Speedway: Troubled Monarchs star Jonasson faces the axe after going AWOL

Published on Friday 5 June 2009 10:26

THOMAS JONASSON'S future as an Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs rider will be decided by club directors in the coming days.

Jonasson is in hot water after missing two flights from Sweden on Wednesday, causing him to be absent from Monarchs' Premier League fixture at Somerset Rebels, which they lost 50-40.

And today director Mike Hunter said Jonasson must decide if he wants to continue to race for the club or ply his trade in Sweden and Poland instead.

Monarchs had booked two flights for Jonasson but the rider missed the one due in at East Midlands airport. Promoter John Campbell then made a dash to collect him at Heathrow, but Jonasson failed to make that flight as well.

Jonasson's continued absence due to injury and overseas commitments, is slowly beginning to irritate Monarchs fans and his actions in midweek could easily spell the end of his career at Armadale.

Hunter said: "We'll be talking with Thomas about Wednesday. I don't know what will happen but we need to get an explanation from him."

Jonasson, whose father Michael recently died suddenly, misses Monarchs' league clash with Rye House Rockets tonight, as does team-mate Ryan Fisher. Both are competing in a Grand Prix qualifier in Italy.

"Obviously we are aware that Thomas suffered a serious family bereavement," said Hunter. "Whether this was the reason for not turning up, no one knows. Thomas did crash in Sweden last week but he had recovered and told the club he would be at Somerset. The worst-case scenario is that he might not ride for us again, but we will not be making any knee-jerk reactions. However, we cannot allow it to continue. Thomas needs to be clear if he wants to ride for us or not.

"The Somerset fixture was in fact the first meeting he has missed that he should have been at but it's a very serious situation, some riders can get banned for missing matches.

"But we would imagine that because a lot of other riders were stuck in Sweden on Wednesday, for different reasons to those of Thomas, the sport's authorities will not take a hard line over it.

"But, from a purely Monarchs point of view, we simply cannot turn up at an away track and discover one of our team is missing. If it is decided that Thomas won't race for us again then we are permitted the rider-replacement facility for a 28-day period."

Meanwhile, Monarchs could have a fight on their hands against the Rockets tonight, who came close to smashing their unbeaten home record in 2008 when they lost by just a single point.

Only Matthew Wethers' second place in the last race preserved Monarchs' proud record that night.

Monarchs will use Jason Lyons as a guest for Fisher.

The Rockets also tried to snap up Lyons to step in for their injured No.1 Robert Mear, but had to settle for Mark Lemon who guested for Monarchs several times last season.

Mear is out of action for a month after injuring his hand riding for Lakeside at Swindon a week ago when his throttle jammed open.

The Rockets are small-track experts and Monarchs cannot expect any easy points against them.

Two of their squad make their Armadale debut, 18-year-old Swede Linus Sundstrom and Andrew Silver, 42-year-old son of Rockets boss Len.

Many Edinburgh fans will recall Silver junior turning out for Arena Essex at Powderhall in the 1980s and he is picking up a few points already on his return to speedway in 2009.