Ricky back at no. 1

NEWS Thursday 13th December 2018, 9:26am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Our top average man for the start of the 2019 season will be Ricky Wells, entering his third season with the club. He rode at no. 1 in all his matches last season other than the final one!

He reflected on last season: "Last year I felt good all season, I don't think I had a bad meeting at home. I never had a retirement or an exclusion, so that was pretty cool. I had quite a few bonus points at home which is something I'm not really used to, but that was just Victor making the start in front of me, no point in passing him. That probably helped me for this year keeping my average down.

"I had a few moments away from home which I found quite difficult. One was Scunthorpe where I started zero, zero – I haven't done that in years. Then John put me in on a tactical ride and I got the quickest time of the day! Everyone knows Edinburgh is a difficult track to come to but a lot of away tracks are difficult too."

Looking at the team, he thinks the new boys will play an important part. "Obviously they dropped the points limit down which makes it hard for team building and I've noticed that most teams have one 8-pointish rider. It puts a lot more value on having good second strings and reserves.

"I think Cameron Heeps is an excellent signing, he will do well at Armadale and that should improve him away from home as well.

"I've watched Sedgy in Australia and anyone seeing him there would wonder why he isn't an 8-point rider in the Elite League. We all know he's good at Armadale and I'm sure he would not be coming back unless he was going to give it a good crack. He should be wound up and ready."

Every season is a new challenge and Ricky relishes what 2019 might bring. He said "It should be a pretty competitive league and I'm looking forward to it. We had a good home track advantage last year and if we have that again we should ensure all the points at home. We maybe don't want to score 69 and 65 each week because that makes it hard for the club, but we also don't want to get 43 or 44 each week! They are looking for a happy medium which is cool with me. It did get a little bit rough towards the end of the year but we have all winter to sort that.

"It's a pretty balanced team we have so it's up to all of us. Edinburgh feels like home now, it's a good club with good people and I've felt that it was home right from my first year. The one downside is the travel but I'd rather travel a little bit further to go to a place I enjoy."