Spirited Monarchs Miss Out At Ashfield

The Stellar Monarchs battled manfully before going down at the end a final score of 49-41 not quite telling the story of the match.

With Josh Pickering and Craig Cook missing many on social media had predicted a thrashing for the Armadale men, but they all stuck to their tasks.

The star of the show entertainment wise being recent addition Bastian Borke who rode some exhilarating outside lines on his way to eight points. The young Dane saying after

'My first heat was absolute dog**** for me to be fair I just couldn't turn the bike but I reckon I found the way to get round by the end , my starts were lacking all day so I need to work on that but I had good speed.

'I think I need to change my underwear after riding the outside that much! It was close some of the time but as the night got further I went wider and wider and I liked it very much.

'I think we are a good team and when we get everyone back and get a consistent team we'll be even better. We'll be able to work together on setups and bikes etc even more and I think we'll do well.'

The match started with points dropped as guest Justin Sedgmen would grind to a halt while in 3rd gifting a heat advantage to the home men. Sedgmen would quickly get this sorted though and gave as committed a guest performance as you are likely to see taking a trio of heat wins on his way to a double digit return.

The home lead was four points going into heat five when Sedgemen and Paco Castagna trapped well to take a maximum to square things up and at this point the hosts knew they had a fight on their hands.

Four shared races in a row after meant the scores were still tied entering heat 10. The home men would regain the lead as unbeaten Chris Harris and Marcin Nowak were best away the latter forcefully blocking attempted passes by Borke on more than one occasion, the Monarch voicing his displeasure after the heat.

Borke would not be denied in heat 12 though as he blasted round home captain Tom Brennan for his first heat victory in Monarchs colours, Brennan almost snatching it back on the line.

If heat 12 was race of the night up to that point then the next one may well go down as race of the season not just at Ashfield but anywhere in the UK.

Sedgmen was away best with Basso hot on his heels, the Tigers man cutting under Sedgemen entering bend three on the second lap. Sedgemen was not done though repeating the trick on Basso as the pair passed and repassed for the next lap and a half.

While this was happening Harris was quietly gaining and he made his swoop on the final bend hugging the inside to pip the Monarch on the line as he tried to muscle out Basso, no more than a bikes length between the three of them as the checkered flag was waved.

Sedgemen was quickly brought in as a tactical substitute in the penultimate heat taking the win but with Claus Vissing separating him from partner Kye Thomson this meant only a last heat maximum would do for the Monarchs to take anything from the match.

As it was the Tigers top two Basso and Harris who both finished the night unbeaten rounded the night off with another home 5-1 albeit with spirited efforts from first Sedgemen then Borke to muscle in on the action.

So, in the end the points all stayed at Ashfield but after a rough start to the campaign it was a performance that will give the Monarchs some hope that once back to full strength the slide can be halted.

Glasgow 49: Harris 13+2, Nowak 4+2, Brennan 7+1, Vissing 4, Basso 15, Complin 3, Pijper 3

Stellar Monarchs 41: Sedgemen 11+1, Castagna 8+1, Borke 8+1, Thomson 5+2, Wood 0, Fredriksen 9+1

Derby Away Day Awaits

The Stellar Monarchs face a rare Friday away day this week as they head to Ashfield to take on the Glasgow Tigers in Championship action.

Obviously, it has not been the start to the season anyone in Blue and Gold would have wanted, and things don't get any easier as the Monarchs head into this one still missing their top two Josh Pickering and Craig Cook.

Pickering's absence hopefully will be over soon as he heads to Poland to test out his shoulder this weekend. While Cook is still side-lined with a back injury that has seen him miss the last few matches.

Stepping in at number one will be Justin Sedgmen who comes in on the back of a topflight maximum for Leicester on Thursday night. With multiple other meetings on and riders unwilling to travel rider replacement will be in operation for Cook this allowing the rest of the Monarchs to cover his rides.

Elsewhere the team is as expected and the hope is the more experienced team members Paco, Kye and Lasse can pick up the slack.

Bastian Borke will ride his first away match after a promising debut at Armadale last week and Dayle Wood will continue his UK league education at number six.

The Tigers come into this one at full strength with the same line-up as at Armadale last week and with two wins out of two so far in the league this season they will be looking to continue their unbeaten run.

So, a tough challenge for an undermanned Monarchs side but we have seen some sterling displays at Ashfield in the past will Friday see another?

The action starts at 7.30pm with live updates available on the Monarchs website, please note no streaming of this match is available so do not click on any links on social media advertising as such.

Glasgow: Chris Harris, Marcin Nowak, Tom Brennan, Claus Vissing, Benjamin Basso, Lee Complin, Ace Pijper

Stellar Monarchs: Justin Sedgmen, Paco Castagna, Bastian Borke, Kye Thomson, R/R, Dayle Wood, Lasse Fredriksen