Christian Henry urgently needs sponsorship to keep going in the Premier League. Christian arrived in the UK with little in the way of cash. The bike that he brought with him from Australia was wrecked in his first lap at Armadale. Since then he has borrowed equipment from Ross Brady.
Three blown engines in the past month haven't helped. The most recent one was in his first heat riding for Lightning at Ashfield. He won two further heats riding Gary Fint's bike. A late change of fixtures saw Christian travel to Cornwall to ride for Lighting at St. Austell. He went without a bike and was loaned a bike by Robert McNeil. This was wrecked a crash that also resulted in a neck injury for Christian.
Christian now has no bike, no engine, no money and a repair bill of £300 for Robert McNeil's bike. He missed the two meetings last weekend due to injury anyway but is obviously struggling to get a bike for Friday's fixture against Reading and the Sunday trip to Glasgow.
"Christian has no money and no machinery. How is he going to manage to get going again. He has ridden equipment borrowed from Ross Brady since he joined us but now he does not have an engine."
Campbell is understandably keen to keep Christian in the team. He came in as a three-point reserve and not only has pushed that average up to nearer four-points but he has proved capable of scoring points away from home as well as at Armadale. There is less than half a point between his home and away averages. Last year David McAllan was averaging much the same as Christian but that was based on a near six-point Armadale average and les that two-points away. The other Austrialian junior coming in to the Premier League this year, Lee Hearne, has been dropped by Newport after failing to ride to his assessed three-point avaerage.
John Campbell argued that there was no possibility of Monarchs being able to help Christian out:
"I would hate to see Christian fall by the wayside because he does possess talent. However he has got to show keenness to put it on the track. The club have helped him greatly already. It cannot go on for ever. We are talking hundreds and hundreds of pounds to get him mobile again. But the club cannot help him we simply cannot afford it."
Christian now has to find to cash to get himself back on track as well as to repair Robert McNeil's bike. He commented:
"John was unhappy about the St.Austell crash, but he and Alan Robertson knew I didn't have a bike. But I was told to travel down anyway and a bike would be provided for me to ride. When I informed John I had crashed Robert's bike, he said he couldn't work anything out financially."
"So it looks as if I will have to pay for the damage myself. But with what?"
That leaves the question of finding a bike for this weekend's meetings. Now that Jon Swales can now replace Christian under the June averages, Monarchs should be able to cope with the visit of Reading to Armadale. Christian would, however, certainly be missed at Ashfield on Sunday. He soon established himself as a specialist on the Glasgow track and won his first heat against Aidan Collins in the Spring Trophy. More recently he picked up seven points, paid eight from seven rides in Premier National Trophy meeting there. Christian is looking for financial assistance to help him get on track once more:
"I have some friends in Australia who might be able to assist me. I don't want to ask my parents for assistance. They helped me out with the air fare. They are not rich and don't have much money."
"If I cannot fix something up I don't know what will happen. That will be up to John, it's out of my hands."
Monarchs director Mike Hunter stated that the Club are backing Christian despite his problems. Mike commented:
"There is no doubt that he has struggled but it is his first season in Britain and it takes time to learn the tracks and settle in."
Kevin Little who faced similar financial problems received around £500 following a collection at Armadale last week.