League programme starts with Comets

NEWS Wednesday 20th April 2016, 11:50am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs race their first home Premier League match at Armadale on Friday against Workington Comets.

Once again the Comets are rated one of the teams likely to challenge for honours, and while their recent record at Armadale is not very good, that’s what was said about Berwick who won on opening night. Ricky Wells and Kenneth Hansen form a formidable spearhead for the visitors what is sure to be a hard contest.

TEAM ASSESSMENTS: Most Monarchs’ supporters accept that with three very inexperienced riders in the side there is going to be a period required to let the new boys settle in.

Looking forward to Friday’s encounter, John Campbell said “Until our team settles down and gets used to riding our track no match will be easy for us.”

Ryan Fisher was asked if he sees potential in the youngsters and replied “Yes definitely. It’s Jye’s first season, but he has the attitude that he wants to learn and not that he knows it all already. He’s doing things right.

“Dan has really surprised me considering he has been riding such a short time, in his first ride at Berwick he looked really comfortable.

“Max is a good rider too, with a very good style and I think he’ll be scoring well in a few meetings time.

Does he think there is a lot of pressure on the top four? “I do realise that the top four need to score big, it is important but in any case I always put pressure on myself to score points. That’s what I need to do to earn a living!”

Ryan of course completed a paid maximum as Monarchs won at Berwick 48-42 last Saturday.

THE PREMIER LEAGUE: The Border Roofing Monarchs will be attempting to win the Premier League for the third time in a row. No team other than Edinburgh has ever won it twice in succession, so that emphasises the scale of the task – winning teams always have to be broken up under speedway’s regulations.

Friday’s match is the first for us in the league this season, and the first away from home is at Workington the next day.

The format is as it has been for several years, with the top six qualifying for the Playoffs and the winners of the Playoffs being the Champions. Monarchs have managed in the last two years to top the table and then also win the Playoffs.

Teams for the Premier League Match at Armadale on Friday 22nd April (start time (7:30pm, gates open 6:30pm), are:

EDINBURGH BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Erik Riss, Kevin Wolbert, Jye Etheridge, Ryan Fisher, Max Clegg, Dan Bewley.

WORKINGTON COMETS: Ricky Wells (capt.), Rasmus Jensen, Kenneth Hansen, Mason Campton, Claus Vissing, Adam Roynon, Matt Williamson.

COMETS STRONG AGAIN: American Ricky Wells and Dane Kenneth Hansen were signed at an early stage for the current season, and as a spearhead they are very formidable indeed.

Big track specialist Claus Vissing is the third heat leader, trying to put last year’s injury-ruined season at Berwick behind him. Of course he was a Monarch in 2013.

Mason Campton has made it back after falling foul of the visa problems suffered by so many Aussies, and he is determined to make up for lost time.

Completing the top five the last signing was Dane Rasmus Jensen, who reportedly hadn’t intended coming to the UK this year. He was in the cup-winning Somerset Rebels last season.

Adam Roynon is again rebuilding his career after injury and his reserve pairing with young Matt Williamson is untried, like most of the 6s and 7s this year!

LAST MEETING: Our match against Glasgow was rained off last Friday, but we went down to Berwick and overturned our home defeat by them, winning 48-42 with Ryan Fisher scoring a paid maximum.

NEXT MEETING: On Friday 29th April Redcar Bears are the visitors in the Premier League. Their star men include Lasse Bjerre and Jonas B Andersen.

Full Result Details