Championship opener for Workington Comets

Troy Batchelor on the outside of Jonatan Grahn. Picture: Dave Payne

This weekend, Workington Comets start their eagerly-awaited Cab Direct Championship campaign with a home fixture against the Plymouth Gladiators.

There is plenty of great racing in store on a fantastic track at the GT Tyres Arena tomorrow, Saturday June 21 at 3pm, where volunteers have been hard at work in recent months to upgrade the facilities.

Spectators can now catch all the action from an extended standing area, around bends three and four, and people of all ages will be sure of a warm welcome — whether you’re a diehard speedway fan, returning to the sport or watching for the first time.

James Denham’s side line up against Plymouth with former Speedway Grand Prix rider Troy Batchelor at number one. Filling the two other heat leader slots are a fellow Aussie, Tate Zischke, and Antti Vuolas, a flying Finn.

Teenager Zischke and Vuolas became firm fan favourites in their debut Comets season last year, and both have been keeping themselves busy in the lead up to the West Cumbrians’ opening league fixture.

Vuolas has had several recent meetings in Germany, scoring eight points on his latest outing on the continent last weekend.

Zischke, meanwhile, collected a confidence-boosting 12+1 points haul from five rides in Poland earlier this week. He is due to ride for Belle Vue at Leicester Lions in British Speedway’s top division, the Premiership, on Thursday night. He also takes a guest booking for Redcar Bears at home to Edinburgh Monarchs on Friday.

The Comets will also have a guest in their line-up for the Championship opener. With one of their four new 2025 signings, Fraser Bowes — another Australian — fulfilling a commitment in Poland, Edinburgh’s exciting young Swede, Jonatan Grahn, steps in.

Grahn, aged 24, scored 9+1 for the Monarchs in a league win at Oxford Cheetahs on Wednesday, having racked up a stunning haul of 13+5 against the Comets in a MAXiCab Cup tie at Armadale Stadium last month.

Grahn will take the number two berth this Saturday. Completing the Comets line-up are three other 2025 signings: two more Australians, Jye Etheridge and Jacob Hook, and teenager Vinnie Foord, who was a member of Poole Pirates’ Championship-winning team last year.

At number one for Plymouth this weekend is a rider who needs no introduction to Comets supporters. Nicolai Klindt rode at Workington’s former Derwent Park stadium in 2018, when the team memorably celebrated a terrific trophy treble.

The Dane has been in good form so far this season, both for the Gladiators and in the Premiership for Kings Lynn.

Plymouth’s other heat leaders are another Scandinavian, Lasse Fredriksen, a Norwegian, and vastly experienced team captain Ben Barker. Barker rode with Klindt in team colours at the GT Tyres Arena in the Championship Pairs during early April, when they qualified for the semi-finals.

Another Brit, Alfie Bowtell, lines up at number two for Plymouth, who lost to Glasgow Tigers in their opening Championship meeting on May 10 before chalking up a narrow home win, 46-44, over the Monarchs a week later.

At four for the Gladiators is Joe Thompson, one of two highly rated young speedway siblings with his twin, Dan. Joe, runner-up in this year’s British under-21 Championship, was left feeling slightly second hand after a heavy fall while riding for Plymouth Centurions in a National Development Trophy meeting at Kent Eagles.

At reserve for Plymouth against the GT Tyres Comets are the Australian, Mitchell Cluff; and 19-year-old Ben Trigger who, like Joe Thompson, also rides for the Centurions.

Plymouth head to Glasgow tonight, before making their way to Workington.

Comets team boss James Denham stresses the importance of a quick start against the Gladiators.

He said: “We’re starting fresh. We’ve had a longer wait than we wanted with the recent weather, but this is the beginning of our league campaign and the riders know they have a clean slate to go from.”

“After Edinburgh, the riders understand we don’t want to make changes, but we’ll see how the next few meetings go.

“We understand the weather has made it hard to capture any form, but I’m confident the team can get some continuity as the schedule tightens up. They’ve already shown positive glimpses of things to come, it’s just a matter of it all coming together at once.”

“Due to a fixture for his Polish club, Tarnow, Fraser is unavailable. But we feel we have a capable guest in Edinburgh’s Jonatan Grahn, who scored well during his visit here with Edinburgh.”

“Plymouth come with 2018 treble winner Nicolai Klindt as their spearhead. He showed a great liking to the GT Tyres Arena on his debut in the Pairs. They also have Ben Barker and Joe Thompson, who seems to have stepped it up a gear, like his brother Dan did last year, so it will be tough. The key for us will be how we start the meeting. We need to clinch some early heat advantages to put us in a good position for a result.”

The meeting will be streamed live on Comets TV at bit.ly/cometslive