Western Morning News
PLYMOUTH Gladiators promoter Mark Phillips says the club have until today to find a replacement for injured number one Nico Covatti and with the start of a new speedway season just three days away.
The 35-year-old crashed while racing in his native Argentina back in February, suffering a broken arm and leg that required an operation. Covatti is now out of plaster and on the road to recovery, but not expected to ride for the club until May.
By then, the Gladiators are due to have raced six of their summer fixtures, so Phillips and team manager Garry May have been scouring the globe to find a sufficient rider to come in at the top of the order until Covatti is back on his bike.
That search has proved fruitless so far and at the club’s Press and practice day last weekend, Phillips said that they have until today to find a new number one.
“Building the team has been a nightmare due to the logistical nature of Plymouth,” Phillips said. “Riders would prefer to ride closer to home and it has always been a quest to find a team.
“Nico (pictured) is expected to be back in May, he is not in any plaster or anything, so everything is looking good that way, but our problem is that we have until Wednesday to find another rider, a seventh rider, to enter into the league and the options are limited.
“We have had loads of rejections, we have had rejections from as far as Norway, Poland, Ukraine – we have tried loads and loads of riders, but it is a difficult spot and difficult to bring someone in.”
Phillips has overseen major changes to the track at the Coliseum, despite one of the wettest winters on record. The Gladiators promoter and a hardy band of volunteers have been at the track virtually every weekend since Christmas extending bends three and four, which is designed to provide more passing opportunities for riders and should make for a better spectacle.
The proof will be in the pudding, though, and a pudding is what the track is like right now with the constant rain doing little to get the track in a fit and proper state in time for Saturday’s planned practice session. “It has certainly been a busy winter,” Phillips said. “The weather hasn’t helped, but it is all sent to try us.
“The track has always been on the small side and we have increased the width going into the corners, just to make a bit more room for the riders and to try and get out of the puddle at the other end.
“We are down on sea level and on an old river bed and just to get above the tide was one of our greatest requests.
“The whole site is only about a metre deep from the water and when we get a high tide, it can be on the surface, but the track is looking nice. It’s a nice shape, but the only trouble is that we need the weather to bake the track off a bit because it is soft at the moment. But it is what it is, we can’t alter the weather.”
The season starts for the Gladiators on Saturday with the visit of Poole Pirates in a BSN Series clash with the tapes up at 7pm. Gates are open at 5.45pm.
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