Will Beveridge has had a troubled start to his stint with Monarchs, largely down to the mechanical problems that bedevilled his spell with his local team Newcastle.
After struggling in his first three Premier League meetings, collecting only one point in each match, he had another bad start at home in the cup to Arena Essex. A last place in heat 1 off the unfavoured gate four, and fall in heat 6 and it all seemed to be going wrong once more. He thought that he had turned the corner when he outgated tactical substitute Colin White in heat 8 and held off the several charges by the Arena number one and seemed to have secured a first win. However Gary Corbett went down taking Christian Henry with him. Corbett was quick to move his bike out of the way and Henry appeared to be on the point of restarting when the race was stopped rather prematurely and Corbett excluded. Will had to do it all again and White made the start second time to win. That's the sort of thing that happens when you are out of luck! He commented:
"I had the chequered flag in my pocket. Colin should not have even been in the race, he came in as a tactical substitute. My confidence is so low right now, getting that win would have given me a tremendous boost."
He conceded that his scores have been below what he is looking for:
"I'm a little disappointed with the start I've made. I'm not looking for excuses, but I've had so much bad luck with engines blowing up and being swopped around. I just never seem to be able to race the same bike, the same engine or the same frame. I just cannot get any consistency going."
"I have nothing to build on. Just when you think you have learned something you are forced back to square one. However at least my bike lasted the whole match against Arena. So hopefully, I can put that to good use against Workington on Friday."
Beveridge bought new GM engines at the start of the year, but has recently dumped them in favour of the Jawa engines he used last season because they were not doing the business.
"I bought two new GM engines before the season started but they turned out to be no good. Other people have also struggled with them including my team-mate Ross Brady. I spent almost £5,000 just on the engines alone."
"I worked all winter to pay for them. And it's heartbreaking when you ride to discover they don't do the job. The manufacturers changed the head of the engine. They claimed it was for the better, but it's been for the worse. I persevered with them hoping things would come right. But nothing has changed, the improvements never happened."
"So I'm back on my Jawa engine which I used last season. It certainly felt a lot better in my first match against Arena Essex. However it's hard to adjust back and I've still not got things the way I want them. That is why I toiled a little against Reading at home last week."
"But I will not be riding the GM again. It has cost me £1,000 to get my Jawas right and if I didn't work full time, I'd have been forced to quit speedway. It's such a lot of money to spend."
However despite spending sum a large sum on rebuilds, he has experienced problems with his Jawa engines. He has seized both of them, one in the match at Glasgow.
"When your engine blows, you either have to switch to another or ride someone else's bike. Mine simply didn't have the power that night. I made the start in two races and finished last. I know I let everybody down. We lost by just one point and we perhaps should have won."
Beveridge's problems started when he was left out by Glasgow and then after securing a loan move to his local side Newcastle, he was axed in a contoversial way as the blundering Newcastle promotion tried different ways to include, first Savalas Clouting and later André Compton.
Will was upset that he didn't figure in Glasgow's plans this year after three years with the Tigers.
"I was captain and third heat leader for them last season and I was sure I'd be back especially as I added a point to my average. But they run the show the way they want to, it's not up to me. If the promotion don't want you there is nothing you can do about it."
His departure from Newcastle was less of a surprise.
"On reflection, I wasn't that surprised I was dropped by Newcastle. I hadn't been riding that well. But I wasn't the worst rider. However the way things worked out with the averages, I was in the wrong position at the wrong time. That's the way it goes sometimes. I was upset - devasated at the time - simply because of the manner in which it happened."
"I'm now looking forward to enjoying my spell with Edinburgh until the end of the year."
Will was initially concerned about travelling. He works as a postman in Bishop Auckland. However, having accepted he turned down other offers closer to home.
"I did recieve a few other offers. Stoke wanted me. But I'd given John Campbell my word that I would join Edinburgh and I wasn't going to go back on it."
"Edinburgh are a good promotion. John and Alex Harkess have been running things for a long time. They are a solid club professionally run."
"Looking at the team we've got, I think we will win something although perhaps not the league. Our first league win at Arena Essex was a tremendous result. We acheived it with me performing badly. But with Blair Scott down at reserve we are stronger still."
Beveridge is there to try and stabilize the suspect Edinburgh middle order. This involves scoring points from the notoriously difficult number two position. This can be as hard if not harder than the number one spot as it involves going out in three of the same heats. Heat eight is supposed to be the easy one but that may involve facing one or more tactical substitutes at home or being tactically substituted away!
Beveridge knows what he is expected to do:
"As long as I can score five points a meeting and keep my average for now, I'll be happy But my confidence is low, it was a big blow not going back to Glasgow."
Monarchs are not expecting bagfuls of points from Will at number two as few points have come from that position in recent years no matter who has been riding there. Blair Scott, Kevin Little, Stewart McDonald, Barry Campbell have all proved capable of scoring points elsewhere but not has really produced many from number two.
"I've been told there's no pressure on me. Which is good, I don't want to be in a position where there is pressure on me. I just want to go out on track and try my best."
Will has been disappointed with his results to date but hopes for better and a regular five points. The averages that will become effective on 1st July mean that Beveridge will drop to reserve for the critical southern tour to Stoke, Newport and Reading. The results of these three matches, all potentially winnable, will go a long way to deciding Monarchs fate this year in the league. Having Beveridge at reserve might just be a deciding factor.