Image Credit: Ron MacNeill

Pairfect Night Ahead?

NEWS Friday 21st July 2017, 1:54pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

All roads lead to Somerset for the traditional Cardiff Grand Prix weekend curtain raiser the SGB Championship Pairs on Friday evening.

The Parsons Peebles Monarchs will be going in hunt of the trophy they last lifted in 2014 and it is a competition we have a decent recent record in. We were beaten finalists to hosts Somerset last year and semi finalists when defending our crown in 2015 losing out to the same opposition.

Of course with the Rebels now having moved up to the SGB Premiership there will be no home team advantage although with numerous current and former Rebel riders in the line-up it may not be classed as a neutral venue by some, however with the plethora of riders doubling up this year it would be hard to argue any track would be truly neutral.

The Monarchs will be represented by Sam Masters and Erik Riss who going by recent quotes in the press are both determined to do well. Of course Sam is one of the former Rebels in the field and always enjoys putting on a strong performance for his former fans. As for Erik well he is in the form of his career at the moment and on a track he has described as 'cool' we should be in with a chance.

It will be no easy task though as this is one of the most competitive fields in the competition in recent seasons.

First job is to qualify from group B with 2 out of the 5 teams gaining a place in the semis. Standing in the Monarchs way are Newcastle, Sheffield, Berwick and Redcar who will all be aiming to spoil our hopes.

Newcastle are tipped as one of the favourites for the crown with their pairing of Robert Lambert and Steve Worrall. Two of the top men in the league mean a potent pairing and they will take some beating on a track both have performed well on recently.

Sheffield have been hit by injury with Kyle Howarth missing out due to concussion. This means that former Rebel's number 1 Josh Grajczonek is joined by another former Rebel in Todd Kurtz. Many think this weakens the Tigers but on his day Kurtz is as fast as anyone at the Oak Tree.

The raft of Somerset experience continues with Berwick who will be spearheaded by Nick Morris. If Morris can carry on his recent form for Swindon into this meeting he will take some beating. Morris is partnered by David Howe. Howe has made an excellent return to the sport this year but it may be that this level of competition is a step too far.

Completing our group is many people's dark horse to lift the crown Redcar. The Bear's pairing of Ben Barker and Charles Wright like so many in our group have countless Oak Tree experience with Wright a member of the current Rebels team and Barker a Rebel back in his formative years in the sport. Although average wise this is not the strongest pairing in the competition it would take a brave man to back against them.

If we can navigate through one of the top two places from that group then it will be onto the semi final where one of the remaining teams will await. Group A is headlined by Peterborough, Ipswich and Glasgow but as always in a field of this stature anyone can play the spoiler.

Another aspect that comes into play is the ability to team ride. With the unique 4,3,2,0 scoring system meaning that it is more vital to avoid last places than it is to take heat wins this adds an extra dimension to proceedings and many will remember Sam's effort to slow down Richard Lawson allowing Ryan Fisher to sneak past in last year's semi final. This is maybe something that the Monarchs will need to work on as the Masters/Riss pairing haven't always been on the same wavelength on track but I'm sure that will all be sorted tonight as the boys go in search of the first silverware of the season.

The weather forecast has not been kind so far but hopefully with cover s having been in place since Thursday the track will be in tip top shape for what is normally one of the hottest contested and most exciting meetings of the British season.