Back on track
Top spot possible if Monarchs keep Panthers in check
The Parsons Peebles Monarchs are looking to get back to winning ways when they welcome Peterborough to Armadale Stadium on Friday night.
The club are coming off a disappointing loss away at the Workington Comets on Sunday and will be desperate to head into a pivotal June full of confidence.
The 51- 42 loss in the north of England came just two days after the Monarchs had sealed a comfortable 53- 39 win on home soil against the Newcastle Diamonds after recovering from a poor start.
The Armadale men welcome a battered and bruised Panthers side knowing that a win, coupled with results going their way in other games, could see them jump back to the top of the SGB Championship.
The Panthers have suffered a spate of injuries in the last few weeks and are still awaiting confirmation of whether key man Bradley Wilson-Dean will be fit after suffering a nasty hand injury.
However, they are expected to welcome back Simon Lambert who was forced to sit out their trip to Newcastle last weekend after a spill at Berwick.
After this weekend, the Monarchs move into a busy spell with no less than eight matches currently scheduled in June and one man who is looking forward to this is captain Sam Masters.
The Aussie ace, who turned 26 this week, is one of the busiest men in world speedway with his duties for the Armadale-based club augmented by team berths in Sweden, Denmark and Poland as well as with Premiership tabletoppers Wolverhampton.
But he says he revels in the action and is hopeful of guiding the Monarchs to success over the coming week as they look to cement their spot in the play-offs.
He said: “I can never be too busy and that’s how I like it. I haven’t really started in Sweden yet and we tried one meeting in Denmark but it was rained off.
“I’ve done a couple in Poland and hopefully we’ll get a few more out there and it’ll be good as I like to be busy and I ride better when I’m busy.”
Masters is in fine form with the Monarchs and hopes the run will continue. He added: “You can’t really complain about anything if you are top of the league and to be top of both shows just how lucky I am to be in two good teams and hopefully it can keep going like that for the rest of the season and we keep having fun.”
The Monarchs’ riders are showing just how highly they are regarded in the sport in the UK with six of the seven having at least two team berths, which can only stand them in good stead for the remainder of the campaign as they look to grab silverware for the West Lothian outfit.
It was a mixed week for the Parsons Peebles Monarchs as they followed up Friday’s victory over Newcastle with a poor defeat at Workington Comets on Sunday.
The Armadale side got off to the worst possible start, conceding the first heat 5-1 on Friday night against the Diamonds.
Despite a slow start, back- toback maximum heat scores saw the hosts take the lead after heat seven and never look back.
The Monarchs had reserve Max Clegg to thank for his part in the victory as he continued his excellent recent form to score a paid 14 on the day.
Team manager Alex Harkess was full of praise for the youngster who has bounced back well from a disappointing start to the season.
He saidd: “You can see the difference. He believes he can pass people and he believes he can challenge anyone and on this form he is capable of beating anybody.”
Captain Sam Masters was also in dominant form but they were unable to replicate that level of performance when they made the trip to Workington on Sunday as they suffered a 51-42 loss.
As is perhaps becoming a worrying habit, the visitors started the match slowly and trailed 10-2 after just two heats.
They battled manfully and went into the final heat with a chance of claiming something from the clash but suffered a maximum score defeat.
Away team manger John Campbell admitted the stuttering start cost his side.
He said: “We lost it at the start. It’s difficult to give Workington eight points of a start and hope to do anything.
“It was disappointing as well to lose 5-1 in the last heat and that cost us the chance for points.”
Despite the loss, there were some positives that can be taken from the clash with Mitchell Davey riding well after burning out a clutch in his second ride.
His third-to-first burst in heat 14 was his finest ride since making his return to the second tier and he can take great heart from that performance.
Josh Pickering also looked like he was back to his usual self using the outside line to aplomb.
Erik Riss and Masters top-scored for the Monarchs with 11 points but the heat wins were too few and far between to look as if they were likely to threaten an away win.
The loss didn’t have any impact on the league table for the Monarchs as they remain at the summit with nine wins from their 12 fixtures.