Great start for the Academy

Monarchs Academy romped to a 57-33 victory in their first National League encounter of the season, in a match which was substantially more entertaining than the score suggests with some very interesting performances on both sides.

There was no more exciting performer than James Shanes who has been out of British Speedway for four years until persuaded to step in to replace injured Vinny Foord by Academy team boss Scott Wilson.

Shanes said "I was persuaded by Scott to come and I am glad I did, the team and everyone was lovely. It's been a good day really. The last race with Ace was good, I lost my steel shoe but I really enjoyed my riding."

The ex-Birmingham man scored 13+1 and dropped just one point, to the excellent Ace Pijper in heat 5. It looked as though Pijper would sweep the board but he was halted in heat 15 after winning his previous four heats, either from the gate or by clever first bend work. In the last race Jordy Loftus got his best start of the night and there was a great battle for second, Pijper passing Shanes on the opening lap on the inside, only for Shanes to majestically come back round the outside – remarkable since as he said, he did lose his steel shoe

There was never much doubt about the final outcome given the excellent form of the home side plus the fact that Tigers were missing Nathan Ablitt who would likely have given Pijper strong support.

With Connor Coles of course still missing (though reportedly watching the stream) the remaining team members needed to step up and they certainly did. Loftus and Dayle Wood were very strong as expected, then there was Shanes, and there were also strong double figure performances by new signing Jamie Halder and complete newcomer Ben Whalley who really sparkled from reserve.

There was much attention on Anika Loftus on her debut and she was able to ease herself in without much pressure. She was in the thick of things in heat 2 and rode steadily.

For the Tigers, returning veteran Jade Mudgway had some interesting battles but their biggest plus points came at reserve. Charlie Southwick (after a first ride fall following a bold passing move) settled down to show a fine style, and he has loads of potential.

Harry Sadler started the match with some fence scraping and was tending to ride Armadale as if it was a big track, but he improved considerably during the evening and obviously learnt a lot.

All in all, a good evening's entertainment with the return at Redcar tomorrow – and Ablitt back.