Gladiators v Cheetahs – Jubilee League Preview

The Plymouth Westcolour Gladiators return to action at The Coliseum tonight in their final home match of the inaugural Championship Jubilee League (Southern Division)

Having beaten the Brummies at home in the first group match, the injury hit Westcolour Gladiators were beaten at Birmingham in the return fixture, before further injury problems in a season ravaged by bad luck on the injury front, saw them succumb to the Poole Pirates at The Coliseum, in the Jubilee League last Tuesday. 

As if things couldn’t get any worse, young Harry McGurk emerged battered and bruised from an excellent 3rd place in the British Under 19 Final at Redcar last Friday and will miss tonight’s match joining Edward Kennett, Dan Gilkes; Michael Palm Toft and Hans Andersen on the injured list and meaning that only Ben Barker, who has himself is riding with injuries that are still not 100% healed and Alfie Bowtell remain from the originally declared 1-7 Team for tonight’s match.

The injury crisis though affects other Clubs, as an example recent guest Erik Riss suffered leg injuries in a crash in Poland at the weekend, and with an ever diminishing list of potential Heat Leader replacements often riding 6-7 nights a week, the available replacement pool is also severely depleted.

The Westcolour Gladiators will understandably now be focussing on getting riders fit and match fit for the return of The Championship League programme and Play Offs and with 3 Home Fixtures in the League and 2 Away still to race in August, they will be hopeful to see the return of Michael Palm Toft and Dan Gilkes in the coming weeks and await further news updates from Hans Andersen and Edward Kennett. Harry McGurk should also be back within a week to bolster the reserve berths. No doubt Team Manager Garry May will be burning the midnight oil in the coming days seeking temporary Guests and possibly medium term replacements for the remainder of the season if required.

The Westcolour Gladiators bring in Adam Roynon, recently signed to the Clubs SWTR Centurions NDL Team as a guest for Hans Andersen and another former Plymouth rider James Wright as guest for Michael Palm Toft with a number of other probable options either tied up with Swedish or Danish midweek commitments or needing a break after their incredibly challenging schedules for both man and machines. In the reserve berths Devonian Connor Coles; son and grandson of Exeter Falcons legends Michael and Bob Coles respectively, will be a most welcome Guest replacement for Harry McGurk. 

Team : Ben Barker; Alfi Bowtell, Adam Roynon (Guest for Hans Andersen), R/R (for Edward Kennett); James Wright (Guest for Michael Palm-Toft), Ben Morley, Connor Coles (Guest for Harry McGurk)

The Oxford line-up  is Scott Nicholls (Captain), Paul Starke, Jack Thomas, Aaron Summers, Troy Batchelor, Cameron Heeps, Nathan Stoneman.

Tickets are available ONLINE now via our Online Ticketing Portal here.

A reminder to that ALL Under 16’s GO FREE and are eligible for the very popular Interval Running Race around the Track with a small prize for each runner .

Tickets are also available via Cash + Card on the night, but the best way to secure a Seat in the NHS STAND (Home Straight) is to book early ONLINE. The First Bend VIP Stand is already SOLD OUT.

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PLEASE NOTE – Access by Card payment at the Stadium is by accessing the Clubs Online Ticket portal on a suitable mobile / android device. There are no specific Card readers. If you do not have a suitable device to allow your secure Card payment to be collected on the Gate, or before you enter from the comfort of your Car in the Park + Ride Car Park (using the link; there is a secure CASHPOINT at McDonalds Restaurant which you pass when turning in to Coypool Road

A POLITE REQUEST has been made by The Club Management and Turnstile / Entry Staff. It would be appreciated if you could please have EXACT CHANGE for Admission and Programme available if at all possible to avoid delays, especially at peak time between 6.15 and 7.00pm. It would also be very much appreciated, that if you are Entering by Car with multiple occupants, if one person in the vehicle; could collect the Money for Admission and any Programmes and the Car Park Fee to hand over to Gate Staff, as to process one overall transfer of Money will be a lot speedier than 2,3,4 or even 5 separate transactions. Your cooperation in this matter to help speed access for all and to avoid queues and to improve the Customer experience for all. THANK YOU

As always you can be the vital 8th man and the lads would very much welcome your vociferous and enthusiastic support once again, so please bring along a friend and help us to show everyone what a wonderful night of entertainment we get every Tuesday at 7 pm at The Coliseum.  The past few weeks have been tremendously difficult for us all with injuries, some controversial decisions going against us and some utterly mindless vandalism that will cost many thousands of pounds to replace let alone the stress it causes Mark and all of the wonderful support Team.

PLEASE rally around the Club and The Team, bring a friend and spread the word and remember UNDER 16’s GO FREE (see the details above). Your support is always worth extra points and together we can beat all the odds and celebrate success together at the end of the season. These are tough times and in tough times the tough get going and there’s no one tougher than your Promoter, Team Manager and Team…. lets all join in and beat the odds together. #GladiatorsREADY

Gates Open 5.30pm

Pre-Match Rider Parade 6.50pm

Tapes Up 7.00pm

There are numerous Food and Drink (Alcoholic and Non Alcoholic) outlets around the Stadium serving locally produced products.

Numerous Toilets / Disabled Toilets and Washing Facilities 

Our new for 2022 Track Shop is doing a roaring trade with NEW lines every week and well worth a visit.

Car Parking onsite £2.00

36 page Colour Programme £3.00

We will have a full match review online on Wednesday 27th June together with a preview of the return Fixture at Oxford on Wednesday Evening

Fixture Update

The rearranged Championship League Fixture against the Glasgow Tigers has been arranged for Tuesday 23rd August following an instruction by the BSPL to give priority to Championship League Matches, so that they can be completed before the cut off date to facilitate prompt commencement of the Playoffs. We will be re-arranging the scheduled NDL clash with Armadale originally scheduled for that date in due course and will notify all Supporters of the amended NDL date as soon as possible.

Arson Crowd Funder Appeal

Our massive thanks to some loyal Supporters led by Caroline, who approached Mark to see if they could set up a Crowd Funder Appeal to assist the Club to replace recently vandalised and damaged equipment and also to help towards the Cost of extensive Site CCTV and Security.

Every penny will be spent on replacing damaged Vehicles and Site Security and if you’d like to find out more, make a donation or Contact us with any specialist skills of Contacts that you may have in the CCTV or Security fields please click here to find out more.

Image credit: Jon Sproad