Speedway: Glasgow Tigers & Newport Wasps ready for KO Cup Final battle

Sep 30 2011 By Fraser Wilson

Theo Pijper

Theo Pijper, left, will take his place in the Glasgow line-up despite suffering a broken finger

GLASGOW TIGERS begin what should be a momentous fortnight this weekend when they take on Newport Wasps home and away in the KO Cup Final.

It's the Tigers first appearance in the national final for 17 years and comes as they sit on the precipice of a first Premier League title in the same length of time.

While Glasgow have romped ahead at the summit since the season's start, Newport find themselves languishing near the bottom - but that statistic is highly misleading, according to Tigers co-promoter Alan Dick.

Summing up the desire in the Glasgow ranks is Dutch star Theo Pijper who has shrugged off a badly broken finger to declare himself fit for the double header, which starts with Saturday's trip to Wales.
 
And appear that both sides will be at full strength for the most important meeting both clubs have staged this century.
 
The first leg takes place on Saturday night with a 7pm start in South Wales with the return fixture at Ashfield at 4.00pm on Sunday.  

And Dick reckons the close-knit tie could go the full distance.
 
He said: "These are the kind of meetings that we are in the sport for.  

"They don't come along all that often so you really do need to make the most of them when they pop up.  
 
"I can see where people are coming from when making them the favourites but I really see this being a very close affair and perhaps it will come down to heat 15 at Ashfield to decide the destiny of the competition.  

"Theo opting to race with his broken finger is an example of our team spirit when it would have been easy for him to sit it out, so lets his hope that we can keep things tight in Wales and gain the trophy on Sunday.
 
"It promises to be a fantastic month for us in October and this would be a great way to get it started, when we last won the league in 1993 and 1994 we also won the KO Cup both times, could we become the first side to make it a treble double?"
 
TEAMS:
Glasgow: 1.  Joe Screen  2.  Michal Rajkowski  3.  Nick Morris   4.  Richard Sweetman  5.  James Grieves  6.  David Bellego  7.  Theo Pijper

Newport: 1. Charlie Gjedde  2.  Anders Mellgren   3.  Robin Aspegren  4  Jason Doyle  5.  Leigh Lanham  6.  Mark Jones  7.  Todd Kurtz.