Reading
Preview
Posted 14/05/05
Last years most frequent visitors bar Edinburgh
return to Ashfield tomorrow on Premier League duty once again minus
Matej Zagar.
Zagar's replacement will be Simon Stead,
one which undoubtedly makes the Racers stronger. Reading have not
had the best of starts to the season however, admittedly partly due
to injuries, and it will be interesting to see how their own riders
fare at Ashfield.
The welcome for new signing Masters
will be interesting given his recent dealings with the Glasgow promotion.
Expected to ride at no 2, Masters does have a good record at Ashfield
although he did not have a particularly good debut at Workington this
evening. He will probably be partnered by Andrew Appleton at no 1.
Appleton has had a bit of a form crises in the past few weeks and
may find the number 1 slot rather tough.
The Czech pairing of Wolff and Simota
in the middle order will be very interesting. Wolff is thought to
be one of the many riders the promotion tried to tempt north during
the winter and he does appear to be a steal on the average he came
in on. Simota was very much a gamble by Reading but even at this early
stage looks like a gamble that has paid off as he has impressed almost
everywhere he has been and provided much entertainment with his passing.
At reserve, Frenchman Matt Tresarrieu
has not quite performed as well as expected with his average having
dropped slightly but he is still averaging over 5. It is his first
visit to Ashfield however. Completing the racers line up is teenager
Luke Priest who is guesting for the injured Chris Johnson. Luke actually
made his debut in competitive speedway for Ashfield in 2000, riding
as a guest. He also faced Glasgow as a guest at Stoke last year, this
year he is riding for the Potters in the CL.
Reading have struggled to get any consistency
so far this season and are visiting Ashfield on the back of a heavy
defeat at Workington. Glasgow meantime see their new averages kick
in and this could cause the Tigers problems as we have been relying
on good scores from Trent in reserve, something we will not be able
to do with Jamie Birkinshaw or indeed any other rider.
One thing is for sure though, if there
are any neutrals at tomorrow's meeting - and even for those of us
who are biased - the races involving Stead, Parker and Stancl should
be mouthwatering.
