Witches Aiming To Fly

PREVIEW Thursday 15th June 2017, 3:08pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Another huge battle ahead for the Parsons Peebles Monarchs this Friday as we welcome the Ipswich TRU7.com Witches to Armadale in league action.

This is one that many fans are viewing as the toughest battle the Monarchs have faced so far this season with some thinking the home men are underdogs heading into the fixture a scenario that can’t have happened many times in our spell at the Dale.

The Witches were tipped as one of the main challengers at the start of the season and so far have lived up to their billing although they will be hoping for improvement away from their home Foxhall circuit that they have turned into a fortress.

The Witches have not had their troubles to seek so far with regards injuries with 2 permanent changes being forced on them alongside the temporary replacement of Kyle Newman early in the season. The line-up appears to be settling down now though and with as fearsome top 5 as there is in the league with plenty of Armadale experience and pedigree a tasty fixture lies ahead.

First up in that top 5 is reigning British champion (until Monday at least) Danny King. King is widely regarded as one off the top men in the Championship and is a big contributor everywhere the Witches go. He has been involved in some enthralling races around the Dale and with a paid 15 score among other double digit returns in his past he will be looking to set the stall out for the Witches and make a mark as early as heat 1 and his battles with our top men will be a sight to behold.

A strong looking opening pairing sees Kyle Newman slot in at number 2. Newman is perhaps the weakest of the visiting top 5 based on Armadale form but as a former number 1 and 5 at Plymouth most of his matches here have involved riding in more difficult heats than he will face from the number 2 slot. Newman has had an injury plagued start to the season and this has caused a slight dip in scoring power so far but he now appears to be turning the corner and having recently been dropped by Premiership outfit Poole he will be looking to impress.

Number 3 in the Suffolk men’s line-up is a rider who needs very little introduction in Justin Sedgmen. There is not much more that can be said about Sedgy a rider who in 2 years with the Monarchs picked up 2 league titles, 2 league cup titles, a KO cup title and a fours championship title not to mention a hell of a lot of friends at the club. We wished Justin all the best when he decided he wanted to take the step up to the top tier last year before Ipswich brought him back to the second tier to replace the injured Nico Covatti. Justin certainly showed he has not forgotten the quickest way around the Dale though as he came from the back to take the Harrison’s Scottish Open back on the opening night of the season and if we can keep him quiet tonight it will go a long way to securing all 3 points.

Joining Sedgy in the engine room of the visitors is young Aussie Cameron Heeps. Heeps is one who perhaps has not made the strides many expected from him and is now into his 7th year on these shores. This seems to be the year Heeps is taking that next step though and he currently has put 2.5 points on his season starting average. Many will also remember that Heeps was voted visiting rider of the year by the Monarchs fans back in 2014 after a sensational performance in the cup semi final, a repeat of that performance this week and the home men’s unbeaten record may well disappear.

Another Monarch’s legend helps complete the quintet in the form of the ‘Roo Boy’ Rory Schlein. It is hard to believe it has now been 13 years since we last saw Rory in a Monarchs race jersey but time has not lessened the level of goodwill the Monarchs faithful have towards Rory and he will go down in Monarchs folklore as one of the members of the 2003 team that brought our first ever league championship success. Rory has been a regular visitor over those years in the Scottish Open and once again showed his pedigree by making the final of this year’s event. The drop down to the second tier appears to have reinvigorated Rory also as he had added 1.5 points to his starting average and also currently sports a remarkable 9.5 point average in the Premiership for Wolves.

Of course with that level of power in the top 5 something has to give in team building and for Ipswich this year it was at reserve where they decided to start the season with a pair of 2 point reserves in the hope that they would hold their own and number 6 Connor Mountain has certainly done that so far. Mountain has done well to push his average up by almost 0.7 of a point and has been a solid contributor and it will be interesting to see how he fares on his first visit to Armadale at this level.

Completing the Witches is recent signing Nathan Greaves. Greaves was brought in to replace the unfortunate Danyon Hume who suffered a badly broken arm in what was a major blow to the Witches as Hume was having a breakthrough season more than doubling his starting average. Greaves has not let the side down though since being introduced and appears to be making the most of also having Premiership experience being as he is a member of the Wolverhampton outfit also. Greaves has never shown a real liking for Armadale in the past but again this was in his more formative years and he appears to be a different rider this year who will certainly cause our guys problems at the bottom end of the team.

So a strong and experienced looking Witches side make the long trek north hoping to lower our colours and also chase the top spot in the SGB Championship table and our Blue and Gold heroes will need to be at their very best to take the spoils.

The home men will line up with our full 1-7 despite injury fears over Max and particularly Ricky, both were feeling second hand after their crashes last Friday with Ricky admitting he would not have been fit to ride had our trip to Newcastle went ahead last Sunday however a few days rest has Ricky raring to go as he took his place for Rye House on Wednesday night.

One change to our riding order sees Josh drop to reserve. This is something that he should be relishing as with his recent return to form coupled with the ability to take extra rides meaning some bumper pay days should hopefully be ahead for the Aussie and with the form Max has shown over the last few weeks moving back into the main body should hold no fears.

The forecast is set fair, the opposition look strong and primed to challenge and our boys will be out their defending their league topping position with everything they have, what more could you ask for on a Friday night with only one place to see it and that’s trackside at Armadale. See you there!

Full Result Details