Speedway: Dicken and Monarchs part ways after Englishman fails to find his form

Published on Tuesday 28 June 2011 13:48

Edinburgh MONARCHS last night released struggling reserve rider Lee Dicken following his failure to score during his side's 49-41 Spring Trophy defeat at Glasgow Tigers on Monday night.

And Monarchs boss John Campbell revealed he is set to unveil Dicken's replacement in time for Friday's Premier League fixture against Newcastle Diamonds at Armadale.

Dicken's departure is no great surprise given that the 32-year-old rider has struggled to make any impression at the tail-end since Monarchs snapped him up in April.

In an exclusive interview with the Evening News, Dicken revealed he will almost certainly quit speedway for good and regretted he wasn't able to do the job he was signed for.

He said: "The club and myself have decided to call it a day, I was banking on my new engine to turn things around, but problems in setting it up meant things didn't happen for me.

"I couldn't carry on struggling the way I was, I'm a bit gutted, not at losing my team place, but I wanted to show Edinburgh what I was really capable of."

Dicken denied that joining Monarchs was a gamble but admitted: "I was out for much of last season with a lot of injuries and they have taken their toll. Edinburgh told me if I scored two or three points a meeting they'd be over the moon and I never thought scoring that would be a problem, but getting two points was the hardest thing to come by.

"I also had mechanical problems which I had never suffered during my career, everything just seemed to be against me. There is only so much you can try do to put things right and I'm so deflated with the whole thing.

"I won't be trying it again, I'll quit speedway now because I've got too many other commitments. I certainly don't regret riding for Edinburgh and they gave me a good enough shout and persevered with me."

Monarchs boss John Campbell said: "I'm disappointed for Lee and I think he is disappointed for us. He tried so hard to get it right."