EDINBURGH Monarchs' Premier League campaign is well on track but club chairman Alex Harkess is suppressing any championship talk, pointing out: "You never know when trouble is around the corner."
With victory expected against Scunthorpe Scorpions at Armadale tonight, Harkess, said: "We are doing better than we originally thought we would. And this is because the team have gelled so well, everything is going smoothly but it's a touch-wood situ
ation.
"The next problem could be around the corner, but it's going along very pleasantly and we are riding very well."
With Somerset Rebels currently leading the table thanks to their fortunate win at Newcastle Diamonds this week, Harkess reflected on Scotwaste Monarchs' narrow reverse at Rye House and the loss of three points.
"After the Rye House meeting the general consensus was we should have won down there. And it was disappointing to lose having led for two thirds of the match. Howeve,r it wasn't a meeting we thought we'd win in the first place.
"The team, after getting close, were disappointed, but such is the spirit right now they think they can pick up something at every track they go to. We got a point at King's Lynn and were unlucky not to win there as well. But if someone had offered us a point beforehand we would have snapped their hand off. But you can't dwell on such things, you have got to move on."
One of the key elements to winning any league title is not to surrender anything at home and Harkess firmly believes it will take something dramatic for any visiting side to leave the Lothian Arena with points in the bag. He added: "We would have to have a bad night and unusual circumstances to cause that.
"We have already seen teams with a strong top two come to Armadale and leave with nothing."
Only Reading Racers have come close to springing a shock restricting Monarchs to a slender six-point victory three weeks ago. Harkess added: "Reading had a strong top end but were weaker down below. Our strength is right throughout the team. Also our reserves, Andrew Tully and Aaron Summers are capable of wining races as they have proved.
"Reading were fortunate to run us close. The weather presented them with a Reading type of track than an Edinburgh track.
"That may have bothered us in the past, but not now. Reading only got back into the match thanks to a tactical 8-1 advantage. If any team take points from Armadale I'll be very disappointed."
The only cloud surrounding Monarchs is Swede Thomas Jonasson, pictured right.
The 20-year-old rider has been injured twice already and badly needs more track time round Armadale. Said Harkess: "He is an on-going problem, though it has nothing to do with his riding ability. He has been showing better form away from home because many of the away tracks are easier to ride than Armadale. He needs track time here and that's why he came across to ride in last Friday's Diamond Jubilee event which was essentially an open meeting.
"He needed practice and also it gave him the opportunity to try out two new bikes. But Thomas has certain World Under-21 commitments coming up between now and the first week in June and he will miss meetings for us. Okay, we can use rider replacement for him. But I'd far rather track a seven-man team. He races on a Swedish licence and is in demand. He also feels he can do well in the Under-21 championship"
The great boon for Monarchs is the superb form of tail end duo Tully and Summers – the latter posting back-to-back double-figure scores at Rye House and Mildenhall.
"It would unfair just to pick Andrew out," said Harkess. "Because Aaron is doing remarkably well. In fact you could run through the whole team. For instance, Ryan Fisher is only fifth in our averages yet you could argue he is the most exciting rider of the lot to watch as you never know what you are going to get from him. We truly are a seven-man squad."
Any comparisons with Monarchs' 2003 title-winning team are respectfully dismissed by Harkess who said: "It's far too early to talk about parallels.
"Our team that year started off with a terrible injury to Derek Sneddon and we replaced him with Wayne Carter. Then Frede Schott got injured but because he was top of our averages we had a great pick of guests to choose from.
"It's all about avoiding injury. If we win the league this season then I'll call it a parallel."
Magnus Karlsson was a member of Monarchs' victorious squad five years ago and he spearheads Scunthorpe's challenge.
Along with Richard Hall and Andrew Moore, all three rode at Elite League level in 2007 and have experience in abundance.
The Scorpions got a nasty sting in their own tail when they lost a last heat decider to go down 46-44 against a patched up Glasgow Tigers team at Ashfield on Sunday.
The defeat left Scorpions gaffer Rob Godfrey upset.
He commented: "It was a bitter pill to swallow.
"I'd had it down as a match we could have won."
The full article contains 890 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
