King Jamie

It's a pity the numbers game didn't allow Monarchs to replace Max James with Jack Smith. Would've been really cool having Jack and Victor at reserve.

And why would they?

Sunny Armadale hosted its first meeting in 1997. The date? Friday 4th April. The score? 43-47. When do we sign Peter Carr? A few things from tonight: Heats 13 and 15 went as expected. The lack of real top end strength will define this season. Michele Castagna - dreadful lack of team riding in heat 7, leaving young Max to fend off Leon Flint. To follow that up by landing himself in the fence while chasing shadows a couple of laps later was,quite frankly, pathetic. Super Grahn is probably Average Grahn at best. Didn't really attack the track and looked relatively slow throughout. Overall not the worst evening's racing, with a not unexpected defeat thrown in for good measure. Let's hope for warmer weather in the coming weeks. Only two and a half months 'til summer...

Have no fear. We'll get our revenge the next time a Polish club signs a Scotsman...

I like it. Besides, it's only a bit of fun. Surely you're not ashamed of the fact that your very own home town is the only one in the UK with that special 4 letter word contained within?

I have to say, if it's confirmed 2 x 4pt reserves, I'd quite honestly have to say it's one of the worst ever attempts at team building I've ever seen from the Monarchs management. And I've been around to witness multiple efforts. Sedgmen is not a number 1. Castagna is not a number 5. Thomson is adequate at 3 or 4. Palovaara or SuperGrahn must be at reserve. There's no point in having them both in the top 5. The 4-pointers may well do ok at reserve. However, any possible potential gain from that 'strength' will be well and truly cancelled out by those above who have, quite frankly, been thrown to the wolves. I look forward to counting the heat advantages from 13 and 15. Should be fun...

With that amount available (and considering there's no number 1 in the team), I would much rather sign a rider such as Claus Vissing, coupled with a 2pt rider (Max James) at no.7. That would leave Palovaara at reserve initially, probably swapping places with SuperGrahn once they both attain new averages. Having 2 4pt-ish chaps at reserve (unless they're somehow world beaters) will leave the team extremely weak throughout.

Yeah, I hear he brings the sweets for Ed the Monarch to hand out to the kids every week.

ABBA aplenty over the tannoy next season then.

Ok. Just for you... Boughen to Edinburgh. You read it here first 😉

Well done Mods 🙂

Cheetahs 🙂

That could affect the balance of the side.

Thompson for Thomson? Usually people take the p. We've decided to add one instead.

Think 'Cardiff without the roof' and you'll not be too far away. Monarchs scored better than I expected last night. Unfortunately, we discovered "too many Cooks" isn't always a bad thing. Congratulations to Poole. The people's Champions 2024. Say no to the Americanised play offs.

Blobby been out dancing again. Silly boy.

I vaguely remember Christian Henry (Edinburgh) and a home rider from Newport both being shunted back 15 metres for tape touching at the same time in the same race. Pretty sure it was a heat 8 and, as Henry was riding for us, I'm guessing it was either 2001 or 2002. Can't recall ever seeing that either before or since?

Disagree with that. Running r/r at 5 means the first 3 rides are paired with a reserve, hence you go with the 3 strongest in the top 5. On paper, that's Josh, Michele and Kye, leaving Lasse in heat 13. If necessary (and, admittedly, partly depending on how badly the top 5 are performing), it's also an opportunity to get rid of the weakest reserve's third ride. If Josh does his job, he'll win 13 anyway so take the 3-3 and move on to the next race.

You expect them to take an extra day away from their families, just incase Microsoft has a random daft turn? Who's paying for the (unnecessary on 99.99999% of occasions) overnight accommodation? You happy to chuck a fiver in the collection hat? Good to see Antti Vuolas win a race. Highlight of the evening Speedy recovery to young Sedgy. Woeful 'team riding' from Josh in the first running of heat 1. A good, solid scorechart throughout the Monarchs' ranks. Worky achieved their mission and everyone went home happy (I presume).

Celina's unbeaten at sunny Armadale, isn't she? Won all her races there last season at any rate.

Fair comment, although I would like to pick up on bit in bold. I read that same sentiment previously, a week or two ago. Can't remember who posted it. So, I decided to stick my factual hat on again and investigate... This season, Kye has not lost a race against any visiting reserve at sunny Armadale. On the road, prior to this week, his defeats were at the hands of: Celina Liebmann (Worky). Perhaps I could suggest that Kye's such a Gentleman, he would never make a pass at a lady?!; and Ashton Boughen (Oxford). A young lad who has a tidy habit of jumping out the gate and breezing into the distance at a rate of knots. That's it. Obviously, his failure to score at Plymouth meant he would add to this tally (take a bow Jacob Hook and Joe Thompson) before Sam Hagon popped out the gate and emerged victorious in a rerun heat 8 at Poole on Wednesday. For completeness purposes, I should mention that young Sam also beat Kye during the KOC clash at Wimborne Road earlier this year, although this isn't included in the average stats. So the golden question is, "how often is too often?" Answers on a postcard

What about all the previous swallows? (see below) It hasn't. Kye's 'average counting' scores so far this season: BSN Series Berwick (A) 4+1 (4) Berwick (H) 10 (4) Glasgow (A) 7+1 (4) Glasgow (H) 7+3 (4) Championship Plymouth (H) 14+3 (7) Workington (A) 4+1 (5) Oxford (A) 8 (4) Oxford (H) 5+1 (4) Redcar (A) 3+1 (4) Scunny (H) 9+1 (4) Scunny (A) 4+1 (4) Plymouth (A) 0 (4) Poole (A) 8+1 (4) Yes, granted, he's hot and cold but he is a 6.50ish rider. What are you expecting? Double figures every week? Monarchs' averages this season are slightly skewed in that the H / A split is currently 5H and 8A. That, generally, keeps a rider's stats lower and highlights the negative. Kye has achieved above his average at home in all meetings bar Oxford. Away, he's reached the 6.50 'target' on 3 occasions - Glasgow, Oxford and Poole. He's also the bonus point king within the team. His '2024 meetings only' average is a full point lower than the 'including bonus' figure. Indeed, his 14 bonus points are only matched / bettered in the Championship by Jake Mulford, Luke Harrison, Craig Cook (all 14), Kyle Howarth (15), Sam Masters (16) and Jacob Hook (19). All hail those looking after job security... As I said, yes, he's hot and cold. But he's not the biggest problem in the side. Good luck to Kye for the rest of the season.

He actually goes into the bends too hard. He'd be much better off going in more controlled, piddling round the white line and using the drive off the exit of the bend, ala Max Clegg. If he's incapable of doing that then, I'm afraid, he'll continue to get swallowed up over the course of the 4 laps.

I don't think the levels of Monarchs' invincibility at sunny Armadale is in any way connected to the identity of the track curator. A decent home team will, more often than not, prevail whereas a 'lesser strength' home team is a lot more vulnerable.

That's terribly unlucky timing for the young chap, what with it being Norway Day.