Through to the Next Round

The Border Roofing Monarchs qualified in the end pretty easily for the next round of the Knockout Cup, going down 42-47 against Plymouth in Devon but winning 96-83 on aggregate.

Monarchs led from the start up to heat 8, and the top man of the night was captain Sam Masters with a maximum. It was also an excellent night for Max Clegg who carried on the good work from Friday night.

Team manager John Campbell confirmed that we made it with a bit to spare in the end, but said “There was a spell in the middle when things slipped a bit. However Sam was magnificent and we could always rely on him. Max had a very good meeting as well and he seemed a changed person, much more confident.

“We lost 5-1s in heats 9 and 10 and we certainly needed the one we got back in the next race. That was one of the best heats, actually Nielsen was in front, he didn’t make the start but he got to the front. First Eric went round him, then Sam went round him, and on the run to the line Sam passed Erik because Erik shut off. Erik thought that was Nielsen, not realising that Sam had passed him as well!

“There were some other decent skirmishes but in the end we were quite comfortable.”

One of our team might not be so comfortable in the aftermath of the match and that is Ryan Fisher, returning to his old track. John said “He had had a bit of a disagreement with Barker at the start of heat 6. He lifted coming out of the second bend and crashed into the fence. His helmet had to be cut off to release him, and that was impounded, and he wrecked his bike. He had to switch to a bike that wasn’t set up for the place.

“He’s done a fair bit of damage to the bike and he’ll be very sore in the morning without question. It was his shoulder which took the worst of it. But as ever he just laughs it off, and even had a joke with Barker in the pits afterwards.”

Monarchs took a 5-1 in heat 1, a real confidence-boosting start, and then were delighted to see Max Clegg win heat 2. This was a 4-2 with Perks excluded and our guest Dan Greenwood taking the point, so at 9-3 we led by 24 on aggregate.

We took further advantages in heat 5 (Masters and Riss again) and the rerun heat 6 which was another win for Max Clegg!

We led up to heat 8 but then lost these two 5-1s, before the exciting 5-1 in heat 11 settled any nerves. We qualified with a 4-2 in heat 13 and all that remained was to see Sam complete that maximum.

So Monarchs now race the winners of the Redcar v Glasgow tie in the next round.

Beautiful South?

It’s the longest trek in British Speedway tonight as the Border Roofing Monarchs head to the St Boniface Arena to tackle Plymouth in the second leg of the our KO Cup clash.

The best part of 500 miles separate the two tracks and back to back race nights are a challenge for man and machine alike.

The Border Roofing Monarchs will head south though buoyed by another strong home performance last night where after a slow start the Border Roofing Monarchs ran out 18 points winners and will look to defend this lead and progress through to the quarter finals.

All of our boys can take positives from their performances last night with the top 4 all on scintillating form in-fact all 4 were unbeaten but for running into impressive away number 1 guest Stevie Worrall. The top 4 were well backed up by Max Clegg. As is often the case Max’s gating let him down but he did tremendous to battle from the back in multiple races and he should head south more confident for his 7+2 performance. Dan had his first paid victory at Premier League level and Jye would have had the same but for a tumble. All in all the Monarchs can head for Devon in fine mood looking to defend the lead.

Plymouth will be a different proposition on their home shale though and are in decent form round the St Boniface Arena having fended off both Sheffield and Peterborough in the last two weeks. The Devils will look for more from several of their men not least Sam Simota. Simota turned in a possibly his worst ever Armadale performance last night but he is a powerful performer at home having racked up double figures in each of the last 2 weeks. Another who will look to rebound from a disappointing night is young Aussie hotshot Jack Holder. Holder was perhaps in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple of times last night but again he is another who can be nigh on unbeatable round his home confines and he and the rest of his Devil teammates will look to avenge their defeat last night.

The Blue and Gold should travel with no fear though as our recent record at the Devonshire circuit is second to none. Having recorded two victories and a narrow defeat in our three visits to the St Boniface Arena since they joined the Premier League in 2013.

There is a change to both teams going into the return leg as once again the Monarchs fall foul to a fixture clash with the Belle Vue Colts meaning Dan Greenwood comes in to deputise. Dan currently rides for Coventry’s National League team but has some Premier League level experience after a short spell with Rye House last season and will look to show Premier League promoters what he has to offer. For the Devils they continue to operate with a facility for ‘withholding his services’ Charlie Gjedde and for this match they turn to former number 1 Ben Barker to take his turn. Ben was a fan favourite in his time with Plymouth and the Devils faithful will look for him to replicate the form shown by the aforementioned Stevie Worrall at Armadale last night.

As it stands this is a tie that is still in the balance and the Monarchs will be hoping for a strong start to alleviate any nervousness as we look to move towards the final stages of the KO Cup once again. Tapes up are at 19.15 and we all hope our Blue and Gold heroes can complete the job and come back home with a next round berth in their hands.