Monarch's injury ridden season continues. The latest two victims are reserves Brian Turner and Blair Scott along with James Grieves.
Brian Turner fell in his last ride at Sheffield and suffered a suspected broken kneecap. This kept him out of Monarchs derby fixture against Glasgow the day later. However the injury is not as bad as first thought and Brian will make his delayed home debut against Arena Essex in the Cup Final rehearsal on Sunday.
Blair Scott suffered a nasty fall after picking up drive on the home straight when leading heat 2 against Glasgow. Blair slid into the start gate pole leaving him with chest injuries. Initially these were thought involve broken ribs but it was suggested that it was nothing worse than bruised ribs. Blair was taken to hospital as a precaution. This led to a busy night for Jon Swales who replaced Brian Turner and came up with a match-winning seven points from seven rides on a James Grieves bike despite a fall when he was about to take the lead and a retirement. Blair is out of Friday's Motor Show and has ben replaced by Paul Thorp of Stoke but may be fit enough for the Premier League match on Sunday.
James Grieves missed both matches against Sheffield and Glasgow with chest pains following his rib injuries sustained after a number of falls at Newport, Exeter, and more recently at home against Newcastle. Grieves added:
"I feel a bit cheesed off. I got a lot of stick from the Sheffield fand who claimed that I didn't ride there because it's well-known Sheffield isn't one of my favourite circuits. But I was genuinely injured."
Stewart McDonald was at Armadale on Friday. He reported that his pelvis and wrist injuries were progressing and that he hoped to be back racing before the end of the season.
David McAllan is continuing his comeback with Linlithgow after struggling in his two outings with Monarchs last week.
It is to be hoped that Monarchs do not suffer any more injuries since the transfer deadline is the end of August.