cyclone

Monarchs were required to use 3 guests for Jonatan Grahn, Paco Castagna and Victor Palovaara due to international call-ups, at Berwick on 26th April. Unlike you pair of torn face Tigers, we just acceped it. Anyway it makes the second leg slightly more interesting, but the blessed well behaved Weegies😇 (they now wear angels wings instead of scarves) should still overcome the nasty Monarchs at the best ever race track known to man😁

Pity you hadn't bothered to check Lambert's performance at the Dale a month ago (14 + 1 from 6) before making your facile comment.

If a PL & CL merger is confirmed, expect some CL clubs to be shafted when it comes to allocating riders, as has happened in the past in 1965 & 1995.

Nick Morris could guest for Nagel in September

Similar to how the meetind progressed when Monarchs were @ Poole earlier, inasmuch that we were also 2 pts up after 7 heats & then went down the pan 🤔

Glasgow when they track their full seven, imo are the best team in the CL & if Nagel had been available, they would probably have added to their winning margin, given his guest replacement, Jacob Hook, did not score a point from his four rides. Howarth's scoring from no.5 is impressive, especially when matches go down to the wire & the Harris/Howarth combination usually deliver the coup de grace in heats 13 & 15. For Monarchs a key factor in their recent decline in performance is that Victor Palovaara is still trying to recover from pneumonia which apparently has absolutely done him in. In hindsight it might have been better to have given him more time to fully recover. One positive I took from tonight's match, was MPT's best ride at the Dale since joining us, in heat 14 where he stalked Flint until the last bend & burst through on the inside to take the win.

Redcar on paper, probably should win all their 5 remaining fixtures, whereas 2 of Edinburgh remaining 5 include the highly impressive Glasgow. My prediction would Redcar 3rd with Edinburgh & Oxford fighting for fourth which could be decided by their home & away matches with Workington.

Barring injuries, Glasgow, with the addition of Nagel & their reserves no longer points fodder for their opponents, should win all three competitions by the end of the Season.

Monarchs had three riders who had never ridden at Oxford before, including one 16 year old making his Championship debut in the UK. Add in that this was also only Palm Toft's second meeting this Season upon returning from injury, so imo, Monarchs did well to achieve this victory tonight.

So it's irrelvant MP is still in the team facing our local rivals over both legs of the KO Cup Quarter Final when the aggregate score could be very close? 🙄

Whilst we filled our boots tonight, the reverse could happen at Worky. Leon Flint who is going through a purple patch, replacing Zischke, imo strenghthens the Comets considerably. Remember the scores when we last met Worky in the 2018 KoC semi:- Edinburgh Monarchs 59 Workington Comets 31 Workington Comets 61 Edinburgh Monarchs 29 No time to be complacent, with North Side being a new track to both Swedes & also a raw number seven who is unlikely to beat any Championship reserve, barring non finishers.

Given our Friday race days and the known availability problems of Polish riders already contracted to their homeland clubs at weekends, not a surprise that the Polis signing backfired. Next week's KO Cup matches against Worky could determine whether Monarchs miserable run of results continues the downward spiral. Therefore let's hope there's positive moves to replace the deserting Polis before Friday.

Max Perry is not new, but if you had checked his starting GSA for 2025 it is 2.00. Thought you would have been aware of this when Poole ditched him in 2024 when his GSA was 2.00 Still we must make allowances for you being unable to comprehend this🫢

Assume the Promotion were aware of the rules when they signed Polis? Given apart from Poole & Oxford, all other Championship tracks home nights are Friday/Saturday, the likelihood of clashes of interest for Polish riders is higher. Edinburgh are the only CL side to sign a Pole for 2025. Glasgow seem to have learned from the problem of signing European riders with Polish commitments, in the past, and wisely have opted to track seven Englishmen, with the added bonus of the 2.5% starting GSA allowance this Season. From a PR perspective, any newcomers or resident Polish fans who bought tickets because of the "Polish attraction", this might deter any interest in further visits to Armadale 😒

Was that taking into account the 2.5% GSA deduction for UK riders in their team?