STRONG WITCHES VISIT ON FRIDAY

NEWS Wednesday 3rd June 2015, 5:25pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs should find themselves with a much tougher match than in recent weeks when Ipswich provide the opposition at Armadale this Friday.

World Cup man Danny King leads a very capable squad which is climbing the table and are strong candidates for the end-of-season Playoffs. Of course the Witches are the opponents for Monarchs in the League Cup semi-finals later this summer, and they were the beaten finalists when Monarchs won the Knockout Cup last season.

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

EDINBURGH BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Sam Masters, Rob Branford, Kevin Wolbert, Justin Sedgmen, Craig Cook (capt.), Erik Riss, Max Clegg.

IPSWICH SACKERS WITCHES: Danny King, Gino Manzares, Nico Covatti, rider replacement for Cameron Heeps, Rohan Tungate, Stefan Nielsen, Ritchie Hawkins (capt.).

TEAM LINEUP CHANGES: With Erik Riss having now ridden 4 home and 4 away matches, he has a revised average, and drops to reserve from Friday with Rob Branford moving into the top five.

KO CUP DATES AGREED: In the next round of the Knockout Cup (Monarchs recently progressed at the expense of Sheffield), Monarchs will race Redcar Bears.

The dates will be Thursday 16th July at Redcar, and the following day at Armadale.

Monarchs are the holders of the Cup.

LEAGUE CUP SEMIS: As announced yesterday, the semi-final ties in the League Cup will be:

Edinburgh v Ipswich

Glasgow v Sheffield

Dates have not been set for these ties yet. Monarchs are the holders of the League Cup.

BUSY THURSDAY: It’s amazing what Speedway riders get up to these days, riding all over Europe and thinking nothing of the travel involved. Even with a big match at Armadale on Friday, three of our riders are in action on the continent on Thursday.

Justin Sedgmen is spending the week in Sweden, viewing at Dackarna on Tuesday and then riding in an individual meeting at Avesta on Thursday.

Sam Masters and Kevin Wolbert are in Germany on Thursday racing in the German Open at Olching, venue for the World Cup Final in 1981.

RORY RETURNS: Further good news on the situation of our former Monarch is that Rory Schlein will be airlifted back to the UK on Wednesday - indeed photos of this happening have been on Facebook already.

There will still be a long way to go in his recovery but he is showing all his usual courage and resilience.

TALENTED WITCHES: Although they are not well placed in the League table at this stage (having lost their first home League match), everyone fully expects Ipswich to be up near the top at the end of the season.

Last weekend they scraped an away win at Redcar, then thumped the Bears by 40 points in the return.

Their consistency might be in question (they took a shock cup exit at the hands of Berwick) but their potential quality is not in doubt.

As well as top man Danny King, going as well as anyone in the League, they have the only UK qualifier for the World Under-21 Final (Stefan Nielsen) at reserve, and another World Cup rider (Gino Manzares of the USA) in their side.

Rohan Tungate has an average over 8 though he has been patchy at Armadale in the past, and the Italian Nico Covatti has been one of the sensations of the season.

They will use rider replacement for Cameron Heeps who was their top man in last year’s KO Cup Final, with everyone other than King qualifying for an extra ride.

LAST MEETING: The Border Roofing Monarchs beat Workington 56-36 in the Premier League. Kevin Wolbert (12) and Justin Sedgmen (11) were the highest scorers.

NEXT MEETING: Glasgow Tigers will be the visitors in the Premier League on Friday 12th June.

Full Result Details