Title Partner
Newcastle returned to their old race day and fielded a strange team for our visit.
Monarchs had a fair travelling support down and were hoping our side could lift themselves to improve on recent performances.
In the circumstances we should have pushed the Diamonds a bit harder, and the reasons we didn't were familiar ones - poor starting and lack of race winners.
We need everyone riding at their best, and in that respect we did see Theo make a couple of good starts and have his best away match for a while. Henrik was worth watching with some interesting cornering, but his gating was well below his usual standard.
William and Derek both looked slow and for everyone's sake, they must sort this out.
The talking point in the early stages concerned heat 2. There was no debate, because absolutely no-one thought that David Dowling's decision to exclude Derek in heat 2 (after Mills had parked in front of him) was the correct one. It was ludicrous.
But lo and behold, Sean got his reward for completing four laps in the rerun as Adam McKinna pulled up at the back, and Mills stopped while in front. Sean lapped Mills though the Diamonds' guest still pushed part of the way till he was halted.
We managed to fill the minor places in most of the early heats and trailed 20-25 at heat 8 - though we hadn't taken a point off Franc, Henry or Stancl.
Two heats later we had lost two 5-1's and a big defeat was looming. However we then saw Theo make a start in his TR to beat Franc, a 7-2, and suddenly we had a chance to turn it round with Moller / Sneddon v McAllan / Mills in heat 12.
Sadly we fluffed the start again and Henrik had to pass McAllan even to gain 2 points from the heat. That was a big disappointment.
William took a TR ride in heat 13 and we scored a 5-3 there, with r/r McAllan at the back.
Henrik gated in heat 14 but Stancl managed to squeeze past him, then we had a booster to finish as Theo again beat Franc. A Stancl ef gave us a 4-2 and a score that leaves the aggregate bonus a possibility.
Newcastle is one of the few away tracks where we always seem to do well. On this occasion it is difficult to find much to be optimistic about after some of the team's recent performances. Perhaps we might be able to take advantage of the injury problems which seem to be hitting the Diamonds at the moment.
On present form we must be one of the worst gating teams in the league. No-one now seems to be able to make good starts regularly and it's hard to see how we can overcome such a handicap particularly on away tracks. If, by some miracle, we could make some decent starts on Monday night we at least have riders with a good record at Brough Park to make it count. William Lawson and Derek Sneddon both have a lot of experience and success riding there and Matthew Wethers has had excellent meetings there too. Henrik Moller came good in his last two rides there in the Premier Trophy but the form of the team since these days has slumped terribly.
It's hard to judge the effect of the absence of Rusty Harrison but there is a possibility that Rider Replacement will work in our favour as might a more positive attitude in the pits. Only Theo Pijper is ineligible to take a R/R ride with the July averages now in force.
But what of the Newcastle side? The Diamonds look like being without Manuel Hauzinger, Jaimie Robertson and Adam McKinna all out through injury. Presumable they will have to use Rider Replacement for Hauzinger and recruit two guest reserves for the night, one A grade and one C grade. If the reserves have less local knowledge of the track than our riders and have to cover for three of Hauzinger's R/R rides Newcastle might find themselves struggling at the bottom end of the team. The guest reserves will have to cover for 11 rides for themselves and R/R.
The Newcastle top four are a formidable proposition. Josef Franc, George Stancl, James Grieves and Christian Henry could almost rattle up enough points on their own for a home win. Two of the first three will probably have five rides with a heat 15 appearance while Christian Henry will also have 5 rides, at least, by virtue of the R/R he can take for Hauzinger. If that's the case not much may be needed from the guests.
Having taken an optimistic view in previous reviews of the Monarchs' chances and read the results and reports of their matches with dismay perhaps a pessimistic review will be equally short of the mark. I don't doubt the talent in the team to do really well at Newcastle I just can't see any reason to think that they can make the sort of starts needed to have any chance of getting a result.
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
