A busy weekend ahead for the Milldenhall DJS Fen Tigers – proudly sponsored by Manchetts Rescue and Recovery – with an away trip to take on league newcomers Workington on Saturday, followed by the visit to West Row of the Belle Vue Colts on Sunday afternoon (4th. June, 4pm start time).
The revamped Northside track in Workington will be a new experience for all the Fen Tigers – bar one: as teenager Ben Trigger rode there this weekend, celebrating his 17th. birthday by an excellent individual performance in taking second place in the GB U21 Championship semi-final, booking his place in the Final for a first time.
The Cumbrian-based Comets have made a good start to their debut campaign in the National Development League [NDL] and have a solid looking line up with the McGurk brothers, Harry & Sam (the latter the reigning GB Youth 500cc champ who ‘Guested’ for the Fen Tigers in their last match) providing the middle order backing to the experienced County Durham-man Luke Crang and their Aussie number one, Connor Bailey. At reserve there a former Fen Tiger in Elliot Kelly and returning quickly from an early season injury is one of the most highly regarded youngsters in the sport, Luke Harrison. Their septet is completed by Scots-born son of a former Mildenhall man, Dutch rider Theo Pijper the 16-year-old Ace.
For the DJS Fen Tigers the new averages click in on 1st June so the weekend’s matches will be the first with Arran Butcher – who’s had an outstanding start to his 2023 campaign – moving up into the main body of the side and Josh Warren slotting into one of the reserve berths. Skipper Lee Complin returns to the line up after missing out on the visit to Belle Vue last Friday.
The match at Workington on the 3rd. is – fairly unusually for Speedway in the UK – an afternoon start time with tapes up at 3pm.
Visiting fans are advised that there’s a Park & Ride service to the track and should see the details of this on the Workington Comets website.
Attention will then shift to securing the first bonus point of the year (this season bonus points come courtesy of securing aggregate success in the home & away NDL fixtures) with the speedy return match against the Fen Tigers’ conquerors last Friday, Belle Vue Colts.
The target to reach will a 15 points win having gone down to a 52-38 defeat up in Manchester and team boss Jason Gardner comments.
“It’ll be very important to get off to a good start on Sunday when chasing down the total. The change in the racing order will be advantageous for us I think – with Arran in a main body of an NDL side for the first time, which is good for him; and giving Josh opportunities to get more points back at reserve”.
Belle Vue Colts have three former Fen Tigers in their line up: Sam Hagon, who won the GB semi on Saturday and was top scorer in the match up at Manchester last week; Aussie Matt Marson; and a fans favourite from the last two seasons, Luke Muff – who was cock-a-hoop when winning heat one at the National Speedway Stadium last Friday and will be equally keen to impress his old supporters on Sunday. A newcomer in the Colts’ line up to the West Row circuit will be Aussie James Pearson and how he adapts will be a crucial factor in determining how the match unfolds.
The new averages are:
Alfie Bowtell 9.60; Lee Complin 7.27; Arran Butcher 6.53; George Congreve 6.25; Ben Trigger 5.88; Josh Warren 3.75; William Richardson 3.00
The match versus Belle Vue is at Mildenhall Stadium on Sunday 4th.June – gates open at 2.30pm with tapes up at 4pm.