PIRATES BEGIN NORTHERN ADVENTURE WITHOUT SKIPPER

The Poole 'Wessex Marine' Pirates head off to the North again in search of SGB Cab Direct Championship points over the course of Friday and Saturday, a task which Poole promoter Dan Ford acknowledges will be tough.

"Glasgow are  a strong outfit for sure and always difficult to beat on their home patch so we will have to be at our very best to get the full complement of points from there. Unfortunately, and frustratingly, we go into that meeting without skipper Zach Cook who has been called up for a meeting in Poland. We have booked Jason Edwards as a guest for the night. Zach will be back for Workington,  but they present their own set of problems as they have had a mixed bag of results so far this season. The mission will be to come back with something from the tour and with a view to establishing a good grounding for the aggregate bonuses from the respective return fixtures."

The Pirates' first port of call will be to the very tough looking Glasgow Tigers (7.30pm)  who currently are unbeaten in the Championship, although their fortress has been breached by national rivals Edinburgh in the early season Scottish Cup.

The Tigers have been hit by the loss of Dan Thompson who had been in great form prior to his crash, at Ashfield, during the British U21 final, but in Chris Harris, Kyle Howarth and Leon Flint they have a trio of big-hitters.

On Saturday (3pm) at Workington there will be a ex-Pirate looking to shine against his former side, as Vinnie Foord, who was most impressive around Northside for the Pirates last season, makes the journey from the south-east to north-west for his home fixtures this year, where he links up with five Australians - Troy Batchelor, Tate Zischke, Fraser Bowes, Jye Etheridge and Jacob Hook. The Comets will be without Antti Vuolas as he is on duty in a FIM GP Qualifier at Zarnovica, Slovakia.

Supporters unable to make the trips will be able to follow all the action as both meetings are being broadcast. BSN are covering the Glasgow fixture https://watch.britishspeedway.co.uk/watch/7abe5e59-d08f-454f-a85c-64c1167bb909 whilst the recently launched CometsTV https://www.workingtoncomets.tv/fixtures/upcoming will feature Saturday afternoon's encounter.  

Teams

Glasgow (TM Cami Brown) Chris Harris, Ben Barker (guest), Rider Replacement for Dan Thompson, Leon Flint, Kyle Howarth, Freddie Hodder, Max Perry, Ace Pijper
Poole (TM Gary Havelock) Richard Lawson, Tobias Thomsen, Jason Edwards (guest), Lewis Kerr, Anders Rowe, Paul Starke, Darryl Ritchings

Workington (TM James Denham) Troy Batchelor, R/R for Antti Vuolas, Jye Etheridge, Fraser Bowes, Tate Zishcke, Jacob Hook, Vinnie Foord
Poole (TM Gary Havelock) Richard Lawson, Tobias Thomsen, Lewis Kerr, Zach Cook, Anders Rowe, Paul Starke, Darryl Ritchings