Monarchs struggling second string Stewart McDonald fears that he could be dropped by the high flying Edinburgh team after a disastrous run of low scores.
McDonald was scoring freely at reserve in May but the points have dried up since he moved up to the very difficult number 2 slot at the start of June In the Cup win over Newcastle, McDonald scored 20 points over the two legs yet against the Diamonds in the Premier National Trophy Semi-Final at Armadale he only managed two points from four rides. This followed matches at Newport and Exeter on the Southern Tour when he failed to score.
While he has never scored many points at the County Ground, he did score a 15 point maximum for Glasgow at Newport in 1997. This slump has tested the patience of the Monarchs promotion.
McDonald feels that his engine is the root of the problem:
"I haven't got a fast enough engine, there is no power in it. I rode Kevin Little's bike after the match and the difference was like night and day. I'll have a brand new engine in for our next home match on Friday."
"There's not a lot I can do if I haven't got the tools. I believed I could have scored a dozen points. I hope I'm not sacked for my performance because the last thing I want to do is let the Edinburgh promotion down."
Paul Pickering used Stewart's bike for his last two rides at Newport and certainly got it going better than Stewart although he only managed a second and third place.
Stewart probably needs a spell at reserve to get some easier rides and to boost his confidence. This cannot happen until September at the earliest since Blair Scott and the replacement for David McAllan will be at reserve for August.
In the meantime Monarchs face the second leg of the cup against Newport at Armadale on Friday and the second leg of Premier National Trophy Semi-Final against Newcastle at Brough Park a week on Monday. They also have a Premier League match against Newport plus a second Southern Tour to come. These matches require all the team, including Stewart, to be scoring points.
The Cup match against Newport will be tough with Monarchs needing to restrict the visitors to less than 36 points. Newport will have Craig Watson, Frank Smart, plus a nine point plus guest. The bottom four Newport riders have not shown much form at Armadale in the past so it is critical for the home second strings and reserves to prevent them from scoring.
The return match at Newcastle looks a fair bet for Monarchs provided that James Grieves and Kevin Little are back to full fitness.
McDonald added: "We didn't have much luck but I honestly feel that we can go to Newcastle and turn them over. We've already done it once this season, we can do it again."
[This news item was added on July 14th 1999]