What the Fork Monarchs don’t have their troubles to seek at the moment and there were plenty of problems in the important match against Birmingham Brummies, writes the club’s press team.
With Richie Worrall (pictured) still unfit, no suitable guest available, and No 7 Nathan Greaves retiring from the sport the night before, Monarchs were depleted at the start and even more so after a crash while leading Heat 9 ruled Kye Thomson out with shoulder and rib injuries.
At that point with Birmingham leading by ten points you would have received extremely long odds on Monarchs getting anything out of the match – and yet they nearly won it.
Alex Harkess, Monarchs’ team manager, prised new signing and debutant Drew Kemp for playing a major part in bringing the home side back into the match, taking four rides on the trot between Heats 11 and 13.
Kemp won two and collected a paid win during that sequence and Harkess believes Anders Rowe will come good and Archie Freeman could have made a major contribution in his third ride but for his bike spluttering.
The team boss added: “I wasn’t happy with the ragged start t o Heat 13 but I’m not complaining about the decision to exclude Erik Riss in the last heat. I expected all four. If we had got a decision like that against us I’d be fizzing mad.”
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