Speedway: Monarchs youngster suffers

Today, Wright admitted his chances of riding are only “50-50”, but he will make a final decision later on in the week.

Wright took a very heavy knock against Glasgow Tigers last Friday when he smashed through the safety boards in heat 14, banging his head as he lay sprawled on the ground, and the Englishman said he should never have ridden at Berwick Bandits on the Saturday, saying it was “stupid and dangerous”.

Monarchs were in celebratory mood after lifting the Spring Trophy against the Tigers, pulling back a 14-point first-leg deficit, but Wright had little to smile about after his mishap, caused, in part, by Tigers’ tail-ender Jade Mudgway.

“Jade went off his line a bit. He came out in the wrong place leaving me with nowhere to go. I hit the dirt and ploughed right through the safety fence because Jade had a wobble in front of me,” explained Wright.

“I really did whack my head, but I’m one of those riders who like to get back on the bike right away, but I should have stayed down longer than I did instead of getting up straight away.

“My head was funny and the brain doesn’t function as it should – everything is slower.”

But Wright decided to travel to Berwick for Monarchs’ Cock o’ the North challenge fixture which they lost 50-39 after suffering a spate of fallers on a track described as “appalling” by some.

Wright, once again, chose heat 14 to come to grief and confessed he should have pulled out of the meaningless fixture.

“I should not have ridden. It was a pretty stupid thing to do and probably dangerous,” he said.

“I didn’t feel right on the bike after Friday and to give my head another bang was daft. The Berwick track certainly didn’t help – it was rough and had a lot of dirt on it, a lot of riders struggled on it – and I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent either.

“I’ve had a few smashes at Berwick over the years; it’s a very hard track to go to.”

Monarchs led by two points at one stage and Wright insists, with better luck, the Capital side might have squeezed out a victory having provided six different race winners during the meeting.

Wright added: “On paper, Berwick have one of the strongest teams in the league and our team is very even throughout. We just need a few more heat winners. We are getting a lot of 3-3 advantages and just need to come good on the night.

“We seem to be able to lead a match at the halfway point then lose out at the end, we don’t have a problem at Armadale.”

Wright is hoping to get the green light to face Newcastle and lamented: “I only rode at Berwick because I didn’t want to let the team down, but I’ll see a paramedic before Friday’s match starts to see if I’m fit to race.

“I just never seem to have the best of luck. Just when things are going well for me, which they have been so far, something always pops along to ruin it.”