Taking on the Bears again

NEWS Wednesday 14th September 2022, 9:43pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Championship Playoffs have been delayed a week like all sports events, but coming up this Friday and Saturday will be the quarter final tie between the WTF Monarchs and Redcar Bears.

Redcar won the KO Cup semi-final between the teams so it's obvious the Monarchs need to step things up. That will be their aim on Friday as they look to build a substantially better lead that they managed in the cup tie (they could only manage a 4 point margin).

The initial expectation was that Erik Riss would be fit to return from injury but unfortunately in the end he still has problems with his injury. His guest replacement on Friday will be Aaron Summers. A good turnout of away supporters can be expected in both legs and it has the makings of a memorable couple of meetings.

Jason Edwards could miss the tie with a shoulder injury, in which case rider replacement applies. Otherwise it will be two full strength sides lining up.

Monarchs team manager on Friday will be Alex Harkess who says "The job on Friday is for everyone to produce their best form, and if they do that I think we will be perfectly OK. I can't guarantee it will happen!

"We certainly have an incentive because if we are knocked out this weekend, then tonight could be the last Monarchs' match at Armadale, a stadium which has meant so much to all of us over the years. We've had so many great nights here and landed a great deal of silverware. We definitely want to keep it going as long as we can!"

The British Speedway Network will make their fourth visit of the season as they are streaming all the Championship Playoff matches.

Streaming Details on www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk or via the BSN section of the SGB website.

FRIDAY'S MATCH:

Friday 16th September: Edinburgh Monarchs v Redcar Bears (Championship Playoff first leg), Armadale, 7:30pm

WTF MONARCHS: Sam Masters (captain), Lasse Fredriksen, Kye Thomson, Paco Castagna, Josh Pickering, James Sarjeant, Jacob Hook.

AGILIA BEARS: Aaron Summers (guest), Jason Edwards, Charles Wright (captain), Jordan Jenkins, Lewis Kerr, Kyle Newman, Kasper Andersen.

Saturday 17th September: Redcar Bears v Edinburgh Monarchs (Championship Playoff second leg), Ecco Arena, 5pm

Full Result Details