Same again please as Comets land

Your Jewson Bandits stick with a winning formula as they end their 2024 Cab Direct Championship campaign against the Workington Comets this weekend.

With guest options at a premium – Glasgow seem to be hogging the market on Saturday with four for their trip to Plymouth, the Gladiators adding a fifth to the mix – they continue the rider-replacement option for Rory Schlein which earned them a draw and Super Heat triumph against high-flying Oxford Cheetahs last weekend.

Eight points from the injured skipper’s four rides was a reasonable return for the facility which will operate at number five again at home on Saturday but switch to the number three berth when the teams meet again in Cumbria on Sunday.

Alternatives explored were scuppered by the pull of Poland and Germany, not to mention the eight day rule which prevents a rider guesting twice at the same track.

As a result Lasse Fredriksen fills the number seven berth on Sunday while his Edinburgh team-mate, 2023 Bandits’ rider of the year Connor Coles makes a welcome return to Shielfield Park.

Last week saw the Bandits, inspired by in-form Drew Kemp’s Championship-high 15 point haul, take advantage of Oxford’s middle order and tail in particular, two of our three 5-1s on the night coming against the Ashton Boughen/Jordan Jenkins partnership.

The other came in heat eight which Danyon Hume is gradually making his own on home shale.

Workington have been busy on the phones themselves and have persuaded Scunthorpe’s Simon Lambert – a winter target for the Bandits – to guest in both meetings in place of injured Australian sensation Tate Zischke and Erik Riss stepping in for Craig Cook who is unavailable for family reasons

No question Zishke’s loss has hit them hard as four in a run of five successive defeat – broken by the win at home to Redcar last week – came following his season-ending crash on his Belle Vue debut.

Finn Antti Vuolas – one of the stars of the Speedway of Nations and the man chosen as Zischke’s replacement by Mark Lemon despite having no obvious Australian ancestry – has partly stepped into the breach.

But there’s no question that had the two been firing together then Workington would be comfortably on-course for a play-off spot rather than scrapping for the points – all five is their target from the weekend – and hoping that Redcar and Glasgow slip up in their remaining fixtures.

Cook and Troy Batchelor have surprised many this season by constantly leading the line, indeed it seems as if the veterans have been inspired by Workington’s young guns.

But Workington have struggled at reserve where their gamble of pairing league rookies Celina Liebmann and former Bandits’ Academy star Sam McGurk together only worked sporadically.

As a result Workington pulled the plug on Germany’s World Women’s Champion last week, replacing her with Paul Starke. His impact was immediate, a match-winning seven point return against the Bears on Saturday.

For the Bandits it is the chance for two final pay days and an opportunity to end a disappointing season on a high by making it four wins in a row. They of course began the season with a Border Trophy double over the Easter weekend.

Injured stars Rory Schlein and Bastian Borke are expected to be on hand to gee their team-mates up for what has always traditionally been considered an east-west derby grudge match.

The BSN cameras will also be in attendance having already broadcast two last heat deciders from Shielfield Park this season.

“It’s likely to be tight, home and away,” team manager Stewart Dickson admitted.

“We tried hard to find a guest to cover Rory, firstly for both meetings and then for Workington but we were thwarted.

“So it’s now up to the boys to come up with the goods again. They dug deep and battled away against Oxford; Workington are not a dissimilar side in many ways.

“Last week’s Super Heat sent our fans home on a high and with some good memories of the sort of performance I’ve wanted from the Bandits, especially at home, all season.

“Now I want them to do it again.”

Tickets are on sale at the early-bird price of £18 until midnight on Friday. Matchday e-tickets and cash admission is £20 (£18 concessions and students), accompanied under-16s admitted free. Buy tickets

Bandits: Lewi Kerr, Danyon Hume, Jye Etheridge, Drew Kemp, R/R, Freddy Hodder, Connor Coles. Sunday: Kerr, Hume, R/R, Kemp, Etheridge, Hodder, Lasse Fredriksen

Comets: Erik Riss, Simon Lambert, Antti Vuolas, Claus Vissing, Troy Batchelor, Sam McGurk, Paul Starke. Lambert and Vissing swap Sunday