Motorsport: Busy Monarchs face second double-header

Sep 17 2009 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE West Lothian-based Scotwaste Monarchs face an incredibly busy week as they try to ensure a successful end to the season.

The Armadale action starts at 7pm as it did last week and is the second-successive double-header at the track, with Monarchs taking on the Berwick Bandits and the Redcar Bears on a single night.

Admission to see 30 heats of action will be £22 for Adults, £17 for OAPs and £7 for children.

This double-header follows away matches at Birmingham (Wednesday) and Sheffield (Thursday), and remarkably following the Armadale action the team set off south for Rye House where they defend a 36-point advantage in the second leg of the Knockout Cup semi-final.

It’s an unprecedented programme but Monarchs have plenty to race for.

They are battling for a top-four finish in the league which would put them in the playoffs (which they won last year) with a chance of a promotion tie for the winners, probably against Poole.

To make the top four Monarchs probably need at least a point from the two away matches, plus all six from the home double-header.

Their rivals for that place are Sheffield, Redcar and Workington, with the top three in the league pretty well decided as King’s Lynn, Birmingham and Newcastle.

Monarchs hope that they will be welcoming back their injured rider Andrew Tully, who suffered a cracked pelvis a few weeks ago but is now almost ready to return. He will have an examination in midweek.

Last Friday, the Monarchs successfully negotiated the first double-header to be staged at Armadale, beating Rye House by an unexpectedly large margin on 63-27 in the KO Cup semi-first leg, than taking care of Stoke by 60-31 in a league fixture.

These results were impressive considering the late call-off by their two German riders. Guest rider William Lawson stood in and did very well.

They were less successful at Stoke on Sunday, losing 49-40 and failing to pick up any match points.

Teams for Friday: Scotwaste Monarchs: Ryan Fisher, Michal Rajkowski, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (captain), Kevin Wolbert, Aaron Summers, Byron Bekker.

Berwick Bandits: Michal Makovsky, rider replacement for Tero Aarnio, Paul Clews, Josef Franc, Stan Burza, Tamas Sike, Gino Franchetti.

Redcar Bears: Ty Proctor, rider replacement for Gary Havelock, Carl Stonehewer, Robbie Kessler, Ben Wilson, Arlo Bugeja, Stuart Swales.