SEDGY NEEDS TO RIDE MORE!

NEWS Tuesday 20th May 2014, 7:05pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

One of the big successes in our remarkable start to the season has been Australian Justin Sedgmen, who has performed with great style and determination.

He joined Monarchs on a 4.99 average and admits he has never done himself justice in the UK – something he is particularly keen to put right.

He’s averaging nearly 8 with bonus and recently returned a paid 15 score at Plymouth, so he is definitely on the right track.

He says “I’m pretty happy, obviously it can always be better and you can always improve but I’m pretty happy. Riding at Edinburgh is nice, and if I can do a few more meetings for them maybe then I might get a double up spot or at least get a few more guest bookings.

“Plymouth was good and it’s nice to get a good score, but obviously they all need to be like that. You can’t just put in one good score because that’s where you need to be, you want to keep improving. You can’t get too carried away with the highs and you can’t get too down about the lows.

“I was with Plymouth for a short time but I only did a couple of meetings.”

Sedgmen is a rider who responds to being in a good atmosphere, and that certainly is the case with the Armadale team at the moment.

“Edinburgh is kind of a fun team, and looking at the team at the start of the season I didn’t really think we would be doing what we are doing. We’re turning a few heads anyway. Everyone’s riding good, and if someone has an off-night someone else steps up and fills in their spot.

“It’s good that Aaron did well last week but it’s kind of ironic that when that happens you get a knock. He actually scored a maximum from his two rides. He’s coming along nice, he’s seen all of us do well and he wants to step it up to not let us down.

“He’s a bit more reserved than most of the people but he’s coming out of his shell and wants to do good for the team.”

The Aussie would definitely be interested in hearing from any Elite League promoters. “Anything, I just want to do as many meetings as I can this year. I don’t really want to explore overseas right now but I feel like I owe Great Britain something, because I haven’t really done that well here.

“I’ve had good results in Poland and in Australia, but I’ve never done well enough in Great Britain so I really want to master that before I go anywhere else. A doubling up spot would help because I actually think the Elite League’s easier than the Premier League now. Just watching it on TV and going to a few matches, I can see that 1,3 and 5 have hard rides, but 2 and 4 are basically the reserves of last year.”

Justin currently rides as partner to Craig Cook but he’s happy to be there. “It’s OK, I was at reserve before, I wanted to go to number two because Craig’s going amazingly as everyone can see. If I can make a start and get in front with him, he can push me along, or if he’s in front of me I can chase him down. I think we can be the best 1 and 2 in the league, if I step it up a bit more.

“He’s quite good to ride with, he’s so good that you have to chase him, or if he’s behind you he’ll push you and make you ride as hard as you can. It’s nice to have the challenge.”

Along with his pal Sam Masters, Justin has now moved into a smart new workshop and life is good for the Aussies in this so far remarkable year for them and the team.

And Justin has an Elite League booking this week - at Eastbourne on Saturday, in between Armadale and Glasgow!