Speedway – ‘biggest derby for years’ say Monarchs

What the Fork Monarchs and the Allied Vehicles Tigers are pushing hard for a place in the end-of-season play-offs which will decide the SGB Championship title and so the home-and-away clashes this weekend are the most important since the duo met in the 2015 Premier League Final.

Monarchs stage the first match on Friday (tapes-up 7.30pm) and thy won in 2015, but they have not managed to beat Tigers since the final match of the 2018 season and Glasgow will be at full-strength.

Monarchs have fitness concerns over Richie Worrall, Nathan Greaves and Joe Lawlor which they will have to resolve before Friday.

And Glasgow are on a high having returned to the top of the league with a road win at Plymouth Gladiators on Tuesday.

Monarchs are third thanks to recent wins at Eastbourne and Berwick but have a run of away matches coming up.

In-form Josh Pickering said: “I’ve said to the boys you just treat these meetings like any other. You can’t be getting off task. You have to do your job, race your bike and it (the result) will take care of itself.”

WHAT THE FORK MONARCHS: Sam Masters (capt.), Nathan Greaves, Kye Thomson, Josh Pickering, Richie Worrall, Joe Lawlor, William Lawson.

ALLIED VEHICLES TIGERS: Craig Cook (capt.), Sam Jensen, Ricky Wells, Broc Nicol, Ulrich Ostergaard, Connor Bailey, Justin Sedgmen.

Sunday 25th July: Glasgow v Edinburgh What the Fork Monarchs (Championship), Ashfield, 3:00pm