Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

REPORT Friday 5th May 2006, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs were not at their best for the latest Scottish derby, taking just the two points and not the bonus.

Derek Sneddon's three-point return (including two heavy falls) and the same score for Henrik Moller at no. 1 represented under-achievement, and although Theo Pijper and Rusty Harrison were at the right end of the scorechart, they couldn't deliver in the big heats 13 and 15.

Gate 4 produced only 13 points all night, with the rider from that position often stranded at the first corner, so having this gate in 13 and 15 was a big hindrance.

We got off to a poor start when Henrik drifted badly in heat 1, finishing at the back after challenging for the lead early on. Heat 2 was also lost after Derek had fallen at the first corner, gating poorly off that gate 4. Sean at least managed a second from the back over Cockle.

We needed to out it right quickly and that was achieved by Matthew and William racing away for a 5-1 in heat 3, followed by a similar score for Rusty and Derek over Shane Parker!

Again, the gate 4 factor was relevant in these heats.

David McAllan got another good point over Matthew as Tigers won heat 5. Parker was back to normal in heat 6 before we doubled our advantage in heat 7.

Sean was to the fore again here, taking his chance as everyone went to the fence on the first turn. He cut through to join Rusty for a 5-1.

Theo managed to gate from grid 4 in heat 8 and win easily, but James Cockle held off Derek for second. That meant Tigers still weren't into a TR position.

The next two heats were shared, Kauko Nieminen at last coming good in heat 10. It was obvious that Theo was well short of last week's form, due no doubt to a change of engine.

Tigers decided not to wait for a 9-point deficit to emerge and used Parker off 15 metres in heat 11. Bird seemed to make a start but ran into to trouble on both the first and third bends, crashing into the boards. In the rerun Sean held Parker up for quite a bit, and Rusty was never in danger of being caught.

heat 12 seemed a potential advantage for us, but Robert Ksiezak pushed his way in front of Derek with a good move. Attempting to re-pass on the second lap, Derek went over the camber on the pits bend and hit the boards hard.

He took an ambulance ride but thankfully wasn't seriously hurt. In the rerun Matthew managed to get away for a win, so we were still 8 up going into heat 13.

Rusty was unbeaten at this point without being entirely convincing, and off gate 4 he was nowhere. Henrik lay third but was never a threat to Glasgow's big two.

William made the start in heat 14 and once again Sean was making himself useful, battling with Ksiezak for second. The Aussie overslid and fell, and Nieminen hit his bike then the fence.

Nieminen would not have been fit for the rerun but there wasn't one anyway, the race result being curiously awarded.

So we were three ahead on aggregate going into heat 15, but we lost the toss. William was the unlucky one in gate 4, and Theo was no match for Bird and Parker, so the bonus point went west.

HALMOND ENGINEERING MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Sean Stoddart.

Full Result Details