Sheffield Tigers speedway: Tai Woffinden missing again after 'succesful' surgery, ahead of Wolverhampton clash

Sheffield will operate rider replacement again for their last regular league fixture of the season against Wolverhampton.

The Tru Plant Tigers will again be without Tai Woffinden, who the club said today has now undergone successful surgery on his broken hand – and Tigers have decided against bringing in a guest rider at number one for the meeting on Thursday (7.30pm).

Woffinfen was injured in the British grand prix in Cardiff at the weekend, after falling while leading the current world champion Bartosz Zmarzlik in heat 16. He said straight after the crash in interview that he thought he had broken his hand.

The club says that using rider replacement against Wolves will give the rest of the team the opportunity to cover Woffinden’s programmed outings with the important meeting set to follow..

Monday (September 11, 7.30) sees Owlerton stage the first leg of their Premiership Knockout Cup Final against Ipswich – with their Sports Insure Premiership Play-Off Semi-Final later in the month likely to be against Thursday’s opponents. 

Team boss Simon Stead said: “It’s looking highly likely that Wolverhampton are the team we’re going to meet in the play-off semi-finals for a second year running.

“So while neither team will be able to read too much into Thursday’s meeting either way, we of course would like to finish off our league programme with a win. 

“We’ve only got big meetings left at Owlerton after Thursday though, so with that in mind we have decided to run R/R at number one. People know I never find that ideal, but with our play-off place confirmed and with the Cup Final coming up followed by the play-off semi-final, we felt giving some of our lads some bonus track time would be more beneficial than picking a random guest for this occasion.”

Children aged 17 and under will be admitted for just £1 throughout 2023 with adult admission set at £22 while it’s £20 for concessions. 

Tru Plant Tigers: Tai Woffinden R/R, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tobiasz Musielak, Claus Vissing, Jason Edwards. 

Wolverhampton: Sam Masters, Steve Worrall, Luke Becker, Rory Schlein, Ryan Douglas, Zach Cook, Leon Flint.