Christian Henry's storming performance at Armadale against Berwick has probably convinced the few remaining doubters that he has what it takes to make it in the Premier League this year. Christian not only won his first Armadale race after an easy win in heat 2 but followed up with another win in heat 4. He then picked up a paid second place behind Alan Mogridge in heat 12. He failed to score in heat 12 after Berwick brought in Mogridge as a tactical substitute to join Paul Bentley. He was given an extra ride in heat 14 and seemed set for a double figure paid score when Scott Lamb fell unassisted. However the referee called all four back and Henry's bike failed on the start line in the re-run.
Christian had a week earlier put in a fair performance against Workington, but his score of three paid four did little justice to his efforts. He should have won heat 2 on that occasion but fell on the last bend and balked his partner thus turning a home 5-1 into an away 5-1. Nevertheless he did enough to pick up the Davie Burns Monarch of the match award sponsored by Lothian Buses PLC.
This is all a far cry from Christian's disastrous debut when he fell on the first lap and took out Brian Turner and Scott Courtney in the process. He recovered to return two days later at Glasgow and beat Aidan Collins to win heat 2. It took him until last Friday to emulate that win at Armadale.
Christian struggled, the Ashfield match apart, in his early outings for Monarchs. Most expected him to take a few weeks to come to terms with the tight Armadale track but thought he would have done better at big tracks such as Sheffield and Berwick. He seemed to be very sluggish out of the gate, to show no grasp of overtaking and to lack speed. Most of these could be traced to bike problems and setup.
Christian said:
"I have had a few machine problems which have been very frustrating for me. It's mostly been my clutches, but I think I'm on top of the problem now and am beginning to feel good."
Kenny McKinna stripped down Henry's bike before the Workington and discovered that the setup was not suited to the British tracks.
"Kenny found out that my bike had been set up for the bigger tracks back in Australia. He changed it and set it up for the smaller tracks here. It seemed to make a difference because I was getting out of the starts a lot better."
The fall in heat 2 against Workington, that delayed Christian's first home win for week, occured within yards of the finish line:
"It was my fault. I had a little too much throttle coming into the corner. I knew I was going to slide off so I pulled the clutch back. I should have looked round and coasted out the line. I guess I was still nervous, but I feel as if I'm beginning, at long last, to make progress."
Henry admitted that he found the standard of Premier League racing tougher than he expected although he does not regret coming over to have a crack:
"The standard of racing is pretty high, but the problems I've encountered in trying to get my equipment set up properly have held me back. When I arrived."
"Once my bike is the same as everyone else's, it will make things easier for me. When I arrived in Scotland my bike was tuned up so differently, it didn't give me a chance."
Christian did struggle at Berwick suprising a few observers expecting he would do better on the big track. Christian explained:
"It was my bike. It only went for one heat, it broke down in the others. You cannot put that down to my riding."
Christian was keen to repeat his success at Ashfield, having won heat 2 earlier in the season:
"That first race win was especially important to me for a number of reasons. I like the Glasgow circuit, it's very smooth. We do need to win, but I think it's too early to judge what is going to happen this season."
"We do have a good team spirit and we all get on well. We haven't enjoyed the best of luck with injuries and so on. Glasgow are quite useful round their own place, but hopfully if Brian and I can win heat two, this will lay the platform for a solid all round performance."
"Because of the wrong set up, my bike was hard for me to ride. Now it's easier and this should help in the weeks ahead."