EDINBURGH Scotwaste Monarchs could face a speedway backlash from King's Lynn Stars at Saddlebow Road tonight.
Monarchs open their Premier League campaign at the Norfolk Arena but their hosts are still smarting from their shock home defeat by Birmingham Brummies on Friday which ended King's Lynn's incredible run of 98 consecutive home wins.
And already the
Stars have gone on the offensive, picking up a point in a 45-45 draw at Workington Comets and clinching a nail biting 47-46 victory at Glasgow Tigers on Sunday.
Stars team boss Rob Lyon is confident his squad won't slip up at home again and reflected: "Some good has come out of it. It has helped us re-focus.
"Defeats like this happen once in a while. We will definitely bounce back, hopefully beginning with Edinburgh."
Monarchs certainly aren't going into the clash fearing a drubbing, although Monarchs co-promoter John Campbell, realistically admits: "King's Lynn is not a fixture we have targeted as winnable. If we are to do something then we need luck on the night."
Monarchs do not have an outstanding record at King's Lynn but may draw hope from the fact that their reserve duo Andrew Tully and Aaron Summers have both recorded returns of double figures there recently. Tully scored 14 in a British Under-21 qualifier, and Summers collected 17 on Conference League duty with Redcar Cubs.
Team-mate Matthew Wethers rode for the Stars in 2005. He said: "So many visiting teams find it very difficult to leave with a result, which puts Birmingham's success into some perspective.
"But we have so much confidence among our whole squad at the moment, we believe we can win anywhere. The secret of winning at King's Lynn is to fly out of the gate and hope for the best!"
For Ryan Fisher and Thomas Jonasson this will be their first glimpse of the King's Lynn bowl and how the pair perform could be a key factor. Despite some niggling bike problems, Fisher isn't frightened to mix it and is no respecter of reputations.
Jonasson, who scored eight points for his Polish outfit Stal Gorzow against Atlas on Saturday but struggled against tougher opponents Zielona Gora, 24 hours later, returned to action for Monarchs at Redcar Bears last Thursday after being sidelined for two weeks with a back injury.
His five points from two rides had gaffer Campbell purring with delight. And if the 20-year-old ace can get dialled in again Monarchs, who are seeing their solidly constructed line-up bring rewards, could conceivably eclipse the Stars, who may have doubt in their minds over their hitherto invincibility following Birmingham's amazing success.
• THERE will be no meeting at Armadale on Friday after Newcastle Diamonds turned down Monarchs' request to re-stage their Premier League clash rained off last week.
Newcastle, already using rider replacement for injured George Stancl, would also have been without Josef Franc.
Monarchs chief Alex Harkess said: "If we had been in the same situation we wouldn't have gone without one of our top riders either because Newcastle would only have been allowed a Conference League rider to replace Franc."
The full article contains 535 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
