Motorbiking: New Monarchs are out to retain their speedway crowns over next season

Jan 8 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE Scotwaste Monarchs have completed their new look speedway line up for 2009 with a hat-trick of signings this week.

The Armadale-based Monarchs enjoyed their best ever season last year in which they were treble champions, winning the Premier League for the second time, the Premier Trophy for the first time and also taking the inaugural Premier Playoffs.

But the competition rules meant the team would be forced to break up this season under the new 42.5 points limit.

And the Monarchs this week confirmed that team captain Derek Sneddon and number one William Lawson have both been released and both riders will be greatly missed on and off track.

It would be fair to say that the club’s directors have never had a harder decision to make, because Derek’s contribution as rider and captain last year was immense.

It was never so much a choice between riders as a choice between combinations of riders, and much time was spent trying to open up different possibilities and the directors believe the team of 2009 will again be well placed to challenge for honours.

And the club have insisted that every effort will be made to assist Derek to find a berth for next season.

But looking ahead to the new speedway season and the squad has been boosted with the news that Aaron Summers has singed on again while former Monarch Sean Stoddard has returned after two years away and Michal Rajkowski has also agreed a deal in Armadale.

Twenty-four-year-old Polish rider Rajkowski will start the season in a reserve berth as the Monarchs look to defend their Premier League title.

Rajkowski has been in UK speedway for the past two seasons, riding for Newport in 2007, then Belle Vue and Mildenhall in 2008.

He was particularly successful with Newport and scored 11 points in their colours on his only previous appearance at Armadale.

His efforts for the Wasps encouraged Belle Vue to take him into the Elite League last season, though he didn’t hold his place and actually made his debut for Mildenhall against Monarchs last May.

Edinburgh-born Sean Stoddart returns to the Monarchs’ ranks after two years with Newcastle.

Sean is just a couple of weeks away from his 22nd birthday and has been racing since 2003. He rode for the Dale Devils in the Conference League in 2003-5 and was a Monarchs’ regular in 2004 and 2006, before spending the next two seasons at Newcastle.

Sean comes from a speedway family who grew up watching Monarchs and he is thrilled to be back.

He said: “I’m ecstatic to be coming back to Armadale. It was a little bit unexpected, when I first got the call from John Campbell.

“My dad was watching Monarchs as far back as Meadowbank, and going to Powderhall was something we did on a Friday night.”

Having performed well with Newcastle in 2007, Sean realises things did not go so well last season.

“My first year at Newcastle was fantastic, I really felt I showed I could ride competitively in the Premier League,” he continued.

“Last year started with a lot of potential but fell flat on its face really.

“I had a lot of bad luck with machinery, and a few nasty crashes as well. It was a bit of a stop-start year, every time I started to get going something else would happen to take the wind out of my sails.

“One of the frustrating things was that you never really knew what the track was going to be like. At Armadale you always know it is going to be great.

“There were a lot of factors last season, the team losing a lot of home matches had a knock-on effect on team spirit and by the end we were glad to see the back of it.

“There are two new bikes waiting for me, I just have to clear some space in the garage for them. I’ve been selling a lot of my older stuff which was past its sell-by date in terms of competitiveness in the Premier League.

“I’ll be starting at reserve with Monarchs whereas I was up in the team for probably three-quarters of last season, that came perhaps slightly too soon.

“At Armadale I know the track well, you know what you are turning up to every week and I am really looking forward to it. Last year I lost a point to a point and a half on my average so I am expecting to put at least that back on and hopefully more.”

And the line-up has been completed with the news that 20-year-old Australian rider Aaron Summers will return for his second full season with the Monarchs.

Aaron is currently competing in the Australian Championship final. He actually made his Monarchs’ debut in 2007 during a short visit, and in his first full season last summer he recorded an average of over five.

He quickly adapted to Armadale and also did well on many away tracks, including a paid maximum in a Premier Trophy match at Glasgow. He was the hero of the Premier Playoff Final victory over King’s Lynn in October.

At the weekend he finished runner-up in the qualifying meeting for the Australian Final, though he didn’t score in the first round of the Final proper on Saturday night.

Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs 2009: Ryan Fisher (7.40), Andrew Tully (6.80), Matthew Wethers (7.30), Tomas H Jonasson (7.32), Aaron Summers (5.00), Sean Stoddart (3.59), Michal Rajkowski (4.37).

MONARCHS RETURN: Sean Stoddart, pictured during his earlier stint with the Monarchs.