Workington Comets hope for fourth time lucky with Berwick Bandits

ate Zischke on the inside of Jake Allen and Jason Edwards with Jye Etheridge behind. Picture: Dave Payne

Workington Speedway promotion is looking for it to be fourth time lucky in attempts to stage the final fixture of the Comets league campaign against Berwick Bandits.

In a fixture that has been postponed three times due to weather, the Comets are looking to finish off their season on a high against the Bandits.

Earlier in the month, the Comets went down 47-35 at Berwick’s Shielfield Park in a curtailed meeting which was abandoned after Heat 14 due to curfew.

Berwick’s Sam Hagon required a county ambulance after a horrible first bend incident, before being taken to hospital after a lengthy delay.

The young British rider subsequently suffered a dislocated hip in the crash and is absent for the Bandits with them operating rider replacement.

The Comets line-up at the weekend for the final time in 2025, following the special Jay Cartmell memorial meeting at the GT Tyres Arena last weekend which saw numerous Comets involved in a wet, but worthy day of remembrance.

The Comets will be without in-form reserve Jacob Hook for Saturday’s last home fixture due to a hand injury suffered at Berwick, so the promotion have called on able guest Jonatan Grahn to replace him at seven.

Fraser Bowes called time on his 2025 season earlier in the week, so the rider replacement facility will operate for the Australian at number two.

Tate Zischke and Jye Etheridge will continue their middle order partnership at three and four respectively with flying Finn Antti Vuolas, who is riding next week at the Speedway of Nations in Poland for Finland, at number five.

Ever-present skipper Troy Batchelor will lead the pack at one, and hard-charging reserve Vinnie Foord – riding at six, will be looking for a strong performance before his crack at taking the British Under-19 title in front of his home crowd at the GT Tyres Arena on October 11th.

The visitors bring with them former Comet Peter Kildemand, who will make his much-anticipated return to Workington.

Since his last laps in the town 14 years ago, the Dane has competed in the SGP series and has three GP wins to his name.

Fellow Dane Jonas Jeppesen signed mid-season for the Bandits after an injury to Danyon Hume. Jeppesen has been piling up the points for the Scottish border team since his introduction and recently helped Poole into the knockout cup final at Glasgow with nine points.

Fellow mid-season signing and returning racer Nick Morris is also a doubt for Saturday’s clash, with his fitness to be assessed.

Bandits spearhead is British rider Drew Kemp, who after the new averages came out, finds himself leading the Bandits at number one after impressive performances home and away in his second season for the team.

Berwick reserves are Jack Smith and Dayle Wood, both of whom rode in Jay’s memorial meeting last Saturday. Wood also rides for Edinburgh Monarchs Academy in the National League.

Smith joined in the beginning of the season, replacing Bastian Borke, who found it tough coming back from potential career-ending injuries suffered at Poole last year.

Smith was initially brought in for 28 days, but the Bandits promotion subsequently made it permanent.

Comets team boss James Denham said: “This is the final chance to support your 2025 Comets. We haven’t reached what we set out to do, but we have never given up chasing despite numerous challenges along the way.

“The lads have been a pleasure to deal with all season but for us it’s now about finishing on a high for our fans. It’s been a tough season, but there have been plenty of highs as well.

“Convincingly beating the league’s best two teams, Poole and Glasgow, was fantastic. This proved we could do it— but we were not consistent in doing that away from home, which ultimately cost us our play-off place.

“Nevertheless, we hope to see a big crowd for Saturday’s final fixture, and our aim is to bag all three points available in what should be a fantastic meeting with both teams evenly matched in my opinion.”