THE countdown has begun to Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs receiving the Premier League championship trophy after clinching the crown in dramatic fashion last week.
Club chairman Alex Harkess, one of the architects of the Capital side's success, today said winning the title was extra special because six of the riders – Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, Derek Sneddon, Thomas Jonasson, William Lawson and Aaron Summer
s – are Monarchs' own assets. American Ryan Fisher, who was signed on loan, is the exception.
Yet, Harkess concedes that when the squad was assembled at the start of the season he had no idea what to expect.
He said: "The main angle we looked at was were they all capable of increasing their averages. Young riders, as they all are, will. But older riders who have reached the top of the hill, the best they can do is stay there. This has been the difference between this year and 2003 when we won the title for the first time in our history.
"Then, Peter Carr and Frede Schott were at the top of the hill. This season has been a seven-man effort and they have all upped their averages. You wouldn't know who was going to win races for you."
Swede Jonasson and Fisher were the duo Harkess admits the club took a slight gamble with.
"Thomas came with a good pedigree and was among the top Under-21 riders in the world. We were worried about how he would manage round Armadale, but if the rest of the team performed it wouldn't be so crucial.
"It was the vital away matches we needed Thomas to perform in and this worked almost to the script. He excelled. He started with a seven-point average and has increased it in his first season with us.
"We had been close to signing Ryan before. We knew he was capable and he is still young. Everyone thinks he has been around for ever but he is still under 25."
The realisation that Monarchs could make a push for their second title in six years became apparent during their Premier Trophy campaign and Harkess said: "The team were dominant even then and we began to think the side was better than we thought.
"We started off with Andrew at reserve which gave us huge potential at the tail-end. Then Aaron went to Glasgow and scored a maximum. We believed this team could be something special because those scoring the points were at the low end of the team.
"The only downside we feared was that the team was too young and we thought an older head was needed to clam them down. But they proved to be so capable and helped each other out, no older head was required."
Monarchs, and indeed Somerset, whose failure to win at Birmingham last week handed Monarchs the championship, were both written off as title hopefuls at the start of the season.
"We were predicted to finish tenth," said Harkess. "I was disappointed to read that because I thought we were better than that. It's funny, when we won in 2003 we were also tipped to finish tenth."
Leading Monarchs' crusade was captain Derek Sneddon and Harkess cannot praise the Falkirk-based rider highly enough.
"There is nothing I can say to fault Derek. Our match at Newcastle exemplified his qualities," Harkess said.
"The meeting was a disaster for him on a personal level but it didn't stop him working to get the best out of everybody. He didn't sit away in a corner despite his own nightmare, he bucked us all up. As captain he has been tremendous. He is also a strong character. If he didn't agree with me about things, he wasn't slow to tell me."
Two league titles in six years is a tremendous testimony to Harkess and co-promoter John Campbell and their squad building talents.
Harkess revealed: "This year's championship is extra special in that six riders are our own assets.
"To have six of your own riders win the title is incredible. The Scottish lads who have come through the ranks via the defunct Dale Devils is down to John and he deserves this success.
"It is very difficult to attract riders to Armadale. English stars are non-starters. Why would they want to pass half a dozen tracks to come to Armadale – and that's why there are none in our team!"
Because all of the Monarchs have increased their averages, the team collectively are over the points limit which governs all Premier League squads.
This means Monarchs will have to jettison at least two members of their championship-winning team in defence of their crown in 2009.
"That's inevitable," said Harkess. "But if we didn't win the league it wouldn't happen. However, we set out to win the league and we are delighted to have done so this year. But after October, this team will never ride together again. It's a travesty but we know that's the rule and it's what makes the Premier League, in my opinion, the best league in the world for entertainment and quality of racing."
The full article contains 862 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
