Monarchs Win At Ashfield….. Again!

A fantastic weekend for Edinburgh Monarchs continued at Ashfield on Saturday night as they ran out 48-42 winners in a match they were never behind in but still went down to the wire.

Having won at the same venue in the BSN Series back in May confidence was high and the Monarchs went to work right from the start.

Heat one saw a fantastic effort from Tigers Mario Hausl to hit the front but the young German was under constant pressure from Dan Thompson and made a mistake on the third lap coming down leaving the Monarchs to take a 5-1.

Heat two was shared with a confidence boasting second for Mitch Cluff that was a precursor of things to come.

Further shared heats would come in heats three and four with a tenacious ride by guest Tate Zischke to hold of Chris Harris then round Kevin Juhl Pedersen in the former. Heat four a more routine tapes to flag victory from Kye Thomson.

Thomson who would have further glory to come as he took the spoils in the clinching heat 15 saying about the match, 'We did a fantastic job and we just carried on from last night.

'Everyone was keen and we really wanted to win. It was actually quite similar to last time here, we know what to expect and what we needed to do so yeah it was awesome.

'To finish of with an advantage in heat 15 is awesome as well it definitely wasn't easy I lost my steel shoe so I think I almost pulled my hamstring trying to keep my foot off the ground so it maybe wasn't smooth or pretty but we got the job done.'

Despite the aforementioned strong start by the Monarchs the Tigers aren't second in the league table just now for nothing and there was always an expectation they would fight their way back in.

Harris and Juhl Pedersen their dangerous pairing as they took a heat five maximum to level things up.

There is a steel to this Monarchs team though and they would retake the lead in the very next race as Thomson and Cluff jumped from the start to answer back with a 5-1 of their own.

As is normally the case at Ashfield there would be some fantastic action as the night continued heat 10 seeing a tight battle between Hausl and Zischke that verged a little on the over zealous side as the Tigers man forced Zischke to shut off running him to the fence as the Aussie tried to round him, albeit the home argument would be their man was in front so completely entitled to pick his line.

Heat 11 another intriguing one as Dan Thompson held of Leon Flint for the win while Jonatan Grahn did the same to home reserve Sam Hagon for third.

The Monarchs held a two point lead as the match headed for the penultimate heat a strong looking line-up of Zischke and Cluff for the visitors and Juhl Pedersen and Hagon for the home men.

Hagon was away best with Juhl Pedersen pushing to join his partner at the front. Zischke putting his name into the annals of top Monarch guests though first holding of the challenge of Juhl Pedersen then a lap later rounding Hagon to hit the front.

The drama was not done though as Juhl Pedersen and Hagon would then have a coming together on the back straight the young Dane coming down heavily.

Thankfully he would walk back to the pits unaided after some attention but this meant it was now a four point Monarchs lead.

The rider picks for the finale were pretty clear but the Tigers would surprise by choosing gates two and four, the outside gate with zero heat wins and having only contributed 13 points all night.

That meant it was Kye from the inside and Dan in gate three knowing only a second between them was needed to clinch victory.

Better was to come as the three riders on the outside gates all chased for the dirt line Thomson cleverly hugged the inside line to take himself to the front and when partner Thompson forced his way past Flint entering lap two the job was done.

So, a six point advantage goes in favour of the Monarchs with the second leg to come later in the year.

Glasgow Tigers 42 : Kemp 2, Hausl 6, Harris 11+2, Juhl Pedersen 6, Flint 9, Hagon 6, Hodder 2+1

Edinburgh Monarchs 48 : Thompson 11, Grahn 4+2, Sedgmen 2, Zischke 9+1, Thomson 12, Cluff 9+1, Loftus 1+1