Edinburgh Monarchs enter Lions den without their fastest racers

The Lions sit at the top of the table leading by six points over Sheffield Tigers, who are second, and are proving to be hard to catch even at this early stage of the campaign.

Monarchs are desperate to record their first away win of the season. And they will be without injury victims Josh Pickering and Justin Sedgmen which compounds the difficulty of the challenge awaiting them.

Victor Palovaara has been signed as an injury replacement for Sedgmen while Glasgow Tigers star Paul Starke will guest for Pickering, who could be sidelined until the end of the month after damaging his shoulder during Monarchs’ league defeat at Birmingham Brummies last month.

The one bit of good news for Monarchs is the return of reserve star Luke Ruddick who crashed against Glasgow Tigers two weeks ago and suffered concussion. Ruddick has been cleared to ride again after completing the mandatory nine day lay-off.

Ruddick, pictured, rides for Leicester’s National League side the Cubs, and is optimistic his knowledge of the Leicester circuit could prove to be an advantage, saying: “Obviously Leicester are a good team but I’m hoping my experience round the place will help us come away with something.”

Teammate Joel Andersson, who has had a somewhat sticky start to the season so far, said: “Without doubt Leicester is going to be tough for us especially as we are missing Josh and Justin, but we will do our best and see what happens.”

Last night’s Scottish Open Championship at Armadale was called off early yesterday morning due to the adverse weather forecast later in the day. The event has been rescheduled for next Friday, June 14 which was a blank date in Monarchs fixture list. It will be the same 12 man field with the exception of Sam Masters who is barred from riding at Armadale due to visa problems. His replacement will be announced in due course.