Workington Comets v Edinburgh Monarchs

Another 12-heater started our Premier Trophy campaign with a 41-34 loss at Workington.

During the early part of the evening it did look as though we might go down more heavily, but we staged a fightback and at the time of the abandonment we felt reasonably optimistic that we wouldn't lose any ground over the final three heats.

It wasn't a solid 7-man effort though, and that is what we really need away from home. William had a very disappointing night and Henrik struggled too, though it seemed reasonable to think that Derwent Park would be more to his liking than Armadale where he made a fair debut the night before.

But we can have nothing but praise for Rusty's terrific riding, and Derek's brave battling, while Theo and Matthew eventually got organised to turn in some good rides.

With rain forecast we sped straight into heat one, or we would have done if Paul Thorp hadn't come out without his dirt deflector and suffered a 2-minute exclusion. Not only that but Piszcz blew a motor on the line and was maybe fortunate that the referee was slow putting on the second two minutes.

In spite of these problems the Comets were away to a quick start (Collins in for Thorp), and only when Aidan ran into difficulties on the last lap did Henrik nip through for a second place. That was his only success of the night.

Was Derek thinking back three years when he was coming out of the second bend in heat 2? Only he knows, but an inside move by Derbyshire was not unlike the incident in which Derek broke his leg back then.

However having avoided contact Derek fought back to pass Derbyshire, and then take advantage of further gremlins for Collins to win the heat.

We were swamped 5-1 in heat 3, with William keeping up his average of one engine failure per match.

Of course we knew Rusty would improve things, and he did as he took a flying win over Garry Stead with Derek third.

Theo made a good start in heat 5 but got caught coming out of the second bend as Wright and Hawkins took their second 5-1. It was a disappointing start to the meeting for the captain.

Rusty won again in heat 6 with a very forceful second bend which seemed to unsettle Piszcz, who only just beat Sean for third.

Matthew and William had looked too slow in heat 3, and certainly did again in heat 7 as Stead and Collins easily took 5 points.

Although he hadn't done much, we had no choice but to give Theo the black-and-white hat for heat 8, and he responded with a good start and a flying win. Derek (who scored in every ride) this time beat Collins. So a 7-2 cut the gap to 7 points.

Rusty gated badly in heat 9 behind Wright and Hawkins, but he soon went round Hawkins to prevent a third 5-1 for that pair. There was no catching Wright though.

Heat 10 was a remarkable heat. Race leader Tomasz Piszcz was hounded all the way by Matthew, going far better than in his earlier rides, and on the last lap our Aussie squeezed through for a great win. Meanwhile Derek was getting the better of Thorp, blocking the attempts of the more experienced man to come through on the inside.

It was the best heat of the match, and the next one was a goodie too. Theo showed he had learnt about that Workington second bend with a forceful exit to pass Stead, and on a track now starting to get damp he recorded a fine win.

We all knew that the next heat had to be completed to bring a result. It was a tight first turn with Derek and Matthew holding their ground against Hawkins and Collins, but Mathew came down on the outside. In the rerun our pair kept Aidan at the back, and after that the rain (which seems to know when heat 12 comes) came pelting down driven by a cold wind. The end, again.