With the New Year now here, ‘first footer’ for Edinburgh Stellar Monarchs is the return of ‘well kent face’ Justin Sedgmen who becomes the sixth man announced for their 2024 line-up.
‘Sedgy’ of course needs little introduction as part of the almost all conquering Monarchs teams of 2014 and 2015 and the Victoria man said there was little to think about when a return to Armadale was on the cards.
“I wanted to eliminate some travelling and come back to Edinburgh as I enjoy it and generally always score well at Armadale. If you look at my past record and even last year, I had some good scores there.
“I wanted to come back as I really feel I can get dialled into Armadale quickly again and make it a dominant home track for me. I didn’t really have that at Birmingham as the away riders seemed to ride it as well as the home guys so it was difficult to get the big points.
“Your home track should be where you score the most of your points and make the most of your money but that wasn’t the case last year, my away average was higher than at home so if I can become dominant at Armadale and score as I was away then my average will go up so it made lot of sense to come back.
“You want your home track to be where you score the big points, it is where more of your fans come out to see you so I wanted a home track I can excel on.
“I have ridden for Edinburgh before and there isn’t the noise you get elsewhere in regards that you get left to do your own thing and the management let you know what is expected but they aren’t at you constantly, generally that is a good thing so it is another reason I wanted to come back.”
As a twice title winning Monarch, Sedgmen is well placed to cast his eye over the make-up of the team and league so far and he says the recipe seems right for a successful year on track.
“I’ve seen some of the signings around the league and it looks like in most cases teams will have two big riders then the key part of the team will actually be the middle order and I think we have that right.
“I know what Kye is capable of, he can kick on and be a seven-and-a-half-point rider in this league no problem and if he does that and we get the backup elsewhere like I would expect from Paco and the other guys then I think we will be there or thereabouts.
“I know last year wasn’t the year the Monarchs wanted so everyone is determined to go better this year.”
Unusually for Sedgmen despite a successful early part of the Australian season the rest of the winter looks reasonably blank, this by design after a non-stop last few years as he looks to put everything into the European season ahead.
“Last year I said I wasn’t going to do the Australian titles and I ended up doing them and by the end of the European season in 2023 I was pretty burnt out.
“I probably took on too many guest bookings as well as having Birmingham and Leicester, I also picked up some rides in Poland. There was a spell where I was riding 6 nights a week most weeks or even doing spells of 6 meetings in 5 days and things like that and with all the travel and prep time I got burnt out and it fell apart a little bit.
“This winter I have decided to take a bit of a break, not to do the full Aussie Champs and as many meetings in Oz so that I can focus on my European commitments.
“If you do 12 months straight riding like I have the last few years you also enjoy it less as you are not as fresh so this year, I will have had a good break and be back over to Edinburgh raring to go for the new season when it comes.”
2024 Stellar Monarchs announced to date: Max James, Kye Thomson, Connor Coles, Josh Pickering, Paco Castagna
words and images by Edinburgh Speedway
