Speedway: Monarchs frustrated as bid to add new rider hits snag

Published on Tuesday 30 June 2009 09:44

EDINBURGH Scotwaste Monarchs have thrown a veil of secrecy over the identity of the mystery rider they are lining up to replace Swede Thomas Jonasson.

But hopes that the Capital speedway club would unveil their new capture in time for Friday's Premier League clash against Newport Wasps at Armadale appear to have been dashed.

Promoter John Campbell, who is trying to broker a deal with the candidate, today revealed: "I haven't spoken to the man in question since Thursday. I was away all weekend and had expected a phone call or email from him on my return. But I've heard nothing so I don't know what the position is at the moment.

"Nearly all of the finance is in place to bring him over, that is not a problem. And there is still a possibility that a new rider will be in place for Friday. Although we have to declare our team three days in advance we don't actually need to get our candidate to Armadale until a minute before the start of the meeting. We have until midnight tonight and things can happen very quickly in this game."

Meanwhile, Monarchs are considering staging a double header at Armadale to ease a possible fixture pile-up. They are through to the semi finals of both the Premier Trophy and KO Cup and Campbell says finding dates is proving difficult.

He said: "I've just found out that King's Lynn don't intend to race their semi final until September. So despite Rye House wanting to ride our semi final in July there is now no rush to do that.

"However we also have to keep in mind that if we reach the Premier Trophy final we will have two extra meetings to fit in. It's proving a problem to find dates for our Trophy semi-final against Scunthorpe, who are also a Friday night track.

"There is still a possibility we may consider a double header."