PRESSING ON REGARDLESS

NEWS Wednesday 10th June 2009, 8:58am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs are currently a six-man team but they will press on with the upcoming League and Cup matches, starting against Newcastle on Friday, until this situation can be repaired.

Rider replacement has been working well in home matches though it does put additional pressure on the remaining riders, and can backfire if anyone has problems. The Diamonds will be bringing William Lawson as a guest in the continuing absence of Steve Boxall, and recent results suggest William is finding his form again.

TEAMS FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 12th JUNE (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Ryan Fisher, rider replacement for Thomas H Jonasson, Michal Rajkowski, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (captain), Aaron Summers, Sean Stoddart.

NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS: William Lawson (guest), Trent Leverington, Jason King (captain), Derek Sneddon, Kenni Larsen, Adam McKinna, Craig Branney.

DEREK SHOULD BE OK

2008 Monarchs' captain Derek Sneddon is currently a Newcastle Diamond of course, and he is listed in the Diamonds' side for Friday.

He actually pulled out of Newcastle's match at Sheffield last week after a pileup, and also missed the home match last Sunday against Somerset.

Newcastle boss George English has said that he expects Derek to be fit, however if he was not, William Lawson would then become a guest for Derek with rider replacement applying for Boxall, who still is in the number one position in the side.

THOMAS H JONASSON

For anyone who missed the news earlier this week, Thomas Jonasson has informed the club that he needs to take a break from UK racing in view of his extensive commitments in Swedish and Polish leagues plus a considerable number of individual and international competitions that he is progressing in.

Obviously his recent family bereavement is understood to be a factor and neither rider nor club have ruled out getting together in the future.

RYAN ? NO PROBLEM

There was some concern when Ryan Fisher withdrew after crashing in the Grand Prix quarter final at Lonigo last weekend, but he reports that he is OK.

He said ?I'm OK, I had a crash and just pulled out because I didn't have a chance of qualifying. I blew an engine at Somerset which I had been intending to use in Italy and didn't have the right setup over there.?

MEETING SPONSOR

The Monarchs' programme of 2009 has won much praise and a lot of the credit for that goes to I-Print from Macmerry. They will be sponsors of our match this Friday.

IMPROVING DIAMONDS: Newcastle made a very poor start to the season but there are definite signs that they are improving.

They were certainly rated one of the better sides after the winter moves but too many of their men have been below par, notably Steve Boxall and Trent Leverington. The Boxall problem has been shelved as he is being replaced by guests at the moment, and the popular Leverington is one of the Diamonds showing improved form.

William Lawson may well be an important contributor on Friday and of course the same can be said for the other ex-Monarch Derek Sneddon. Kenni Larsen and Jason King of course are strong heat leaders and it is pretty unlikely that the Diamonds will suffer the kind of heavy defeats they have taken on their last two trips to Armadale.

LAST MEETING: Monarchs beat Rye House 50-42 in a hard fought League match last Friday. Matthew Wethers led the way with a 6-ride paid maximum.

NEXT MEETING: The visitors on Friday 19th June will be the Workington Comets in a KO Cup quarter final tie which looks a very good one indeed. The second leg is the following day at Derwent Park.