LEAGUE CUP SHOWDOWN

NEWS Wednesday 22nd April 2015, 3:37pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs face the Glasgow Tigers in the League Cup at Armadale on Friday, with both clubs looking to clinch qualification for the League Cup semi-finals.

Should Monarchs take three points for a win and prevent Glasgow scoring a point (ie by beating them by more than 6), Monarchs will then top the section, needing to avoid a heavy defeat at Workington on Saturday in order to stay there. On the other hand if Glasgow gain a point on Friday they will be sure to qualify as either section winners or best runners-up. Workington still also have a chance of qualifying if they score big wins in their remaining three matches.

TEAMS FOR THE LEAGUE CUP MATCH AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 24th April (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

EDINBURGH BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Craig Cook (capt.), Justin Sedgmen, Kevin Wolbert, Erik Riss, Sam Masters, Max Clegg, Rob Branford.

GLASGOW TIGERS: Richard Lawson, Dimitri Berge, Aaron Summers (capt.), Kozza Smith, Nick Morris, Victor Palovaara, Danny Phillips.

COOK IN UK PAIR: It has been announced that Great Britain will compete for the first time in the Speedway Best Pairs, the Eurosport-screened competition, when the tournament moves to Esbjerg in Denmark on 9th May. The UK pair will be former World Champion Tai Woffinden plus Monarchs’ Craig Cook. Craig said “The European Pairs has to be good experience for me. It’s something that I need to do so we’re going to give it a go and see what happens.” He is planning to order a new engine to improve his stock of equipment.

MECHANICAL WOES: The Monarchs will be hoping for better luck mechanically in this weekend’s matches.

Top two Craig Cook and Sam Masters suffered problems during last Friday’s home match against Berwick – Masters had to borrow a bike from Sedgmen for his final ride while Cook declared his best Armadale engine “destroyed” after blowing up at the start of heat 13.

Justin Sedgmen may have scored a paid maximum last Friday but he had problems too, saying “When I stripped down the engine after Friday I found there were shavings in it. So I couldn’t use that on Sunday. I used another engine and it was useless.

“So now I’ve taken one engine back to Peter Johns to see what he can do with it, and the other back to Phil Crump. I should be OK for Friday.”

WORKINGTON ON SATURDAY: Monarchs travel to Workington on Saturday (7pm start) in their final match in the League Cup group. After Friday they will have a good idea what result if any is needed to top the group.

SPONSORING ON FRIDAY: Keyline Broxburn will be sponsors of Friday’s meeting against Glasgow. They will entertain their guests in the George Hunter Memorial Lounge.

STRONG TIGERS: Glasgow Tigers come to Armadale as section leaders and with a team well equipped to do well anywhere.

Their heat leader trio of Richard Lawson, Aaron Summers and Nick Morris are all in excellent form and are a match for virtually any trio in the country.

Kozza Smith with an average over 7 is a strong second string and Dimitri Berge has shown signs of regaining his potential shown before he was injured last year. He hasn’t had a good meeting at Armadale yet.

The Swede Palovaara is making his third appearance of the season and has won heat 2 on his previous visits. The only downside for the Tigers is the absence of James Sarjeant racing for his Elite team Coventry, with Cradley’s Danny Phillips standing in.

LAST MEETING: The Border Roofing Monarchs beat Berwick 58-32 at Armadale last Friday. Justin Sedgmen (14) and Sam Masters (12) were both unbeaten by the opposition.

NEXT MEETING: Monarchs meet Scunthorpe Scorpions in the Premier League on Friday 1st May at Armadale.

Full Result Details