.
The Comets are boosted by the return of the Ace Pijper after he crashed out at Poole in late August whilst riding for his Championship Club, Glasgow. He suffered shoulder and wrist damage and was out until making his return for Glasgow on Tuesday.
Sam McGurk, who fractured a knee cap in a bad smash for the Comets at Leicester at the start of September, insists he is ready to ride tomorrow.
He said: “It’s actually been a blessing for me that my recent fixtures have been delayed due to bad weather as this has allowed me extra time to heal and get more function and movement back in my knee. “I’m focused on the final few meetings now and already looking forward to next year.”
There’s an interesting guest for Harry McGurk who elected to call time on his season last month.
The unattached, Senna Summers, the son of former Australian Speedway rider – Aaron Summers will make his Comets debut.
Over the last month in the practice sessions at Northside, he has impressed the promotion so it was seen as an ideal opportunity to bring him in for the final fixture of the season.
A switch around of the team order will be in place with the new averages coming into effect. Changes see Elliot Kelly move up into the main body of the team from reserve while captain, Luke Crang makes the move in the opposite direction.
Crang recently guested for his former team Berwick in the NDL at number one and scored an exceptional ten points, insisting it would’ve been more if he was fully fit.
Comets number one Connor Bailey and 16-year-old Luke Harrison have a big night in prospect at Redcar as they will be in the Bears side trying to peg back a big deficit against Scunthorpe.
Redcar face an 18-point deficit ahead of the Championship KO Cup second leg tie at the ECCO Arena.
A place in the final against Poole awaits the aggregate winners with the Scorpions in the driving seat after their 54-36 win at the Eddie Wright Raceway last week.
Redcar are without Danny King after his crash at Sheffield last night, with ex-Comet Richard Lawson coming in to guest at number one.
They again bring in Leon Flint and young Comet Luke Harrison to guest for the injured former Workington rider Charles Wright and Jake Mulford.
Harrison has been gaining more and more experience now that he has been taking up a permanent guest booking slot at reserve for Redcar in the Championship.
He recently took part in the Stuart Robson Farewell meeting and scored an excellent 6 points from his rides in a tough field, beating established Championship riders in Simon Lambert and Connor Mountain along the way.
Ahead of tomorrow Comets team boss, James Denham said: “I can’t believe we’re at the end of the season already. The season hasn’t gone the way we had planned of course, but the fans have stuck by us and they know that this year was just about getting speedway back to Workington, and we’ve definitely done that.
“Our aim on Saturday is to finish the season as we started, with a win. I’m delighted that we have full strength line-up with Ace and Sam returning.
“But, the lads this season have been brilliant. They have never given in despite any result, and the team spirit has been fantastic all year. If we get the win and also the aggregate point on Saturday as well it would top the season off nicely.”
Kent finally come to the Northside Arena spearheaded by Nathan Ablitt at number 1. Ablitt is no stranger to the Northside Arena having qualified for the Under-21 Final at Northside back in May and also reaching the Semi-Finals of the Susan Roper Memorial in July.
The Royals are backed up by the experienced, Ben Morley, at number 5. Morley is yet to ride the new Northside track and having recently switched to number 5 for Kent in the new effective averages he will be hopeful to help his team hold onto the 10-point aggregate lead.
Jack Kingston is absent through injury for Saturday’s clash but Kent have secured the services of Belle Vue’s, Freddy Hodder at number 3. Hodder scored 7 points for Belle Vue at Northside last month.
The Royals are captained by experienced NDL rider, Tom Woolley at number 4. Woolley is another rider who has yet to ride the new Northside track and will want his team to finish their season strong on Saturday.
At the reserve berths for the Royals, they are backed up by youngsters Connor King and Ashton Vale. The only other change for Kent will be rider replacement at number 2 for Rhys Naylor.
