Mildenhall Fen Tigers – proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery – face their latest away match this coming Friday (15th. July) when they travel to Manchester to take on the Belle Vue Colts in National Development League [NDL] action.
Captaining the Fen Tigers at the National Speedway Stadium will be Sam Bebee – in the absence of Jason Edwards. Edwards is on Championship duty with his second tier club, Redcar Bears and so Co-team Managers Malcolm Vasey & Jason Gardner have turned to Greg Blair to come in as ‘Guest’ in the number one racing berth on Friday. The experienced Blair was a ‘Guest’ for Mildenhall at Armadale earlier this season helping the Fen Tigers to a victory up in the Scottish capital.
Things will be tougher in Manchester though with the news that James Shanes is away on a pre-arranged international Grasstrack commitment and in the case of the World Long Track rider, no facility to cover for his absence from this NDL fixture has been allowed by the authorities. As a result, coming in for his Fen Tigers’ debut will be Jacob Fellows – the Leicester-based teenager was an unused no. 8 at Mildenhall’s last home match and this time gets the full opportunity to ride in the main body of the side at the NSS.
There will nevertheless still be Rider Replacement used, as Alex Spooner remains side-lined with the dislocated shoulder suffered two weeks ago in a crash at the Isle of Wight.
The hosts currently occupy fourth place in the NDL table and are led at number one by their skipper, Jack Smith. Jack is the son of three-times British Champion and former World Finalist & SGP rider Andy Smith. Smith junior has moved into the number one berth for the Colts overtaking recent signing Jake Mulford in the new Green Sheet Averages. The third heat leader berth is a rider very familiar to all at West Row, as it’s a member of the Fen Tigers’ squad who took the NDL title last term, Nathan Ablitt. The Mancunians septet is completed by the McGurk brothers, Harry and twice GB 125cc championship winner, Sam; with the relatively inexperienced painting at reserve of north-easterner Archie Freeman and 2022 NDL new comer Freddy Hodder.
Teams [in alphabetical order with GSAs]
Belle Vue Colts:
Nathan Ablitt 7.56; Archie Freeman 4.44; Freddy Hodder 4.00; Harry McGurk 7.48; Sam McGurk 5.60; Jake Mulford 7.78; Jack Smith (Capt.) 8.00
Mildenhall Fen Tigers
Sam Bebee (Capt.) 6.11; Greg Blair [G] 9.20; Jacob Fellows 3.00; Jack Kingston 7.16; Luke Muff 3.00; Josh Warren 3.00; Rider Replacement for Alex Spooner 6.40
Club co-owner Greg Palmer commented on the Fen Tigers’ situation, which is clearly very far from ideal, going into the visit to take on Belle Vue,
"We find ourselves in a position we didn't ever want to be in on Friday. When we took over the club one of our big things was to never go into any meeting with a team that wasn't as strong as we would like, but this season has presented so many difficult challenges on the injury front.
“When Ryan [Kinsley] was injured it was surprising how very small the pool of riders was that were available to us and James [Shanes] stood out as by far the best choice for the club, although we knew with his commitments in the Championship and elsewhere we could have a problem or two along the way. It was this or try and survive with guests or R/R and we didn't want that. Not only is James a big asset on track he fits in perfectly with the team, they are a great bunch and he is known to them and very popular due to his association with the club and we consider him part of the Fen Tigers family.”
Palmer went on.
“We are having to use young Jacob Fellows as an unattached three pointer at Belle Vue as James had already committed to an event prior to signing for us, and of course with the luck we are having just now, Jason [Edwards] and Alex [Spooner] are both unavailable. The choices of guest are limited by teams riding on the same night but we are sure Greg Blair will do a good job for us as he did at Armadale. Jason's career is progressing so quickly just now that we will miss him occasionally but he has our full backing; it is a pleasure to have such a exciting young talent at the club.
“Alex’s injury is also an issue as it is a difficult one to predict when he will return, we are looking at injury replacement possibilities to see if this would be a better option than R/R - but again the pool of riders is very small and we could be asking a rider to step in for just a couple of meetings which isn't always attractive. Thankfully Jason and James are both available for Sunday against Armadale.
“As always we will keep our supporters up to date with an honest assessment of our situation".