Edinburgh Monarchs v Rye House Rockets

PREVIEW Friday 7th May 2010, 12:00pm

by Dennis Wallace

  Edinburgh Monarchs

It's cheerio meantime to the Premier Trophy and Premier League as the team embarks on its Knockout Cup campaign this weekend. The draw has pitched us against the Rye House Rockets, a team which has an impressive record at Armadale and rarely has problems recording big wins at home.

Tonight's first leg at the Dale comes at a time when we are without the services of Kevin Wolbert and Max Dilger. Kevin had to have an operation on his back this week to drain the fluid which had built up causing him a lot of pain and discomfort. The original accident which caused the trouble occurred in our ill-fated match against Glasgow which reduced Kevin to a virtual passenger for the rest of that match. He is likley to be out for a couple of weeks at least and, unfortunately, Rider Replacement does not cover adequately for his absence. Max returns to Britain on Tuesday and will be back in the team for next Wednesday's match at Birmingham.

A lot of pressure will be on the rest of the riders as a consequence and it's just as well that Andrew Tully is running into his best form as witnessed by qualifying for the British Championship Final last night in the curtailed semi-final at Sheffield. Kalle Katajisto too is on the crest of a wave having sorted out two top class engines for Armadale. He will play a big part in the weekend matches. Young Kyle Howath who is only 16 years old and rides for Bournemouth in the National League has not ridden at Armadale before and we have to hope that he can adapt quickly to the track. He knows the Hoddesdon track well enough having scored six points there in an under-21 championship round there. Kyle rode at Sheffield last night too scoring 2 points and beating no less a rider than Andre Compton in his first race.

Hopefully we have enough strength to build a lead to take to Rye House on Saturday night but, if so, will we have enough? It's a big ask and, looking at Rye House's home strength it doesn't look look like a good bet. The Rockets have lost the services of their outstanding young reserve, Kyle Hughes, who injured his foot in a clash with Michal Makovsky in the Rockets' home match against Berwick last Monday. For the Armadale leg they have Gary Beaton deputising at number 7.

The Rockets are a well balanced side with tremendous strength in depth particularly at home which will make the match at Hoddesdon such a tough one for us. They even saw off the ultra-strong Birmingham side inflicting the Brummies only defeat of the season there. They must be delighted with the current form of Jordan Frampton who was unbeaten in his three rides last night at Sheffield and goes through to the final as the top qualifier along with Scott Nicholls. In truth though all of the Rockets are capable of scoring well and they won't be put off by Armadale's tight bends since their own track has similar characteristics. Away from home they have been more impressive than many thought they would as witnessed by their win at Somerset which was instrumental in them winning the Southern Group of the Premier Trophy from King's Lynn.

The Knockout Cup matches this year are free of gimmicks such as Tactical Rides and Tactical Gates. They are simple score contests; the winner takes all - as it should be. It's a tough ask to qualify but we hope the riders can make decent starts and put in the fight and effort which has brought us so much success in head-to-head matches in the last two years.

Team line-ups. Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Jozsef Tabaka, Rider Replacement for Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, Kyle Howath, Kalle Katajisto

Rye House: Chris Neath, Stefan Ekberg, Jordan Frampton, Luke Bowen, Linus Sundstrom, Kurt Shields, Gary Beaton

Full Result Details