Speedway: Max Fricke is KO Cup final guest for Sheffield Tigers against Ipswich in place of Tai Woffinden

Australian grand prix star Max Fricke is set to stand in for injured Tai Woffinden in the Sheffield line up for the KO Cup final on Monday.

The former Speedway of Nations gold medallist joins the Tigers line up for the first leg of the two legged final at Owlerton, the Tigers have announced.

They have put out a statement on their social media accounts saying: "Max Fricke guests at number one at Owlerton on Monday for our Knockout Cup Final first leg against Ipswich as Tai Woffinden starts his recovery from hand surgery."

Meanwhile, Tigers have also confirmed that they will bring in Kyle Newman at reserve, also as a guest rider, to cover for Claus Vissing, who is injured after a crash in Denmark last week. Vissing also missed Tigers' win over Wolverhampton on Thursday, when Jye Etheridge stood in for him.

There had been concern among Tigers fans after reports from Edinburgh speedway described Sheffield skipper Kyle Howarth having withdrawn from their meeting with Birmingham on Friday after his first heat, having taken a a fall. But the captain is included in the team for Monday announced by the club.

Ipswich have also been forced to make a change to their line up due to injury.

Their former rider Joe Thompson comes back into the Witches' side as a guest for his injured brother Dan in the Rising Star position whilst Erik Riss moves to number two with Danyon Hume at number four.

Tigers are bidding to win the Speedway Premiership's top flight knock out competition for the second year in a how, having beaten Kings Lynn in the final of the Premiership Cup in 2022.

Tigers are on an eight match winning streak at home and team boss Simon Stead hopes his riders can use that to put them in a strong position.

He said: “It may be an old cliché, but we want to take as big a lead possible as we can there and build on our improvements at home of late.

“We’ve had some really, really strong performances at home over the past month or so and we’ve got a bit more balance around our team now so hopefully we can carry that on now that it matters most.

“We’re the holders of the top-flight’s cup competition and we desperately want to retain it.

“The clashes we’ve already had against one another this season have been tasty so far - I think it’s going to be a really special cup final against Ipswich.”

Sheffield have beaten King’s Lynn and Wolverhampton to get to this year's final. Ipswich have beaten both Leicester and Peterborough to get to this stage of the competition.

Tigers finished one place ahead of Ipswich in the league table, in third place, three points ahead of the Witches. Both teams qualified for the league play-offs.

Sheffield's play off dates, for their meetings with Wolverhampton, are on Monday September 25 (at Wolverhampton) for the first leg, and then on Thursday September 28 (at Owlerton).for the second leg.

Sheffield: Max Fricke, Kyle Howarth, Chris Holder, Josh Pickering, Tobiasz Musielak, Kyle Newman, Jason Edwards.

Ipswich: Emil Sayfutdinov, Erik Riss, Danny King, Danyon Hume, Jason Doyle, Keynan Rew, Joe Thompson.