Workington Comets have brought in guests for this weekend’s two big Championship meetings at Scunthorpe and at home to Poole.
Jason Edwards, of Redcar Bears, will ride at Scunthorpe on Friday while ex-Comet Kyle Howarth comes in for Saturday’s home meeting with Poole.
Wirth both matches against top four rivals this could be the weekend that defines their season as they battle for a play-off place.
The Comets are having to tackle their remaining Championship fixtures without Australian number two Tate Zischke whose injuries sustained on his Belle Vue debut will keep him out for the rest of the season.
Comets team manager James Denham had indicated earlier in the week that he would be looking to recruit a permanent replacement for Zischke but no progress has been reported, hence news of the guests.
Essex-born Edwards, 21, started in 2018 with Cradley Heathens as a 15-year-old before spending three years with Eastbourne Eagles and also rode for Mildenhall Fen Tigers and Plymouth Gladiators.
Edwards signed a new contract for Redcar Bears in the SGB Championship for the 2022 season and later became an asset of the club.
He won the British U-21 semi-final at Mildenhall with a 15-point maximum. Additionally, he finished second in the league averages for Mildenhall in the 2022 National Development League season and was voted their rider of the year.
In 2023, Edwards was named in the King’s Lynn Stars team as the rising star for the SGB Premiership and he also re-signed for Redcar Bears for the SGB Championship. After leaving King’s Lynn he joined Sheffield Tigers, a move which proved successful because he won the league title with the club. This year he re-signed for Sheffield and Redcar.
Howarth is a former Workington rider, but when they were at Derwent Park where he spent four seasons -2012-2015 – working his way up from reserve.
He has subsequently ridden at a variety of tracks – Poole, King’s Lynn, Swindon, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Leicester before Plymouth last season and a reyur to his first track Scunthorpe for 2024.
He will be in the strange position of racing against the Comets for Scunthorpe on Friday night and then for them on Saturday afternoon against Poole.
Howarth, who is 30 now, was British Under-21s Champion in 2015 and has twice won the Championship Pairs with back-to-back successes in 2017 and 2018 partnering Lasse Bjerre and ex-Comet Charles Wright.
Comets team manager James Denham said: “We are grateful for both riders for helping us out in big matches for the top four in the Championship.”
