BIGGEST MATCH OF THE SEASON

NEWS Wednesday 3rd August 2011, 12:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs face Glasgow Tigers at Armadale in the Premier League on Friday ? and it is the visiting team this year who are in pole position in the title race.

Whatever the league table might say, Glasgow have the vital away points in the bag and it will take a major winning run by someone else to knock them off the top spot. If they were to win on Friday, where none of their main challengers have succeeded, Tigers could be said to be very close to the championship even with 40% of the programme remaining.

TEAMS FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 5th AUGUST (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Kevin Wolbert, Kalle Katajisto, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (capt.), Craig Cook, Tim Webster, Kyle Howarth.

A-PLANT TIGERS: Joe Screen (capt.), Michal Rajkowski, Christian Henry, Richard Sweetman, James Grieves, Nick Morris, Theo Pijper.

ARMADALE EXPERIENCE: Not many visiting teams have arrived at Armadale with so much experience of the track behind them.

There are four ex-Monarchs in the Glasgow lineup, and between the whole side they have 330 previous appearances.

Theo Pijper (130 meetings at Armadale) is a former Monarchs' captain and track record holder, James Grieves (83), Christian Henry (73) and Michal Rajkowski (32) all know the track as well as the home men.

Joe Screen (7), Richard Sweetman (3) and Nick Morris (2) have not been such regular visitors but there are unlikely to be any of them feeling they lack track knowledge.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Speedway leagues tend to feature teams with widely different numbers of matches ridden, and a better way of looking at the true position is to work out a ?ranking' which is basically ?points gained away' minus ?points lost at home'.

On this basis Glasgow sit at +20, compared with nearest challengers Sheffield, Somerset and Workington +12.

Monarchs are next on +5, a fair way adrift, and the recent incidence of the away wins which the challengers need has been rare.

BUSY WEEKEND: The Scotwaste Monarchs race at Workington on Saturday evening, and the Comets are having something of an injury crisis at the moment. They are in great form at home but virtually all of their riders have been injured recently.

On Sunday Monarchs race in the Fours at new venue Leicester, where the team recently won in the Premier League.

Monarchs' quartet is Wolbert, Wethers, Tully and Cook.

MEETING SPONSOR: Friday's big match is sponsored by Headlam Floorcoverings, who have been backing Armadale meetings since their first one in 2000.

TIGERS HOT TITLE FAVOURITES: Glasgow made great strides in the early matches with away wins at Newcastle, Redcar, Berwick and later at Plymouth, Ipswich and Leicester.

Allied to a perfect home record their efforts have put them clear at the top, although Sheffield have raced substantially more matches which have kept them narrowly ahead on total points. This will surely be overturned when Glasgow catch up on home matches.

The biggest blow to their hopes came at Plymouth when fast-rising Aussie Josh Grajczonek suffered a season-ending injury, and their shock capture of Leicester's Richard Sweetman has not plugged that gap.

However with experienced Screen and Grieves scoring well at the top, and powerhouse reserves Rajkowski and Morris, they have compensated without too much trouble. The regular absence of Christian Henry (expected to be missing again on Friday) has, with all due respect to Christian (who hasn't ridden much in the past two years) tended to strengthen the Tigers.

Rajkowski moves into the main team for August but this simply means that former Armadale track record holder Theo Pijper goes to reserve!

LAST MEETING: The Keyline Scottish Open was won in style by Rory Schlein, former Monarch, who lifted the trophy for the third time. Runners up in order were home men Kevin Wolbert, Craig Cook and Matthew Wethers.

NEXT WEEK'S MATCH: On Friday 12th August the Scotwaste Monarchs will welcome Newport Wasps in a second-phase Premier League match. They have been substantially strengthened since their previous visit in May.

Full Result Details