Speedway By John Walsh

Last updated 10:30, Saturday, 19 July 2008

Workington Comets team manager Ian Thomas has warned his riders not to take anything for granted tonight at Derwent Park.

Ian Thomas

Mildenhall Fen Tigers start their short northern tour against the Comets and then travel on for Sunday’s clash with the Glasgow Tigers.

They arrive in west Cumbria with the worst record of any club in the country having lost all their Premier League matches. Their only win this season was at home to King’s Lynn in the Premier Trophy when they squeezed it 46-44 back on April 26.

“I’ve told the lads previous results mean nothing. It’s on the night that counts.

“As far as I’m concerned we are riding against Somerset the League leaders and that’s the attitude I want from them. We are not in the business to feel sorry for other teams on race night,” said Thomas.

The Fen Tigers’ miserable season just got worse this week with the news from Holland that recent capture Theo Pijper is sidelined following engine problems.

The former Edinburgh rider, who started the 2008 season in the Elite League at Swindon, reluctantly has had to pull out of the weekend fixtures on the club’s northern tour.

He suffered two major engine blow – ups in the big international meeting in France at the weekend and his motors are now with his engine tuner being repaired. This is a major blow to the Fen Tigers as Pijper was starting to put together some form after coming back from a broken collarbone.

It has left promoter Simon Barton and team boss Laurence Rogers searching for another new rider with replacements for the departed Kaj Laukkanen and retired Robbie Kessler already being sought.

Rogers has been scouring the world for replacements and thought he had two captures sorted out but both riders were unable to commit sufficient equipment to race in the UK and he has had to turn his attentions elsewhere.

He explained: “I had hoped to have had at least one if not two new faces in place for the matches at Workington and Glasgow but had to change direction when these failed to happen.

“I am hoping that a replacement for Robbie may now be in place by our next home meeting on Sunday July 27, also against Workington, whilst replacing Kaj is proving a difficult one to crack despite trying from all angles but I am still working on it.

“The loss of Theo this week though left us with a dilemma of tracking a Conference League guest for him at Workington and Glasgow or altering our team declaration and bringing in another rider.

“Simon and I decided on the latter option and we have signed former Newport rider Marek Mroz and he is driving from Poland to be with us this weekend.

“We must thank him for his persistence in contacting us and we hope that he will settle in quickly and having a fellow countryman in Michal Rajkowski in our side will hopefully help him.”