Lions Come To Town On The Hunt For Points

PREVIEW Friday 13th May 2022, 12:59pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my! Or so the song goes and that is what the What the Fork Monarchs are faced with as tonight sees the 2nd of a Glasgow, Leicester, Redcar trio of matches as the Lions come to Armadale in Championship action.

Another tough match lies ahead as Stewart Dickson brings his men north with potentially the trio of heat leaders with the best Armadale pedigree in the league in the form of Richie Worrall, Nick Morris and Kyle Howarth. All 3 in fine form and all 3 with multiple double digits returns at the Dale in their recent history of course Worrall chief among them as a Monarch of 2021.

The battles at the top end as Sam Masters and Josh Pickering take to track with their visiting counterparts will be a sight to behold but everyone has a part to play if the Lions are to head home pointless. Backup in the main body of the team comes from Dan Thompson and Connor Mountain both young and improving and both more than capable of heat wins also.

While at the bottom end we see one change as Anders Rowe misses out due to illness with Berwick's Kyle Bickley stepping in. Bickley will partner Joe Thompson twin brother of the aforementioned Dan. Joe perhaps took a little longer to get acclimatised to Championship level racing after stepping up at the first opportunity last year but he has shown his liking for the Armadale track so far and with his average now up towards the 4 and a half point mark he is really starting to show his talent and will be a tough beat for any of the Monarchs not least Jacob and James at reserve.

In mentioning James, he is the one change for the Monarchs from the last time out when the Monarchs somewhat redeemed themselves after the heavy home defeat to Glasgow by gaining a point at Ashfield. 'Sarj' missed out that day due to the impending arrival of baby number 2 and with a happy and healthy new arrival the Yorkshireman is ready to get back to work and will be a key man for the Monarchs as his big scoring run looks to continue.

Elsewhere Kye Thomson and Paco Castagna will continue in the middle order both looking for that one missing key so far that being consistency as tremendous races have been mixed in with ones where they would have hoped for better in nearly all matches so far.

Our 2 UK newcomers Lasse and Jacob continue their speedway education, and both have said they are looking to make life so much easier for themselves by getting out the start sharper, Lasse also having bolstered his pit crew to ease his night's workload.

So, the Monarchs are set, a strong opponent is in town, and everything is in place for a great night of action ahead.

Tickets can still be purchased with the ability to pay at the gate also available. For those that can't attend the match will be live streamed with passes able to purchase on the Monarchs website also.

Friday night is speedway night so let's go racing!

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