MILDENHALL Fen Tigers look to take another step towards a Grand Slam this weekend when they travel to Stoke on Saturday for the second leg of their KO Cup semi-final, before facing Buxton in the National Trophy at West Row on Sunday.

MILDENHALL Fen Tigers look to take another step towards a Grand Slam this weekend when they travel to Stoke on Saturday for the second leg of their KO Cup semi-final, before facing Buxton in the National Trophy at West Row on Sunday.

Confident, but not complacent, is the word in the Fen Tigers’ camp as they prepare for two crucial matches. They’ll almost be at full strength at Loomer Road, choosing to operate rider replacement for still absent Number 1 Cameron Heeps. New boy Gareth Isherwood makes his Mildenhall debut against his old team.

Mildenhall co-promoter Michael Lee said, “We decided to go with rider replacement for Cam as the rest of the boys have regularly shown they know the quickest way around Stoke, as we saw again last weekend, where we are certain we would have won again if we hadn’t lost Aaron (Baseby) midway through the meeting. The chance of earning extra money is also a good incentive for the boys and they deserve the chance of getting a bit more. Gareth will be making his first appearance at his old home track which couldn’t be a better place to make his comeback.”

Lee continued, “The important thing to remember though is we cannot and must not think the job is already done. Sixteen points is not a bad lead to have but Stoke will be fired up and if they get off to a good start we could find ourselves in for a tough night. I have the utmost respect for them. We want the cup to stay at West Row and to do that we have to be at our best on Saturday. Then if we make it through, it’ll be the same again if we want to beat Dudley.”

Buxton visit Suffolk on Sunday in the National Trophy, still licking their wounds after a five man Fen Tigers won 52-36 when they visited Derbyshire last Sunday.

“It was a magnificent performance,” said Tigers’ team manager Robert Henry. “Okay, so they had some riders missing too, but to go to an away track with a five man team and not only win but score more than 50 points was amazing. It was probably one of the best results we’ve had since I took over as team manger. I hope it proved we want to win the Trophy as well, which is why picking up all three points on Sunday is so important to us.”

Mildenhall Fen Tigers v Stoke (KO Cup Semi-final) & v Buxton (National Trophy)

1 Cameron Heeps R/R 9.18

2 Joe Jacobs 7.76

3 Stefan Nielsen 8.38

4 Daniel Halsey 6.28

5 Lewis Blackbird (c) 7.01

6 Ryan Terry-Daley 3.00

7 Gareth Isherwood 5.03