Scottish Teams Chase Second

NEWS Wednesday 7th September 2016, 6:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs welcome Glasgow Tigers to Armadale on Friday for a vitally important Premier League match with both teams still entertaining hopes of finishing second in the table behind the Somerset Rebels, now confirmed as top dogs.

The top six teams qualify for the Playoffs which will decide the league title, and the top two gain automatic qualification for the semi-finals of the Playoffs (Newcastle also still have a chance to finish second). Both teams will be at full strength for Friday’s showdown match.

John Campbell said “We still have the opportunity of finishing second in the league. That requires us to arrange and win our three remaining home matches and Glasgow to fail to pick up a point here or at Workington. Newcastle would also have to fail to arrange or win their three remaining home matches.”

Teams for the Premier League Match at Armadale on Friday 9th September (start time 7.30pm, gates open 6.30pm), are:

BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Ryan Fisher, Erik Riss, Mark Riss, Kevin Wolbert, Max Clegg, Dan Bewley.

GLASGOW TIGERS: Richard Lawson, Nike Lunna, Aaron Summers (capt.), Rene Bach, Richie Worrall, Fernando Garcia, Danny Ayres.

PREMIER LEAGUE: Somerset reached 60 points with their draw at Berwick last Monday and no other team can reach that mark. The Rebels have only lost twice this season in the League, and for the last three years the team finishing top has gone on to win the Premier League Championship Playoffs – Somerset 2013, Edinburgh 2014 and 2015.

Glasgow are currently second on 49 points, with away matches at Edinburgh and Workington still to be raced.

Edinburgh are on 41 points with home matches against Glasgow, Somerset and Peterborough to go. We could thus reach 50 points if we win them all before the cutoff.

Newcastle are also on 41 points, and they are at Plymouth this Friday. They have remaining home matches against Workington, Ipswich and Scunthorpe plus a visit to Ipswich.

The cutoff for deciding the Playoff positions is 19th September and it isn’t certain that all of the matches will be completed by then.

PLRC: Captain Sam Masters represents the Border Roofing Monarchs in this Sunday’s Premier League Riders’ Championship at Sheffield. He won the title in 2012 when representing Somerset.

MATCH SPONSOR: Friday’s match will be sponsored by St Elizabeth’s Primary School.

TIGERS WILL BE TOUGH: Glasgow undoubtedly track their best side since they last won the League title in 2011, and they have already knocked Monarchs out of the KO Cup this season. They held us to a 48-41 win in the second leg which meant they went through comfortably on aggregate, but they will come determined to do even better on Friday.

Their most in-form rider is Richie Worrall (13 last time) but it is a measure of the strength of the Glasgow heat leaders that it is the other two, Richard Lawson and captain Aaron Summers, who have qualified for the Premier League Riders’ Championship on Sunday.

Another absolutely key man is Rene Bach who has made an excellent return to British Speedway this year.

The top four is the strength of the Glasgow team, while Nike Lunna, Fernando Garcia and Danny Ayres are all triers who have done well at Ashfield in particular but whose away points will be important one way or the other in whether their team can gain one, two or three points on Friday.

FANS' TRUST RAFFLE: The Monarchs' Fans Trust, who have been such a fantastic support to the club this season (we'll have more to say on that in due course) are staging a raffle with a £500 first prize to be drawn in November. If you want to help by selling some tickets, Books will be available to sell from the Gazebo from 6.30pm till tapes up and then in the bar after the meeting.

LAST MEETING: Monarchs beat Redcar Bears 62-28 in a very one-sided match last Friday, and then in the second part of the double header defeated Plymouth 39-30 before the match was abandoned at heat 11 due to the 10pm curfew. Guest rider Ludvig Lindgren was unbeaten in both meetings.

NEXT MEETING: The next fixture will be on Friday 16th September with the opposition still to be confirmed.