Drew is our Rising Star

NEWS Wednesday 1st September 2021, 8:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

What the Fork Monarchs have signed Drew Kemp as their Rising Star for the remainder of the season, and he will make his debut against Birmingham on Friday.

Monarchs team boss Alex Harkess said "Drew was pretty downcast last Friday when he failed to score riding as our guest, but we know he is much better than that. He was much chirpier when we got back in touch to make the move permanent and we are delighted to have him. He did brilliantly for us at Berwick early in the season."

As with the other new man Anders Rowe, Drew rides for Ipswich tomorrow before heading up to Armadale. He becomes the youngest current Monarch he is less than a month past his 19th birthday. His potential has been obvious for some time since he started riding with Ipswich and Mildenhall in 2018.

He switched to Sheffield and Kent the following year, and was back in the south for 2021 with Ipswich and Eastbourne.

The high point of his career so far was probably his runner-up placing in the British Under-21 Championship this season, at Redcar in July.

He is still riding with the Witches in the Premiership but the sad demise of Eastbourne has left him without a Championship club. Monarchs have struggled with their Rising Star position all year since the late formulation of the rule – most clubs already had a qualifying rider but Monarchs did not.

That meant team changes, and with all due respect to two likeable riders, neither Joe Lawlor nor Luke Crang proved to be yet ready for full time racing at Championship level. Monarchs thank Luke for his efforts in recent weeks and wish him well.

Although he struggled as a guest in his first ever Armadale meeting last Friday, Monarchs have high hopes that Kemp will grow in confidence and provide the solidity they need at the tail end of the team.

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