Speedway – Wells, Andersson and Lawson back

Edinburgh Monarchs have completed their team for next season by confirming that Ricky Wells, Joel Andersson and William Lawson are returning to the colours.

Newcomer Luke Ruddick steps-up from the National League to join them and the Aussie trio of Josh Pickering, Justin Sedgmen and Cameron Heeps.

The seven riders total 37.48 points, just over half a point under the new limit.

The additions means the club say farewell and thanks to last year’s heat leaders Erik Riss and Richie Worrall, plus Victor Palovaara. There’s no denying it’s hard to see favourites moving on.

Wells is racing in the States at the moment and will be the clear top average man in the side. He raced at No 1 last year for all but the final match.

He said “Last year I felt good all season, I don’t think I had a bad meeting at home. I never had a retirement or an exclusion, so that was pretty cool.

“I had quite a few bonus points at home which is something I’m not really used to but that was just Victor making the start in front of me, no point in passing him. That probably helped me for this year keeping my average down.

“It’s a pretty balanced team we have so it’s up to all of us. Edinburgh feels like home now. It is a good club with good people and I’ve felt that it was home right from my first year.

“The one downside is the travel but I’d rather travel a little bit further to go to a place I enjoy.”

Swedish-born Andersson is happy to be back after a debut season in which he showed a lot of improvement before missing the closing fixtures through injury.

The 22-year-old said: “Last season was really fun. I had a really rough start to the season but in the middle it started to be more fun. I learned a lot so that’s good.

“When you get your head around Armadale and learn how to ride it, you can basically beat anyone there. When you get the corner right you just fly down the straight. I love it.”

Berwick-born Ruddick forms an all-Scottish reserve pairing with William Lawson from Perthshire.

The 20-year-old said: “I’m quite confident and excited about it and I’m looking forward to it. It’s definitely a step in the right direction and it’s what I was hoping for.

“It was a couple of years ago that I rode Armadale but I like coming there,”

Monarchs brought former UK under-18 champion William Lawson back to the fold after eight years out of the sport in 2018, and Monarchs were always keen to carry this on.