No sooner has Armadale staged the first ever National individual final to be held in Scotland, than the stadium welcomes its first international touring side for a fascinating fixture. The Jawa Czech touring side contains most of the top riders in the Czech Republic, one of the world's leading nations, and they will give the Monarchs' team a severe test in the build up to the start of the Premier Trophy fixtures.
This Friday's visitors are managed by one of the most famous characters in World Speedway over the last 30 years, 50 year old Vaclav Verner. He rode until the age of 46 at least, because he had lost his job as Czech National coach after the collapse of communism. Now he has returned to assisting the young stars of his speedway-mad country.
JAWA CZECH REPUBLIC TEAM:
Michal Makovsky (Olympic Prague)
Adrian Rymel (Olympic Prague)
Tomas Topinka (Brezolupy, capt.)
Richard Wolff (Olympic Prague)
Pavel Ondrasik (Olympic Prague)
Josef Franc (Olympic Prague)
Robert Kral (Brezolupy)
The Czech touring party includes eleven riders, and the side chosen for the visit to Armadale is selected from two of their leading clubs (the Czech Extra League has four teams who race in a four-team format). Tomas Topinka is their best known rider with several years of top league action in the UK behind him. He is apparently still interested in returning to Elite League action. The other Czechs to watch may prove to be Michal Makovsky, national champion, and Pavel Ondrasik who has a good record worldwide, though Josef Franc is a highly rated young rider. Makovsky is the rider Berwick thought they had signed until officialdom stopped the move, on the grounds that a national champion is too good for Premier League racing. We shall see if that is true!
The Czech touring party suffered a big defeat at Exeter on Monday. They Lost by 61 points to 29, but then that sort of scoreline is not unknown for visitors to the County Ground, even for Monarchs! How the Czech riders will cope with the tight Armadale track remains to be seen. Adrian Rymel was by far the best of the team at Exeter.
Edinburgh hope to have Brian Turner back in the saddle on Friday. This is pending an examination of his injured wrist. If Brian is not cleared to return, Monarchs are considering giving a debut to Dale Devil and Linlithgow ride Derek Sneddon. Derek, a seventeen year-old from Falkirk, stepped in to fill a vacancy at reserve in the British Under 21 Championship at Armadale last week. Derek had three rides and was never off the pace in a high quality field.