Edinburgh Monarchs welcome two new riders to saddle for Birmingham Brummies clash

The Edinburgh Monarchs will have two new riders in the saddle tonight when they welcome the Birmingham Brummies in a crucial Championship clash.
Edinburgh Monarchs are in action tonight.Edinburgh Monarchs are in action tonight.
Edinburgh Monarchs are in action tonight.

Co-promoters Alex Harkess and John Campbell earlier this week disposed of Willie Lawson and reserve Luke Crang, electing to bring in Anders Rowe and Drew Kemp for the business end of the season.

Monarchs have found things tough in recent weeks, particularly on home shale. Last week they were well beaten by league leaders the Poole Pirates, a result that saw them slip down to fifth in the table where their quest to finish in the top six and end-of-season play-offs is now under threat.

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Kemp, 19, guested in place of the injured Crang against the Pirates last Friday, his first-ever appearance at Armadale. However, he failed to score in his three programmed rides. But the Monarchs promotion are convinced they saw enough in the British Under-21 Championship runner-up to suggest he can start scoring points that predecessors Joe Lawlor and Crang failed to do .

Kemp guested in Monarchs' emphatic 58-32 win at the Berwick Bandits in July, scoring eight points from four rides.

Boss Harkess said: "Drew was pretty downcast last Friday when he failed to score riding as our guest, but we know he is much better than that. He was much chirpier when we got back in touch to make the move permanent and we are delighted to have him. He did brilliantly for us at Berwick early in the season."

Birmingham, who still harbour their own play-off ambitions, will be no pushovers. Former Monarch Erik Riss is a formidable opponent around the West Lothian circuit and in Chris Harris, a former British Grand Prix winner, the Midlands club are expected to pose a serious threat.

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Harkess added: "If we get a good contribution from everyone, we will be fine. I want a good win. We were winning comfortably when Birmingham were here in the cup and I think we were on our way to a big win."

Monarchs will again operate rider replacement for the injured Richie Worrall.