SHEFFIELD will be without two of their regular riders for their rare Monday night (June 27, 7.30) home action against current league leaders Ipswich.

Reserve Jake Allen, who was set for his Owlerton debut after joining the Tru Plant Tigers earlier this month, suffered suspected fractured wrist bones during Thursday’s win at King’s Lynn.

Club bosses have booked in-form Birmingham racer Justin Sedgmen to guest - a rider who enjoyed a solid short spell with Sheffield at the back end of 2019.

Meanwhile, rider replacement will be in operation for former British Champion Craig Cook who was involved in two big crashes at the back end of last week.

Nevertheless, it promises to be an enthralling night of entertainment at Owlerton with Ipswich currently leading the way in the Premiership on 19 points.

However, an extra incentive for the Tigers to maintain their 100 per cent home league record is knowing that a win over the Witches would see them leapfrog their opponents into first place.

It will be no easy task though with the visitors including a whole host of riders with impressive previous performances around the Steel City venue.

They are led by 2017 World Champion Jason Doyle who scored a 15-point maximum in the qualifying heats of Todd Kurtz’s Testimonial on the opening night of racing at Sheffield back in March.

They also include Erik Riss who triumphed in the 2019 Championship Riders’ Individual at Owlerton, as well as former Tigers Danny King, Troy Batchelor and Danyon Hume - along with Broc Nicol guesting at reserve.

Club promoter Damien Bates is expecting a close night of action and feels the home supporters will have a key role to play.

“It’s never ideal going into any meeting without a full team,” he said.

“But when you’re up against the league leaders with two riders out injured, it makes a difficult task even harder.

“While not having Ben Barker at reserve is a massive blow to Ipswich I think, they’ve got a top, top side this year.

“I see they’ve put Troy at No.2 with Jason Doyle as well – that’s an interesting move, it certainly gives them a strong opening pair and Troy will want to come back and prove a point to us all here I’m sure.

“The supporters have really got behind the team so far this year at Sheffield - but on Monday we’re going to need them to turn out in good numbers and make plenty of noise for the riders to give them that extra little bit of encouragement, I think that could be important.”

A reminder that Under-16s will be admitted free of charge on Monday - with the first 100 kids getting free ‘hand clappers’.

SHEFFIELD: Jack Holder, Craig Cook R/R, Tobiasz Musielak, Kyle Howarth, Adam Ellis, Justin Sedgmen, Connor Mountain.

IPSWICH: Jason Doyle, Troy Batchelor, Danny King, Paul Starke, Erik Riss, Broc Nicol, Danyon Hume.