THOMAS WON'T BE REPLACING ANDREW

NEWS Thursday 6th August 2009, 8:48pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs are looking for a rider to replace the injured Andrew Tully, but they now know that Thomas H Jonasson won't be filling the gap.

Monarchs did offer the place to Thomas, whose average is 0.01 below Andrew's, but after consideration Thomas will not be accepting the place.

Thomas's position is well known. He had some fine matches early in the season but after the sad loss of his father he found that he had neither the stamina nor the organisation to cope with riding in three different leagues plus individual competitions.

His fixtures should be easing off shortly but he still feels that he needs a quiet period at the end of the season to recover from what has been a traumatic year for him. He rides in the World Under-21 Championship as one of the favourites in early October and Monarchs' fans will be hoping he can pull that one off in what will be his final outing at that level.

It remains to be seen whether Thomas's commitments will allow him to return to Monarchs' colours in future.

This leaves Monarchs still looking for a new rider rather than the continual use of rider replacement. The team can be proud of their efforts so far this season after they were forced to lose two riders from last year's triple champions ? they are finalists in the Premier Trophy, semi-finalists in the KO Cup, unbeaten at home and have gained four away points including a win.

However with now just three riders left from the 2008 side, clearly the rest of the season will be more of an unknown quantity with the likelihood of another experimental signing alongside German Max Dilger, who makes his debut at home to Sheffield on Friday.