HARRIS TOLD TO STOP "RIDING LIKE A CLOWN"

GLASGOW’S Chris Harris made it 13 races unbeaten at Ashfield after his wife told him to “stop riding like a clown”.

The three-times British Champion has been in swashbuckling form after, by his standards, a patchy start to the season. 

Harris, 43, delivered a second successive paid 15 maximum to help the Allied Vehicles Tigers salvage a 45-45 draw with Edinburgh last Friday. 

He admitted: “We definitely got out of jail. To come away with a draw, we’ll take that having been six down with two races to go. 

“We knew it was going to be tough against Edinburgh. We made hard work of it. 

“You’ve got to have your No.1 hitting double figures. In our last two meetings with Edinburgh, Kyle Howarth has been missing. 

“It’s so hard to replace him. The guests we had we thought they would be good but they’ve struggled for some reason. Guests are always a gamble. 

“People might say we should have gone rider replacement but you don’t know if that would pay off either. It’s just sport, one of those things. 

“I don’t know why the scoring has improved, I’ve not really changed anything. 

“I think maybe my approach and attitude, I’ve altered that a bit after a good talking to from my wife. She told me to pull my finger out of my backside. She told me to stop riding like a clown!

“Emma wanted me to be like the old Bomber, so that’s all that I’ve done really. 

“We have three big meetings ahead at Edinburgh and then Redcar and Poole at home this month. We are going to have to make sure we are on song for all three. The home meetings are must-wins. 

“Redcar and Poole have got good riders who can come to Ashfield and score big. All seven of us will have to perform to get the results we need to stay in the top four. 

“At Edinburgh on Friday I need to find my gating gloves, that will be tough as it always is.”

It was a last-gasp point secured against the Monarchs having been six down with two races to go and struggling without Kyle Howarth, who announced just three days earlier he was taking a break from the sport. 

The Tigers suffered once again with a shockingly poor guest appearance from Jonas Jeppesen.

Now team boss Cami Brown admits the race is on to replace Howarth. 

He said: “It’s been an incredibly tough task to bring someone in of Kyle’s calibre. We have to do that before completing 75 per cent of our fixtures, which is this week. 

“Most riders now are fully committed to clubs in either the UK, Poland, Sweden or Denmark. There are simply no No.1 or No.5 riders available. 

“We have to sort it as soon as possible. We’ve had a disastrous run with guests this season, unfortunately Jeppesen was woeful on Friday night and that cost us big time. 

“Kyle is a very honest rider and he’s been totally up front to admit he’s not enjoying speedway right now and that he wants to take a break from the sport. 

“He’s had a bad run of knocks and illness this season and plus the fact he’s due to be a dad again any day. He has a lot going on which is difficult if you’re not 100 per cent fit to compete. 

“Kyle has been a brilliant servant for us and always gave us 100 per cent so we acknowledge his honesty if he can’t give us his best. We accept his reasons and he leaves with our best wishes.”

IMAGE by Taylor Lanning