Workington’s Australian rider Jacob Hook is a man in demand at the moment.
His fine form for the Comets is being reflected in his guest bookings around the Championship.
Hook — who celebrated his 23rd birthday yesterday – scored 5+2 when guesting for Oxford on Wednesday at home to Poole Pirates, who completed their league programme with a narrow 46-43 victory.
Now he has also secured a guest slot — in place of Villads Nagel — for Glasgow’s pivotal league trip to rivals, and his former club, Edinburgh tonight.
That will give Hook a chance to check out the Tigers line-up before the Scots travel to West Cumbria with their sights set on finishing top of the league table ahead of the end-of-year play-offs.
They ride at the GT Tyres Arena, Northside tomorrow when the Comets will be looking to overturn a six-point deficit in their return home fixture.
Comets go into the meeting, which starts at the revised time of 3pm, targeting a strong finish to their eventful Cab Direct Championship campaign.
Earlier this month they narrowly lost, 42-48, away to Glasgow, who won on the night with a 5-1 in a last heat decider.
Leading out 2023 title winners Glasgow at Northside will be their indefatigable skipper Chris Harris. The 42-year-old former Cardiff Speedway GP winner is in excellent form.
Box office “Bomber” — who memorably guested for the Comets last season — claimed a 15-point maximum in the Tigers’ thumping recent Knockout Cup win over Edinburgh; and scored 13+1 as they comfortable saw off Oxford Cheetahs at Ashfield last weekend.
On Sunday, Harris was placed third at the European Grasstrack final in the Netherlands.
Redcar’s Jason Edwards replaces Nagel, who is absent due to the European Under-19 Final for the Tigers’ trip to Workington.
Dan Thompson and former Comet Kyle Howarth fill the heat leader slots at three and five, with Leon Flint at four. Freddy Hodder and Max Perry are their reserves.
Workington will assess the fitness of reserve Vinnie Foord ahead of tomorrow’s meeting.
Teenager Foord has been suffering from a hand injury after a crash in his opening ride at Oxford last weekend.
Denham’s men have three meetings of the regular season remaining after this weekend — away to Berwick Bandits (7pm start) on Friday August 30; home to the Bandits on Saturday August 31 (6pm); and away to Redcar Bears (7.30pm) on Friday September 5.
Team boss Denham is challenging his side to claim all three points available against the league’s top team.
He said: “The boys have shown real fight these past few weeks, and we’ll need that same spirit again on Saturday.
“We’ve had a tough run of meetings, but the way the lads pulled together against Edinburgh at home shows that there has never been a lack of will or effort.
“Glasgow are pushing for top spot and they have a wealth of experience, with Chris Harris riding as well as ever, but we’ve proved here at Northside that we can dig deep, turn meetings around and get results when it matters.
“The home crowd always play a huge part and we’ll be giving everything we’ve got to overturn that six-point gap and get the aggregate point as well as the win – but we need to start this meeting better than we have been over recent weeks if we want it.
“The ultimate aim is to finish our campaign strongly, and although our play-offs hopes are fading, some good results in our final few fixtures will put us up there in the mix.”
