Following the home defeat by Workington, Monarchs are to switch their lineup this week to put Robert Eriksson back at number one. Kevin Little moves to team up with the returning Ross Brady at numbers three and four, with Peter Carr moving back to number five, where Eriksson has been riding.
This was probably the line-up supporters expected to see from the start, with Eriksson riding where he excelled for Monarchs in 1997 and for Newcastle in 1999. Going out in heat number one is a specialists' job which many riders don't like, a bit like opening the batting in cricket, but Eriksson has shown he can handle it. For example number one was a real problem in 1998 with neither Kenny McKinna nor Peter Carr really settling down at number one. They both got into a pattern of losing the opening heat in their stints at number one.
Robert Eriksson is perfectly happy with the reshuffle:
"I prefer riding at number one and hope the change will bring the best out of me."
The idea behind the original line-up was that Peter Carr would benefit from the removal of pressure by riding at number three and that his pairing with Ross Brady would bring heat advantages at home and away. This has been partially successful and would have been more so but for the recent absence of Brady due to injury. The lack of scoring power from the reserves then dictated that Eriksson rather than Little should go to number five. This then left the Kevin Little/Blair Scott pairing at one and two. It was hoped that they would more than hold their own at home and minimize damage away. This was again only partially successful with Kevin doing OK at home but dreadfully away while Blair has been going very well away but has failed to hit his best form at Armadale.
The experiment with Kevin Little at number one was initiated at Kevin's request, but it hasn't been a great success due to vulnerability in heat one. With the reserves in heat two and taking a while to settle, Monarchs have often trailed after two heats this season, for example, 1-8 to Glasgow in their opening home match, 1-10 at Sheffield, 2-10 at Berwick and 3-9 to Workington last Friday. This sort of deficit puts undue pressure on the riders in subsequent heats.
The change also puts the powerful Peter Carr/Robert Eriksson pairing into the critical heat 13, where previously Monarchs have done well with Carr/McKinna in 1998 and Carr/Grieves in 1999.
A further reshuffle may be enforced with the issue of the first set of Green Sheet Averages after the home match against Glasgow early next month. These will come out after three home and three away Premier National Trophy matches have been completed. The qualifying fixtures will be against Workington, Berwick, and Glasgow at home and against Berwick, Glasgow, and Workington away.
Current Monarchs averages are now available: