Back To Business

PREVIEW Thursday 14th July 2016, 5:49pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

After the traditional mid season break for the Cardiff GP and our good showing in the Pairs it’s back to full team action as we head to the Media Prime Arena this evening to take on the Redcar ‘SG Petch’ Bears.

This will be our first visit to Teesside since our Fours triumph there last season and we will look to continue this success against a Redcar side who have had a poor start to the season and currently sit at the bottom of the Premier League after 11 matches. Home form has been an issue for the Bears already having been defeated twice and drawing once from 5 home matches. They are coming off the back of a morale boosting victory against Scunthorpe last time out (a result that looks better after the Scorpions recent successes against Glasgow and Peterborough) and will be looking to continue that improvement against the Border Roofing Monarchs.

The main issue for the Bears so far this season has been top end scoring with no one in the team currently sporting an average in excess of 7 points. It is widely known though that top heat-leaders don’t come cheap and as always Bears promoter Brian Havelock has run his team to a budget that means Speedway is sustainable in Teesside and no one can argue with that.

The recent lack of success has not been for a lack of trying and a recent change so a return to these shores for a former Monarch. Slotting in at number 1 due to his assessed 7 point average is Tobias Busch. Many Monarchs fans feel Busch may turn out to be the one that got away after a spell with the Blue and Gold in 2010 that was punctuated with a match winning at Newport that showed his true class. Unfortunately a mixture of the make-up of the team in 2010 and a lack of machinery for Tobias meant he had to leave the team before attaining a true average one which would have no doubt made it attractive for him to return. We have since watched on sometimes in wonder as he popped up in international matches taking some notable scalps including Greg Hancock along the way. If Tobias can find a run of form and consistency in his machinery then Redcar have made a very shred signing indeed.

Number 2 for the Bears is a man who has to be seen as the biggest disappointment for the Bears (if not in the Premier League) this season Lasse Bjerre. ‘Baby Bjerre’ as he has known has seen his average drop by almost 1.5 points this season and has had some truly abject performances that have seen him drop out of the heat leader positions. The Blue and Gold will hope this is not the weekend the usually stylish and well turned out Dane turns it around and gets back to the level we are all accustomed to especially as he is starting to show signs of this having rattled off 3 heat wins last in his last home match.

Number 3 for the Bears is High Skidmore. Skidmore is a consistent and steady presence in the middle order of the Bears outfit. Now into his 4th season at the Media Prime Arena he can be a match winner and cannot be discounted as a key man in tonight’s battle and we will hope that our middle order of Erik and Ryan can take care of that.

Joining Skidmore in the key middle order battle is another yond Dane Jonas B Anderson. Anderson has been another steady contributor to the Bears this season putting almost half a point on his starting average and he appears to only be getting better as the season goes on having raced to paid 11 in the victory over the Scorpions

Second Heat leader for the Teessider's is Frenchmen David Bellego. Bellego is another who has been in British Speedway for a deceptively long time now having first been seen back in 2011 in Glasgow’s title winning side. Things have maybe not progressed the way many would have expected as Bellego still hasn’t hit the heights of a consistent heat leader many though he would when he first arrived and which prompted a tug of war between Glasgow and Berwick over the right to call him an asset. Still he is another who has improved his average this season and if he can keep this upward trajectory he will be happy with that.

Guesting for the Bears at number 6 is a man who needs very little introduction. Team member of last year’s League winning side Rob Branford. Branford fell victim to the new reserve rules this season and found himself on the sidelines at PL level. He has been picking up various guest bookings recently always acquitting himself well and he is still consistently one of the top riders at National League level. It surely can’t be long till Rob gets another shot at PL level.

Fast track reserve for Redcar is Lee Payne. When it was first mooted that all number 7’s in the league had to be 3 point PL newcomers I’m not sure the idea was to fill the slots with soon to be 30 year olds but nothing can be taken away from the job Payne has done so far raising his average to 3.62 and being one of the best turned out number 7s in the league although perhaps no little could be expected with Joe Screen and Peter Carr as his mentors.

An interesting tussle surely awaits tonight as the Monarchs perhaps look to have the top end strength over the Bears particularly with the previous form of Sam and Kevin around the Media Prime Arena. The battle will be in the middle and lower orders where we will look for continued improvement from Mark and Dan alongside Max to keep us on a par in the hope that the recent form of Ryan could be a trump card. Surprisingly despite the difference in league positions last year we failed to win at the Media Prime Arena in 2 visits going down 47-43 in the league and 37-35 in a rain curtailed KO Cup fixture. We no longer have the luxury of matches in hand in the league and could be said matches like tonight are vital if we are to secure the away points required to push us towards a top 6 spot and a chance to defend our PL crown in the end of season Playoffs particularly with some stern home tests to come.

Full Result Details