Last updated at 13:36, Tuesday, 29 March 2011

Workington Comets fans have had their first chance to see the 2011 team in action - but they still do not know who will complete their line up.

Manager Tony Jackson with riders James Wright, Richard Lawson, Tomas Topinka, Rusty Harrison, Peter Kildemand and Charles Wright

Comets’ plans were thrown into chaos last week with the news that American Kenny Ingalls will miss the start of the season after failing to fully recover from the broken leg he suffered last year.

Owner Keith Denham said at a meet the riders night that he was talking to National League rider Paul Cooper and also trying to tempt Casper Wortmann, who did a good job when he replaced Ingalls at the back end of last year, out of retirement.

In addition National League riders Kyle Howarth and Gary Irving both took spins on the Derwent Park shale at the weekend at the club’s practice day.

Apart from the close season injury to Kenny Ingalls Comets owner Keith Denham was happy with how the day went.

He said: “The day has gone well today, the team looked very good and we have not had any problems.

“Everything looks OK and we have got a good team apart from the problems we have with a number seven.

“I don’t know how we are going to get around that at the moment but we have a couple of lads here today to see if they have got any mileage in them but we will just have to see how it goes.

“The track is riding well so I can’t wait until next weekend and we need to try and get the first match under our belts.”

Hundreds of fans went to see the team in action and all the other riders - James Wright, Richard Lawson, Tomas Topinka, Peter Kildemand, Rusty Harrison and Charles Wright - were pleased with how the day went.

Many of them were testing out the new silencers that have been brought in which has caused some riders to have problems with their set ups.

Lawson said: “The day has gone really well and it has been nice to blow away a few of the cobwebs.

“I have got two different bikes this year and I have done sessions on both of them and they seem to be doing all right.

“In terms of set up it is just a case of trial and error and finding out which things work best.”

Topinka, who will captain the side this year, said: “We have just got to get used to the silencers and there is no point in complaining about them. Today has gone pretty well but it is hard to tell after only doing 10 to 12 laps.

“I am using all the warm up meetings to practice because racing against three other riders is the best practice you can get.”

Harrison said: “Things seem fine but I found the engine a bit flat as I was coming out the corners but other than that there is only a slight difference and I shouldn’t be anything the riders cannot sort out.

“The atmosphere among the lads is really good and the more laps we get in week by week we should come together nicely and build on things.”

First published at 11:30, Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk