Following last week’s two disappointing results against Plymouth and Eastbourne, the Isle of Wight ‘Wightlink’ Warriors must really ramp up their performance if they are to avoid an early exit from this year’s Knock-Out Cup competition at the hands of the East Sussex side.
Facing a 30 point deficit suffered in the away leg last Saturday evening, Warriors come up against an Eagles side who are the undoubted cup kings at National League level having taken the trophy in the last three years. An aggregate win in this tie will see the winner’s progress to face Coventry in round two.
The visitors will arrive with former Warrior favourites Mark Baseby and Kelsey Dugard in the number one and two positions, no doubt looking to get the meeting off to a strong start for their side; however they will come up against home number one Ben Morley who took an impressive third place in Jon Armstrong’s testimonial meeting last Sunday. For this meeting, Warriors switch Chris Widman to ride in the number two position with Danno Verge slotting in at number four. Ben Hopwood, another former Eagle, captains the Warriors from number five.
Island co-promoter Barry Bishop said, “This week the team need to put the Plymouth meeting behind them and do what they do best and that’s winning as a team. Eastbourne will come here to win, but I know our boys are more than capable of winning around the Andrew Younie”.
The expected teams are:
Warriors: Ben Morley, Chris Widman, Scott Campos, Danno Verge, Ben Hopwood, Jamie Sealey and Adam Portwood.
Eagles: Mark Baseby, Kelsey Dugard, Tom Brennan, Charley Powell, Georgie Wood, Charlie Brooks and Jason Edwards.
As usual, the turnstiles will open at 5.30 p.m. and the pits will be open for viewing from 5.45 p.m. to 6.15 p.m. The Warrior mascots will then take to the track for some demonstration laps followed by the grand parade of riders at 6.45 p.m. with tapes up on the first race at 7.00 p.m. sharp. The ever-popular kid’s on-track cycle/running race will also feature during the speedway interval.