THEO'S NIGHT IS NEARLY HERE

NEWS Wednesday 18th March 2015, 4:27pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Bikes roar at Armadale for the first time since the unforgettable Championship Final last October when 14 year Monarch Theo Pijper stages his Night of Champions this Friday (20th). 16 riders contest an individual championship on a night which will see over 20 races at the West Lothian track, with a start time of 7:30pm.

Theo joined Monarchs in the winter of 2001-2 and has been a great servant to the club over that period. He has ridden 8 seasons in the Monarchs’ team in addition to two at Glasgow, and short spells with Wolverhampton, Swindon, Berwick and Mildenhall. He will be riding for Scunthorpe on loan from Monarchs when the season starts.

He has a Premier League winners medal with both Edinburgh (2003) and Glasgow (2011), the only rider who can claim such a distinction, and he has also captained both clubs.

Friday’s meeting will be an individual event of 16 heats, two semis and a Grand Final, with prizes for all the finalists. There will also be junior races which will feature Kyle Bickley who is the reigning 2014 125cc World Champion.

Yesterday we announced that Scunthorpe’s exciting young Finn Nike Lunna coming in to replace Adam Roynon who was injured at Peterborough on Sunday.

There is one final alteration which sees Berwick's Matic Voldrih come in to make his Armadale debut in place of Pascal Swart who could not obtain clearance in time. The Slovenian apparently impressed at Shielfield in practise.

The home men in the field are Sam Masters, Kevin Wolbert and Rob Branford (Craig Cook is heading for Poland on Thursday and Justin Sedgmen rides at Lakeside on Friday). The local favourites will be hoping to be in contention but there is strong opposition from Glasgow, Berwick and Workington men as well as some newcomers from overseas.

THE FULL FIELD: Kenneth Hansen (Denmark), Claus Vissing (Denmark), Aaron Summers (Australia), Kevin Wolbert (Germany), Rene Deddens (Germany), Henkie Koonstra (Holland), Rusty Harrison (Australia), Theo Pijper (Holland), Sam Masters (Australia), Thomas Jorgensen (Denmark), Kevin Doolan (Australia), Nike Lunna (Finland), Rafal Konopka (Poland), Matic Voldrih (Slovenia), Rob Branford (Australia), Ben Barker (England).

FREE BUS: The bus coming from Edinburgh will run as it does on every speedway Friday, but for this event it will be FREE to passengers coming out for the Night of Champions. It departs from the Jewel at 5:45 then Waterloo Place, by St Andrew's House at 6.15pm, picking up at Haymarket (6.25pm) and the Maybury (6.35pm).

ADMISSION: Prices will be at the 2015 club rate for admission on the night which is: Adults £17, Seniors/Students £14, Child 12 to 16 £8, Child under 12 £2. For the Testimonial we will not have an advance ticket facility, and please remember that season tickets do not apply. The souvenir programme is £3.