Playoffs are the goal as top men return

NEWS Wednesday 21st June 2023, 10:04pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The two teams who will meet at Armadale this Friday in the Cab Direct Championship have not enjoyed much success or indeed luck so far in 2023 but both the Stellar Monarchs and the Birmingham Brummies believe they can turn things round and bid for one of the six Playoff positions at the end of the season.

Clearly then Friday's match is important for both sides. Neither Monarchs nor Brummies had won a home match in the Championship prior to the start of this week, though Birmingham got off the mark with a home win over Berwick on Wednesday evening. Both the sides have had an away win, Monarchs' one being of course at Birmingham (54 points scored!)

Monarchs will be welcoming back both Josh Pickering (who has been out since 22nd April) and Craig Cook who has not ridden since 17th May when Monarchs won at Birmingham (with Cook scoring 14). The absence of these stars has had much to do with subsequent poor results. Rider replacement will be used for Paco Castagna who is now injured.

Birmingham have also strengthened substantially and are now fielding an impressive heat leader trio of Nick Morris, Troy Batchelor and Justin Sedgmen. They are now under the guidance of Stewart Dickson who has taken over as team manager.

Monarchs' team boss Alex Harkess is in no doubt what is required. "The team Birmingham are tracking this week is a bit different but at the end of the day there is only one result that's acceptable, it's as simple as that. We have to win it and we'd like to win it fairly comfortably."

Friday's match will be Live Streamed for those who cannot attend, details on www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk.

FRIDAY'S MATCH:

Friday 23rd June: Edinburgh Monarchs v Birmingham Brummies (Championship), Armadale, 7:30pm

STELLAR MONARCHS: Josh Pickering, rider replacement for Paco Castagna, Bastian Borke, Kye Thomson (captain), Craig Cook, Dayle Wood, Lasse Fredriksen.

CURTIS SPORT BRUMMIES: Nick Morris, Alfie Bowtell, Troy Batchelor, Dan Thompson, Justin Sedgmen (captain), Sam Hagon, Joe Thompson.

Following this is a Northern Junior League match, West Lothian Wildcats v Redcar Cubs.

Full Result Details