Title Partner
Workington Comets
Team Manager: James Denham |
61 | ||||||||
| 1. Craig Cook | 2* | 2* | 2* | 2* | 1 | 9 | 4 | ||
| 2. Tate Zischke | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 0 | ||
| 3. Antti Vuolas | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 0 | |||
| 4. Claus Vissing | 1* | 2* | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |||
| 5. Troy Batchelor | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 0 | |||
| 6. Celina Liebmann | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1* | 5 | 1 | |||
| 7. Sam McGurk | 1 | 1 | 2* | 0 | 4 | 1 | |||
Edinburgh Monarchs
Team Manager: John Campbell |
29 | ||||||||
| 1. Josh Pickering - Rider Replacement | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| 2. Sam Hagon | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 3. Kye Thomson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1* | 4 | 1 | ||
| 4. Paco Castagna | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 0 | |
| 5. Justin Sedgmen | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 6. Max James | 2 | 1 | 0 | R | 3 | 0 | |||
| 7. Connor Coles | FD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 8. Mark Parker | 0 | 0 | |||||||
An undermanned Stellar Monarchs went down heavily at Workington on Saturday as the hosts showed their pedigree moving back to the top of the Championship league table.
It looked like a daunting task for the Armadale men going into the meeting but there was still a sense of disappointment with the performance captain Paco Castagna who can be happy with his days work taking two of the Monarchs three heat victories saying after, 'One of the toughest days for us as a team, last night I stayed with the management after the meeting to try and help find a guest for Josh but we couldn't find anyone so I think they were happy to see Josh wasn't riding today.
'It was a tough day for all of us it's a place we hadn't been before so we had to dig deep to find the set-up and we struggled. I made a change after my first heat and it showed.
'It is a tough loss and we are going to have to dig very very deep.'
The hosts were relentless from the off with star of the show Tate Zischke taking the first victory of a flawless five ride full maximum to open proceedings with partner Craig Cook tucked in behind him the writing was on the wall.
Further advantages in eight of the next nine races meant the Comets had the match mathematically clinched by heat 10 although there was some reasonable action throughout.
Heat seven the race of the day as Castagna and home man Troy Batchelor ran side by side for the majority of the race, the Aussie just getting the win on the line.
Castagna would gain a modicum of revenge in heat 11 but with this being one of only three race wins on the day for the Monarchs coupled with 13 last places the result was only ever going to go one way,
So, a tough day for the Armadale men who will
now look to get on the board in the Championship when Scunthorpe visit West Lothian next Friday night.
Workington 61: Cook 9+4, Zischke 15, Vuolas 11, Vissing 6+2, Batchelor 11, Liebmann 5+1, McGurk 4+1
Stellar Monarchs 29: Pickering r/r, Hagon 2, Thomson 4+1, Castagna 11, Sedgmen 9, James 3, Coles 0
Stellar Monarchs make their first visit to Workington since 2018 on Saturday looking to bounce back after a disappointing home defeat to Plymouth.
What would already have been a daunting task given the Comets early season home form now looks even harder after talisman Josh Pickering crashed out in that defeat and misses out again in this one.
Despite best efforts and numerous riders asked no one was available or willing to take on a guest booking at short notice so rider replacement is in operation meaning extra rides available for the rest.
Elsewhere Lasse Fredriksen is also absent as he recovers from a bug that meant his doctor advised not to travel Sam Hagon again steps in.
The rest of the line-up is as expected and despite this being the first visit at this level since the Comets title winning season there is experience of the Northside circuit in the visiting ranks with Justin Sedgmen, Connor Coles and Max James all having raced their via guest bookings or National League fixtures.
For the home men it has been a non stop introduction back to this level and for many they are the team to watch.
This being not just because of their points scoring prowess but due to the nature of the squad assembled.
Tate Zischke, Antti Vuolas and Celina Liebmann are all newcomers to British speedway and all come with international pedigree.
Zischke akd Vuolas have taken to the UK like a duck to water especially at their home track both currently averaging well over two points above their starting four point average.
Liebmann has maybe taken a little longer to get to grips with British league racing but is developing and improving in every match and a big score doesn't look far away.
With this trio backing up a strong top three led by the revitalized Craig Cook and Troy Batchelor so far it looks like every gamble has paid off for Steve Lawson and all involved and it would be hard to argue this isn't deserved after the work put in to bring speedway back to Cumbria in the last few years.
It is the Monarchs job to dampen that enthusiasm in this one though with tapes due to rise at 3pm, live updates available on the Monarchs website throughout.
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
