CLUB NEWS: Monarchs in cruise control

Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway club took an all too easy victory against a severely depleted home team in East Park on Sunday. Birmingham were also missing heat leaders Scott Millward and Ricki Johnson, whilst home number one Jake White was a huge loss for the Wolves.

Wolves mostly youthful side were unable to manage a heat advantage with the Monarchs outfit proving much too strong. 5 riders went unbeaten for Birmingham with Mark Winwood topping the scorers on 18 paid 20. Former wolf, Josh Hill, made his first team debut and was unbeaten until the final race in a solid contribution.

Later in the day things were much closer in the 2nd Division, with both sides level at the end of heat 15. With the Wolves carrying penalty points from the 1st team
match it gave overall victory to Birmingham making it a clean sweep on the day.

MIDLAND LEAGUE DIVISION 1
East Park 59 V BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 121 – Mark Winwood 18+2 (5), Nathan Groves 17+3 (5),Ewan Hancox 14+2 (4), Chris Timms 14+2 (4), Paul Timms 14+2 (4), Josh Hill 18 (5), Jake Steel 13+2 (5), Luke Draisey 13+1 (4)

The Mini Monarchs started the day off with victory in the 3rd Division fixture with another
comprehensive victory, 3 of the side not beaten by a Wolf rider. The reigning junior champions proving just too strong for there Wolverhampton counterparts.

MIDLAND LEAGUE DIVISION 3
East Park 29 V BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 53 – Connor Steel 16 (4), Charlie Buet Gannon 16 (4), Bekah Humphries 12+4 (4), Samuel Price 5+1 (2), Issy Buet Gannon 2 (2)

The 2nd round of the YJL at Leicester was unfortunately rained off with a restaging date to be arranged. The next round is scheduled for the 19th May at Birmingham. A decision is to be made on restaging the 3rd Division fixture at Coventry due to confusion over eligibility of age range for 2018.

All roads lead back to East Park this weekend as they host the European Club Championships with teams travelling from all over the UK and Poland, in what will be a weekend of fantastic racing (5th/6th/7th May).

Birmingham are drawn in the opening round that starts the day on Saturday (12 noon) against a strong Polish team from Leszno and also will be pitched against Stockport, Hethersett and home side East Park. Birmingham will also be racing on the Sunday, depending on where they finish on Saturday. They will be hoping to make Mondays final.

Keep up to date with Birmingham Monarchs news at birminghammonarchs.wordpress.com, and follow the Monarchs on Twitter with the handle @brummonarchs.