Title Partner
After another eventful and slightly less than satisfying day, a good fight by the Scotwaste Monarchs ended with our second five-point Ashfield loss of the season.
The absence of Danny Bird changed everyone's outlook on the match, and the dodgy weather prior to and during the event also had an effect.
In fact, rider replacement in Bird's first three rides scored paid 9 and so he couldn't have done any better up that point. Even so we snatched an 8-point lead by heat 5!
Robert Ksiezak won heats 1 and 2, both shared, and it was obvious he would be a key man.
Henrik bounced his way in front in heat 3 with Matthew backing him up, and Glasgow's middle pair looking distinctly uncomfortable.
Shane Parker missed the start in heat 4 as Derek Sneddon raced to the front on the heavy surface, and all Parker could manage was to push the spluttering William Lawson to the back.
We doubled our lead to 8 points in heat 5, as Daniele squeezed though to the front and Theo came round the outside to join him. This was getting serious!
Tigers don't take these things lying down - they seek to move the goalposts. After heat 5 referee Bates was called down for a track inspection, along with some tale about not wanting to run heat 6 with the match in doubt as fans would not be entitles to free readmission (in fact the home promotion could quite easily still have permitted this).
A more believable reason was that Parker didn't fancy doing a TS ride on such a heavy track - and the surface was duly scraped with the referee's approval..
Ksiezak gated in the rerun and William Lawson wasn't able to do much to prevent the 1-8. Most of the hard work was undone, and the rest of it disappeared in heat 7 as Henrik came down on the first corner and suffered a questionable exclusion.
The rerun was a 1-5 and we were three down. Heat 8 was shared with McAllan in difficulties and Ksiezak staying unbeaten from 4 rides.
William Lawson suddenly made a start, so unusual these days, and he looked tremendous as he won heat 9. Heat 10 should also have been shared but Henrik was looking very uncomfortable now, his foot injury from Saturday night having been aggravated, and he eventually fell.
We finally relegated Ksiezak to the back in heat 11, Parker winning a fine race from the back against Pijper, and then Matthew and Derek took a 5-1 in the rerun heat 12. Cockle had been doing well in the first staging till Dicken fell.
So we were back to one point down with three heats left - and no Bird of course. That helped us to share heat 13, but the killer came in heat 14 when we realised Henrik would not be riding.
Another fine ride from Derek brought him his third race win, but Sean was tailed off. So we went into heat 15 one point down.
The machine examiner spotted a cutout problem with Derek's machine just before he was due to go out, and thereby removed any lingering doubt that Tigers would win. In fact we lost a 5-1.
Had Henrik been fit, and the track regarding delayed for one more heat, this could well have had a different outcome.
We haven't raced Glasgow at Armadale since way back on 5th May when we won by 48-44. While Glasgow track the same team as then, the Monarchs have lost Rusty Harrison and gained Daniele Tessari. Unfortunately the balance of power for this fixture looks to have swung the Tigers' way.
One of the main architects of the Edinburgh victory in that Premier Trophy victory was Sean Stoddart whose 7+2 from four rides went a long way to denying Glasgow a result on the night. His second place to William Lawson in the Monarchs' 5-1 in heat 14 clinched the match as Glasgow rattled in 1-5s in both heats 13 and 15 from Danny Bird and Shane Parker.
Glasgow's final total was enhanced by a four point Tactical Substitute ride from Shane Parker in heat 11 when Sean also held Parker at bay while Rusty Harrison built up a winning lead. It's highly unlikely that Glasgow will be in a position to use the tactical rules in this match although if they are then a home victory may well be on the cards.
This time Edinburgh can surely expect a better score than the 3 points both Henrik Moller and Derek Sneddon scored last May to compensate for the absence of Rusty who scored 9. On recent form it's hard to see Sean repeating his score but we will certainly need some return from both him and Daniele Tessari if we are to triumph. Certainly another 10 points from William Lawson would be welcome although he was at number 4 in the team last time.
Glasgow have relied heavily on the top end scoring of Danny Bird and Shane Parker on their travels and they have both excelled at Armadale in the past. If we lose 1-5s again in heats 13 and 15 to this pair it is hard to see how a victory can be engineered. However Kauko Nieminen has a CMA at Armadale of less than 6 and failed to beat an opponent in three of his four races last time while Lee Dicken and David McAllan scored only two points between them. If this middle order threesome can be restricted to a similar return then once again the Tigers might be leaving with their tails between their legs.
One of the big successes of the Glasgow side this year has been at reserve where Robert Ksiezak's fast gating has produced some telling scores. James Cockle has been less consistent and has had some disappointing meetings but when he makes starts he can score well too although he has a tendency to fall when under pressure at the front.
There are a good number of Glasgow supporters who feel they only need to turn up on Friday night for victory and there can be little doubt that the Tigers, in common with the rest of the visitors to Armadale in what is left of the season, will be targeting Edinburgh for an away victory as the Monarchs languish at the foot of the league. In all honesty they should have enough firepower to win this match and take all 5 points up for grabs over the weekend but these derby clashes often fail to follow the script.
It will need a massive effort and total commitment from all seven of the team if we are to put a spoke in the Tigers' wheel by taking both points from an against-the-odds victory. This would give us a great chance to achieve our remaining aim for the season - to get off the bottom of the league - and to deny Glasgow their current aim - to finish in the top three in the league before the play-offs begin.
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
