Double Derbies chasing double trophies

NEWS Wednesday 13th October 2021, 1:56pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs and Tigers are both committed to chasing the silverware in the Championship, and will meet in two of their biggest ever meetings on successive days at Armadale this weekend – the Knockout Cup semi final second leg on Friday (7:30pm), and the Championship Playoff semi-final first leg on Saturday (7pm).

We probably would not have chosen to do things this way ideally but needs must, after lengthy delays earlier in the summer plus recent postponements, the competitions need to be completed in the next 16 days or so.

The What the Fork Monarchs are 16 points down from a disappointing KO Cup first leg at Ashfield, but must have been boosted by a strong showing against Redcar on Tuesday night. Both teams know exactly what is needed to reach the Cup Final, then on Saturday they all start level again in the Playoffs.

There will be one change in the Tigers team for Saturday night as Tom Brennan, British Under-21 Champion, rides as the Under-21 representative for Great Britain in the Speedway of Nations at Belle Vue. He will be replaced at Armadale by Berwick's Leon Flint, a good quality replacement which seems fair all round.

Monarchs' star Josh Pickering spoke emotionally after the cup semi, in which he was forced to use an engine which didn't really suit the conditions, saying "I'm not worried whether it is the cup or the league, we're here to win everything. We won't bother thinking about the 16 point deficit on Friday, just go out to win every race. I've been here 5 years and we haven't won anything in that time so I want to put that right. The fans are here cold, wind, rain supporting us so I want to win for them."

Aggregate winners after Friday will meet Poole in the Knockout Cup Final, aggregate winners of the Playoff semi-final will meet the winners of the Poole v Leicester semi-final.

As with all Armadale matches this season both Friday and Saturday matches 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.

Friday 15th October: What the Fork Monarchs v Glasgow (Championship KO Cup second leg), Armadale, 7:30pm

WHAT THE FORK MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Anders Rowe, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Drew Kemp, Jason Edwards (guest)

ALLIED VEHICLES TIGERS: Craig Cook, Sam Jensen, Broc Nicol, Tom Brennan, Ricky Wells (capt.), Marcin Nowak, Connor Bailey

Saturday 16th October: What the Fork Monarchs v Glasgow (Championship KO Cup second leg), Armadale, 7pm

WHAT THE FORK MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Anders Rowe, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Drew Kemp, Jason Edwards (guest)

ALLIED VEHICLES TIGERS: Craig Cook, Sam Jensen, Broc Nicol, Leon Flint (guest), Ricky Wells (capt.), Marcin Nowak, Connor Bailey

Full Result Details