Title Partner
At last we had a really sunny night for those not already heading for Cardiff to enjoy.
The absence of William Lawson from the side was depressing for the home fans but the replacement rides brought a reasonable paid 8, and helped the Scotwaste Monarchs to take the bonus.
The likelihood is that this will take us into third spot in the Premier Trophy, but second is likely to be beyond us - unless Stoke pull off a major surprise at Sheffield on Thursday.
Henrik and Theo powered to a big 5-1 in heat 1, and we should have added to that in heat 2. Derek raced through to lead down the back straight, and Sean passed Cooper on the inside - only to fall later in the heat trying to make up ground on Benji Compton
Sanchez made a tremendous start in heat 3 and looked a likely winner although Theo was making up ground steadily. The Canadian Legault was third for a bit but got the pits turn wrong on lap three and clouted the fence. Race stopped and awarded.
Andre Compton won heat 4 easily with Rusty settling for a third behind Derek after failing to find a way through to challenge on the opening lap.
Heat 5 was a cracker and a great win for Matthew. It did seem Ashworth was the likely winner early on but Matthew never gave up, eventually getting within striking distance on the last lap and making the pass on the final turn to win by inches.
Theo did well to head Andre Compton in heat 6, and Henrik too kept right on the visiting star's tail. We were now 8 up but heat 7 was a bad one!
Firstly Rusty went through the tapes and had to retreat 15 metres, and to make matters worse when he arrived at the first bend he found Sean spinning and falling in front of him! He was badly impeded and it was hard to understand why the heat wasn't stopped. By the end Rusty was hot on the heels of Sanchez and Legault, but he may well have felt hard done by.
The 8-point gap was restored as Theo and Derek easily took 5 in heat 8.
Heat 9 was another Andre victory, and our opening pair brought their total in 3 heats together to 14 with a combination ride in heat 10. We were now level on aggregate and it was maybe surprising that Sheffield didn't give Ashworth a TR in heat 11.
He led the heat early on but Rusty pulled off a great outside pass.
Derek Sneddon led heat 12 but it seemed that Legault had the drop on Matthew for second. Matthew again though kept his challenge alive, and burst past the Canadian on the last lap for a 5-1.
With Andre in the next one a TR was inevitable and in fact it was a 1-8, with Ashworth pulling off a good backup ride. Henrik missed the start badly and Rusty's outside challenge was unsuccessful.
That meant we were 9 up on the night, 3 down on aggregate, but once again Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers were the men for the job. Sanchez was on a TR but was left well adrift, and so we were now 1 up on aggregate going into the last race.
Theo was the obvious choice for the final heat but who else? Derek had already had 7 rides, so it was Rusty, Matthew or Henrik who were eligible. Henrik's gating not only got him the nod, but also proved the key factor as he flew round the outside and raced away for a great win. Theo was at the rear but passed a surprisingly ineffective Andre Compton while Ashworth took second.
So the bonus was ours, though it is unlikely to carry us through to the semis. We have one PT match left, against Berwick in a fortnight.
HALMOND ENGINEERING MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Derek Sneddon.
After home fixtures in the Knock-out Cup and Premier League, it's back to the Premier Trophy with this match against Sheffield. To maintain our wafer thin chance of qualifying we have to beat the Tigers by more than 12 points to take the bonus point following our 52-40 defeat at Owlerton.
This was well within the team's grasp until William Lawson's unfortunate accident on Monday night. The added strain of Rider Replacement placed on Theo Pijper, Matthew Wethers and both reserves will make overall success more difficult yet it can still be done.
Sheffield, too, will be using Rider Replacement for Ben Wilson who is on standby duty at the Grand Prix in Cardiff on Saturday night as one of the meeting reserves. Wilson's Armadale appearances in the past have not been notable so his loss is unlikely to have anything like the effect of the loss of William to Edinburgh.
Sheffield have dominated so heavily at home that they look virtually certain to win all seven bonus points up for grabs to add to their away victory at Redcar. They will take the second qualifying spot in the section if they win this match or their outstanding home tie against Stoke.
Away from home Sheffield have had limited success but the matches they have lost have been by small margins. The number one pairing of Ricky Ashworth and Ben Wilson has been their best. With Wilson absent it will be interesting to see how they fare. Ashworth is a very fast gater and, as such, is always a threat so we can't allow him to dominate the races in which he features.
The middle pairing is Emiliano Sanchez and Kyle Legault. Sanchez has sometimes looked impressive round Armadale but at other times not. It depends which Sanchez turns up. Kyle Legault has made enormous strides from last year where he spent most of the season at reserve. He can't yet replicate his Sheffield scoring on the away tracks but is still a force to be reckoned with.
The bottom end of the team is headed by Andre Compton who rode at Armadale for Newport as a guest for Craig Watson recently. On that occasion he once again blew hot and cold and that is a likely scenario for Friday's match too. The reserve pairing of Benji Compton and Paul Cooper are unlikely to score heavily. We well remember Paul Cooper's efforts last year when we were in danger of running out of fence panels such was his difficulty in getting round the track. Here's hoping he takes a more controlled approach this time.
There doesn't seem to be much between the teams this time particularly with Rider Replacement operating for both sides more to Sheffield's advantage than ours. When Theo is on top form he is close to unbeatable round Armadale and Rusty now seems to be making much better starts to give us a stronger spearhead. Henrik threatens to make the breakthrough while we always get 100% effort from Matthew. Derek at reserve is a real trump card for the team and he is again likely to make a major contribution to the total. Sean has turned in some mixed performances recently. On his day we know what he is capable of - but he has had some dire meetings too. If he is on song it will make a huge difference to the team and should bring the bonus point into contention.
It should be a fascinating match. There are so many imponderables that it is a difficult one to call. It's all or nothing for us though. Nothing less than a 12+ points win will have any real meaning. A determined performance could do the trick?
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
Season 2006 | 4 years ago
