Tom & Drew back in for The Monarchs match
Eastbourne Speedway’s rider availability problems for Saturday’s (June 12) tricky home match against Edinburgh have unexpectedly eased.
However, the silver lining for the HG Aerospace Eagles managers is bad news for two of the club’s teenage tornados.
In-form Tom Brennan and Drew Kemp were due to miss the Arlington meeting because they were riding in an Under-21 World Championship semi-final in Germany but late on Monday (June 7) found their trip was off because of Covid restrictions.
Broken collarbone victim Lewi Kerr will definitely miss the meeting against Edinburgh who are one of the most successful clubs this century in the sport’s middle tier, having won five league titles already.
The Scottish capital city club have already thrown down a marker this year by beating Newcastle home and away in the KO Cup.
Eastbourne co-promoters Lee Kilby and Trevor Geer were battling to fill the gaps in their team when news about Brennan and Kemp came through.
Kilby said Edinburgh would be a stern test.
“I think they bring great opposition. It will be really exciting. We won’t get four 5-1s on the spin against them like we did against Kent on Sunday, I’m sure of that,” he said.
Geer said the Covid travel-related problems was a silver lining for the Eagles but a bitter blow for the two young riders.
“We were closing on some good solutions for Saturday’s match but it is so much better to have your own riders, especially with Tom and Drew looking so good against Kent.
“Having said that, my heart goes out to the two lads. Their shot at world under-21 glory this year has been snatched away from them at virtually the last minute.
“You have to feel for them in such circumstances.”
Tickets for the match are now available from the club website and the message is don’t leave it too late to buy like around 100 people have done for the opening two fixtures at Arlington.
Tickets are available until sold out, or until midnight on Friday (whichever is sooner), to comply with council ticketing regulations.
There is no walk-up on-the-day ticket sales by cash or card and no online match tickets will be available for the clash with Edinburgh on match day itself.
To purchase e-tickets for the Monarchs meeting please click here
Tickets for the National Development League match against Kent Royals will go on sale from Sunday, June 13.
Image credits: Mike Hinves