Speedway: New injury blow for Sheffield, as GB international set to guest
Skipper set to sit out visit to Leicester following crash
Sheffield are set to face Leicester on Thursday without their inspirational skipper Josh Pickering, with a GB star set to come in as a guest.
Skipper Pickering has confirmed he will be out of the trip to Leicester on Thursday with an announcement on his social media pages, following a crash at Owlerton last week.
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Meanwhile, Tom Brennan, a Speedway of Nations gold medalist with Great Britain, has confirmed he has been booked to ride for the Tigers in the Thursday meeting.
Pickering said: “First of all I would like to thank all the people who have reached out after my acrobatic stunt on Thursday at Sheffield. I’m aware that everyone also would have seen that I managed to race in Poland on Saturday for H69 Speedway Rzeszów.
“Unfortunately since the dust has settled I have found myself in a lot of discomfort after having two heavy hits over the last two weeks impacting the same areas of my body and it has taken its toll. Just now my best efforts would be not good enough to race for Scunthorpe Scorpions Speedway at Poole on Wednesday nor to back it up at Leicester on Thursday for Sheffield Speedway.”
“At the time of the year that we now find ourselves in, all of my clubs are fighting for play off positions and I do not want to put my teams at a disadvantage and let them down nor put anymore unnecessary stress on my body while I complete some physio to be ready for our more important up and coming meetings.”
Pickering has been one of Sheffield’s stand out performers this season, and had also been hurt in the home meeting with Ipswich, which saw him get back up from a collision and win the race on the re-run.
Brennan confirmed he would be guesting for Sheffield on his own social media pages. Brennan has been riding as Ipswich number one for much of the season, but recently dropped down their order, riding at number four against Northampton last week.
He scored eight for the Witches at the Hydroscand Arena in July.