Monarchs Fifth As Bears Lift Pairs

The Stellar Monarchs fell short of the semi finals as Redcar were crowned Championship Pairs champions at Oxford on Friday night.

The Monarchs were led brilliantly by Josh Pickering who was was top individual scorer throughout the qualifying heats but with partner Paco Castagna struggling to find the speed required to back him up 5th was the final outcome for the Armadale men.

Stand in boss Dave Harley saying after, 'It just wasn't to be tonight, with the nature of the draw the two races we really needed to win were off the more difficult outside gates and we fell just short.

'Paco tried his absolute best but just didn't quite have the speed to get in the points to backup Josh who was excellent.'

Things started brightly for the Blue and Gold as they took a 6-3 victory over Workington in their opening heat.

Pickering hit the front and with Castagna getting the better of Antti Vuolas and not being far behind Troy Batchelor it was a satisfying start.

Next up it was Redcar and the eventual winners were sharpest away, Pickering was quickly round Danny King but that was the best we could muster.

Heat 11 saw Pickering rocket from the start once again but with Paco stuck behind the Scorpions pair no advantage could be gained, the Monarchs probably can feel a little aggrieved after Michael Palm Toft had clearly moved at the start.

The last heat of the Monarchs night was against Poole and only a 7-2 would do but it was a similar story once again as on a track that was reduced to one racing line by this point Castagna could not get amongst the Pirates pair.

The semi finalists were Glasgow, Oxford, Poole and Redcar with the hosts and Bears dominating with maximum heat advantages.

This set the stage for the final and unfortunately what was to come was fairly predictable with only one racing line out by the fence.

The Bears hit the front with Danny King clear, Charles Wright was hanging on but Scott Nicholls would dive under him entering bend 3 lap 3, Nicholls and Wright would come together thankfully both walking away.

It was left to the referee who made the decision to disqualify Nicholls meaning victory for Redcar albeit an unsatisfactory end to what is meant to be a flagship event.