Top club Poole at Armadale at last

NEWS Thursday 5th August 2021, 8:32pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Poole Pirates are amongst the most famous names in Speedway, and their visits to Monarchs' former venues were always eagerly looked forward to. However they have never yet been to Armadale, a situation set to be rectified when the Pirates face the What the Fork Monarchs in West Lothian on Friday.

1996 was the last time Monarchs and Pirates met in Scotland, when Monarchs had their season at Shawfield in Glasgow, just before the Armadale experience began.

The strength of the Pirates, perhaps like the Monarchs, lies in their heat leaders – Rory Schlein, Steve Worrall and Danny King are the top three for the visitors, two ex-Monarchs and all three with good records at Armadale.

Pirates won the match between the sides on Wednesday by 48-42, a result which saw the Monarchs take a point with a strong finish. The heat leader trios just about matched each other, though it goes without saying that the backup riders' points are equally important.

Pirates had announced the arrival of new Danish signing Benjamin Basso, but shortly afterwards had to say that he will not be arriving yet due to a positive Covid test. Therefore the Pirates have booked Jason Edwards, ex-Eastbourne, as a guest. He was in the winning Plymouth team against Monarchs last Tuesday!

Team manager Alex Harkess said "Steve Worrall is certainly very much a person who likes Edinburgh. Their heat leaders will give ours tough races, and we need our heat leaders to win races. Prior to Wednesday's match Rory had been struggling a little bit with injuries I think but he will bounce back, and he is someone else who comes here with no fears of the place.

"On paper their heat leaders are probably just as strong as ours so it's a very good match on paper and I hope lots of people come to watch it."

As with all Armadale matches this season the match will be Live Streamed, however the stream will be available only to those outwith a 25 mile radius of the track. Anyone within that limit but unable to attend should email us

here.

THIS WEEK'S MEETINGS:

Friday 6th August: Edinburgh What the Fork Monarchs v Poole (Championship), Armadale, 7:30pm

WHAT THE FORK MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), William Lawson, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Luke Crang, Nathan Greaves.

PIRATES: Rory Schlein, Jason Edwards, Steve Worrall, Stefan Nielsen, Danny King (capt.), James Wright, Danyon Hume.

Saturday 7th August: Leicester v Edinburgh What the Fork Monarchs (Championship), Paul Chapman Arena, 7:00pm