Monarchs Look To March On

PREVIEW Friday 23rd August 2019, 10:30am

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Another week another must win for the Staggs Bar Monarchs as we welcome the Birmingham Brummies to Armadale in SGB Championship action.

The Brummies made the leap back to the second tier for the first time in a good few years this year and in all honesty they have not had their troubles to seek as they currently sit 10th in the league on 14 points.

The feeling of misfortune around the camp will not have been lifted this week with the news that captain James Shanes has been lost for the season with horrific sounding injuries sustained in a grass track accident with everyone wishing a speedy recovery to the young Englishman.

On top of this recent reserve capture Jordan Jenkins became the latest in a long list of youngsters to step down from the Championship this year due to not feeling able to meet the demands. This has been an all too common occurrence this year and is something the authorities need to look at, although that is a discussion for another time.

This has led to further team changes from the Midlands outfit and stepping in to make his debut (or should that be re-debut) is Tobias Thomsen. Thomsen was a member of the Brummies team at season's start and while finding the competition a little too tough averaging 2.22 the Brummies management obviously feel there was glimpses of talent there and Thomsen has been given another chance to show what he can do.

At reserve Arran Butcher will step in for Jenkins this evening, Butcher is a Birmingham asset currently riding at reserve for Mildenhall in the National League and while maybe a bit soon for Championship level action the experience can only do the youngster good.

Elsewhere the Brummies team will line-up as expected and when you look through the team it does come as a surprise they find themselves where they are in the league. Adam Ellis has done a strong job at number 1 since his introduction earlier in the season and with back-up from Jason Garrity pending transport issues that caused Garrity to miss a trip to Ipswich last night and have caused him to miss Armadale matches in the past being all sorted then there is a strong and exciting spearhead in place.

Tero Aarnio is an experienced performer having appeared on the world stage in various World Cup / Speedway of Nation competitions. Aarnio is perhaps a more noted big track performer and has struggled at Armadale in the past although if he hits the front he will take some beating.

In the mix for signing of the season is Paco Castagna, Castagna looked lost to the sport on these shores after a long absence since he last raced in the UK however a newly determined and fitter Castagna has been a revelation this year adding around 2.5 points onto his starting average.

Nick Agertoft completes the team with the young Dane another who has been given his first chance with the Brummies, again there have been flashes of his potential alongside some struggles and it will be interesting to see how he gets on with the Dale on his debut there.

For the Staggs Bar Monarchs the job has not changed, winning all home matches is a must alongside away victories most notably with a huge match at Somerset coming next week.

Although there has not been any team action since the convincing win over Eastbourne last week the majority of the team has been in action with Sam, Ricky, Josh, Cameron and Connor all keeping themselves busy.

The win against Eastbourne was a very positive result with the top 4 all on fine form being well backed up by an improving by the week James Sarjeant and a more competitive Willie Lawson. This is the formula the Monarchs will need to continue should we be to make up the ground on Somerset and get ourselves into those end of season playoffs.

So another interesting night of action lies ahead with the excitement for the fans of seeing riders they have not seen before or don't get to see often not to mention the entertainment that is being served up on a weekly basis by our boys.

It's getting down to the business end of the season so time to get behind the team like never before, get yourself trackside to catch the action.

See you there!

Full Result Details