Title Partner
Losing by one point is always disappointing, and this was a very unlucky defeat.
Should Rusty have ridden? Clearly not, but that's hindsight - a normal performance from him or use of rider replacement would have given us a certain win. As it was, the team performed very well in their first visit and will gell into a good side in the near future.
Certainly Henrik is getting a bit better with each outing, and he started here with a tapes-to-flag win over Gary Havelock - the first person to beat the ex-World Champ at his home track. Henrik set a new track record which was still standing at the end of the night.
Derek won heat 2 from the back, thanks to a strong burst into the pits (3rd/4th) bend to pass Hargreaves, and there was a fine battle between Matthew and Kevin Little in heat 3, won by Matty who cleverly switched to the inside after Kevin had passed.
Rusty's problems became apparent in heat 4 as he trailed in at the back, but we still had the race winner as Derek led the way for the second time.
Four race winners but only a 2-point advantage, which we doubled in heat 5 as Henrik won again!
However Rusty was toiling in heat 6, a home 5-1 to their opening pairing. For those who didn't know the reason behind it, Rusty's performance was puzzling.
William had stopped on parade and trailed in heat 3, but he clicked into gear to win heat 7, and Matthew was again involved in a fine heat as he passed and re-passed with Chris Kerr before grabbing second.
In heat 8 we did it again with an easy 5-1 to Derek and Theo, by a wide margin, and with an 8-point lead things were looking very good.
The main concern seemed to be not going too far ahead at the wrong time, but in fact we needn't have worried. Even with unbeaten Derek Sneddon in to partner Rusty, we lost a disappointing 5-1 in heat 9.
Havelock won heat 10 but William and Matthew easily shared it, but we lost our second unbeaten record in heat 11 as Henrik's bike reared at the tapes and dumped him off the back. Theo won the rerun though, and Chris Kerr had to remount for second after Giffard packed up. We were now 5 points up.
Sean still had to take his third ride, and he was left in heat 12 in which we conceded a 2-4. Derek came into heat 13 for Rusty, but we lost that 1-5 and suddenly we were a point down.
Heat 14 had always looked like a handy one, and William and Derek comfortably tooka 5-1 to put us into heat 15 three ahead. We needed to avoid a 1-5.
It was a very tight choice between 5 riders for the final race, and the nod went to William and Matthew. Redcar won the toss and chose 2 & 4, and the Bears made the better starts with Kevin Little dropping down hard on William entering the first corner.
William had no chance to turn, colliding with Kevin as both riders fell.
Referee Dowling made the crucial decision that William was out, when most would have surely gone for an "all four".
Matthew tried hard but the home men led all the way in the rerun, and we had to swallow our second successive one-point defeat.
This Thursday we visit the newest track to the Premier League when we travel to Redcar to face the 'Bears' in a Premier Trophy match. Those with memories of the Powderhall days will recall the Middlesborough Bears and will welcome the return of another 'Northern' track from the same area.
The new team raced its first match at the new track last Thursday when they faced Sheffield in a Premier Trophy match. The Bears went down 44-46 due in part to the massive 13+3 return from Sheffield reserve Paul Cooper. The Bears' side is led by former world champion Gary Havelock who first rose to fame riding for Middlesborough and is now returning to his roots. There will not be many, if any, better riders in the Premier League this season and we can expect him to be the Bears' top scorer. It will be a bonus if we can stop him scoring a maximum.
The rest of the team are not nearly as formidable. Kevin Little has moved to the new team from Workington, no doubt to keep his record of riding for most of the northern teams intact. The third heat leader is the young American, Chris Kerr, who has been thrown into the deep end with his assessed average of 8 points. The back up consists of Richard Juul and Tomas Suchanek with Jack Hargreaves and Daniel Giffard filling the reserve berths.
As only the second visitors to the track the Monarchs will not be at a massive disadvantage to local knowledge because as yet there probably isn't much to be found! However this is a highly significant match for us if we hope to challenge for a qualifying spot in the final section places. Sheffield have already picked up the away win there and others will no doubt be targeting it too as a potential win.
The section may have its runaway leaders in Workington but an almighty scramble seems to be developing for the runners up spot with only Berwick and Redcar looking out of contention. A win here will bring us back into the running after last week's lost ground in the home defeat to the Comets.
It's a difficult match to assess but Edinburgh not only look stronger down the line but also in the heat leader department, Havelock excepted. This is a match we could well win with the same sort of spirit and determination shown at Newcastle. However, it will require a much improved performance in the gating department than we saw last Friday against Workington. Provided we can live with the Bears at the starts there is no reason why we can't come back with both points.
We should have a decided advantage at the lower end of the team. While the reserves scoring may balance out, William Lawson and Matthew Wethers are well capable of outscoring Richard Juul and Tomas Suchanek who is still looking to score his first point at his home track. At the top end, we may not contain Gary Havelock but Kevin Little and Chris Kerr will have to be on top form to hold their own against Theo, Rusty and Henrik.
Can we make it two away wins on the trot? Here's hoping so.
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
