This weekend, Workington Comets have another double-header with a rescheduled round one MAXiCab Knockout Cup tie against Edinburgh Monarchs.
After almost a fortnight without a meeting, the Comets are due to visit Armadale tonight before hosting the return leg of the MAXiCab Knockout Cup first round clash at Northside’s GT Tyres Arena tomorrow, Saturday May 24 (3pm start).
This double-header against the Monarchs should have taken place in the space of 24 hours during mid-April but fell victim to wet weekend weather.
Since then, Britain has basked in bright sunshine although the Comets have found competitive track time at a premium with only four BSN Series meetings under their belts thus far.
A defeat at Redcar Bears was followed by home success over Scunthorpe Scorpions at Workington, before back-to-back defeats against the same two opponents the following weekend.
This lapse in time, however, will have allowed Comets’ form rider Antti Vuolas to rest up.
The Finn, in his second season at Northside, was unceremoniously dumped from his bike in the home meeting with Redcar by Charles Wright, who has since gone on to claim a wildcard spot for the Manchester Speedway GP double-header next month.
Some of the Comets have managed to keep their wheels turning during the past couple of weeks.
Tate Zischke and Fraser Bowes have has shown positive signs while riding in the Polish under-24 league for Leszno and Lublin, respectively, and Tate in the British top flight for Belle Vue, claiming a fine heat two win at the National Speedway Stadium on Monday and gating better in their league win over Leicester Lions.
Elsewhere, Vinnie Foord was a late call-up to the British final at Belle Vue before gaining five points at Glasgow’s Ashfield on Sunday in the British under-21 final, which was won for the second year running by Sam Hagon.
Neither Zischke nor compatriot and new Comets signing Fraser Bowes have ridden at Armadale before, the former having been injured when the teams met on Scottish shale last year.
But they, along with their team-mates, will be out to prove a point after Comets team boss James Denham insisted earlier this week: “We simply must improve.”
Edinburgh, meanwhile, have enjoyed far more track time than their Cumbrian opponents. They go into this week’s knockout cup clash on the back of two slender Cab Direct Championship defeats, at home to Poole Pirates (42-48) last Friday and then at Plymouth Gladiators (44-46) the following evening.
They were dealt a blow midway through the Poole meeting as Polish rider Oskar Polis failed to complete proceedings before walking away from the club.
“He didn’t give himself a chance,” said Monarchs promoter John Campbell in the aftermath of the 28-year-old’s dramatic departure. “He was clearly capable of doing well in the UK but he had it in his head that he couldn’t.”
Monarchs will use rider replacement for both the home and away matches against the Comets, and undoubtedly have an ace up their sleeve in the shape of speedy Swede, Victor Palovaara.
He has proved an absolute steal at reserve with an average of five and could soon move into the number one slot after a string of impressive points hauls.
Kye Thomson — who scored all 12 of the Monarchs’ points in the Championship Pairs at Workington in early April — registered 12+2 in his side’s latest outing last Saturday, with Jonatan Grahn pocketing 9+2.
The Monarchs bring in young 19-year-old Cumbrian racer Mark Parker as a replacement for Max James, who decided at the start of the season to take time out of the sport. Parker, who has ridden many laps at the GT Tyres Arena in practice and at NJL matches will come in at number seven for the Monarchs.
Saturday will also see Zischke head up to Glasgow for the SGP2 qualifier meaning he will be unavailable for the home fixture, but the Workington promotion have quickly snapped up the able guest services of Glasgow’s Leon Flint to deputise for Zischke.
The final word goes to Denham, who believes a two-week pause in their season could re-energise his riders.
He said: “We will need to keep it as close as possible to win over the two legs.
“It’s going to be tough at Armadale, Tate didn’t manage to get there last year before his injury and Fraser hasn’t seen the place before – but Troy was on fantastic form their last year when we had a depleted team and we have riders like Jye and Jacob who have ridden for Edinburgh in the past and go well there.
“Edinburgh have had some sets backs this week, namely the withdrawal of Polis from their team, and we need to capitalise on that on Friday I believe.
“We are obviously going there to win as always but we ultimately need to keep the score as close as possible for the home leg on Saturday where I believe we are capable of putting our early season woes behind us.”
