Academy Tame Stags But Have No Answer For Colts

To use the old football analogy, it was an evening of two halves for the Stellar Monarchs Academy as they comfortably defeated the Scunthorpe Stags 58-31 before falling to a potent Belle Vue Colts side 35-53 at Armadale on Friday evening meaning three league points on the night.

Team boss Scott Wilson assessing the two matches after saying, "Really pleased to get the bonus point in the first one, we haven't won to many matches this year but I did say to the boys on the track walk that with Scunthorpe being understrength we could smell blood and take the bonus and they got the lead and kept building on it and building on it so I was really pleased with that performance.

"I think the bottom line in the Belle Vue match is we were beaten by the better team, we stuck to our task and didn't give in and we finished strong with the five one but ultimately we were beaten by the better team on the night and they are probably the best team in the league at the moment especially with William Cairns at reserve."

In the first encounter it was the top five that led the way with dominant performances throughout, Dayle Wood the standout with a paid maximum a feat that may have been repeated by Sam McGurk but for a heat nine fall.

Connor Coles, Mason Watson and Max Perry were only headed once each as a relentless performance saw the 24-point gap pulled back. A heat 15 Wood and Coles maximum clinching the three points.

The visitors will rightly point to the absence of Nathan Ablitt and Luke Harrison both in action for the Scunthorpe Championship outfit as a major factor in the final result there was encouraging performances by youngster Stene Pijper and Jamie Etherington to enjoy though.

Next up it was the Colts, and any momentum gained in the first 15 heats was quickly dispelled as the rampant visitors built up a seven-point lead by the end of four races.

The visitors would not let up and further advantages in five of the next nine heats meant the match was gone.

All the talk in the build up had been on teenage phenom Cairns and the 15 year old did not disappoint riding smoothly and smartly wracking up 16 points, there was strong backup from British under 21 champ Sam Hagon who only dropped one point, Matt Marson, Freddy Hodder two race wins apiece and Harry McGurk at reserve who used strong starts to help himself to 6 points also.

Race of the night was without a doubt heat six as home man Coles blasted round both of the Colts pair in separate moves to claim victory and generally the racing was competitive enough throughout despite the large gaps in both matches, all 30 races wrapped up in a tidy 2 hours 40 minutes.

Stellar Monarchs Academy 58 : Coles 12+2, Watson 9+2, S McGurk 8+1, Wood 14+1, Perry 10+1, Parker 0, Lyden 5

Scunthorpe Stags 31 : Phillips 3, Simpson 5, S Pijper 6, A Pijper 6+1, Booth 3, Etherigton 8+1

Stellar Monarchs Academy 35 : Coles 10+1, Watson 3, S McGurk 3+1, Wood 9+1, Perry 6, Parker 2, Lyden 2

Belle Vue Colts 53 : Hagon 11, Budd 1, Marson 9, Hodder 10+3, Cairns 16+1, H McGurk 6+1