Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Monarch

REPORT Friday 2nd June 2006, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

At last we had a really sunny night for those not already heading for Cardiff to enjoy.

The absence of William Lawson from the side was depressing for the home fans but the replacement rides brought a reasonable paid 8, and helped the Scotwaste Monarchs to take the bonus.

The likelihood is that this will take us into third spot in the Premier Trophy, but second is likely to be beyond us - unless Stoke pull off a major surprise at Sheffield on Thursday.

Henrik and Theo powered to a big 5-1 in heat 1, and we should have added to that in heat 2. Derek raced through to lead down the back straight, and Sean passed Cooper on the inside - only to fall later in the heat trying to make up ground on Benji Compton

Sanchez made a tremendous start in heat 3 and looked a likely winner although Theo was making up ground steadily. The Canadian Legault was third for a bit but got the pits turn wrong on lap three and clouted the fence. Race stopped and awarded.

Andre Compton won heat 4 easily with Rusty settling for a third behind Derek after failing to find a way through to challenge on the opening lap.

Heat 5 was a cracker and a great win for Matthew. It did seem Ashworth was the likely winner early on but Matthew never gave up, eventually getting within striking distance on the last lap and making the pass on the final turn to win by inches.

Theo did well to head Andre Compton in heat 6, and Henrik too kept right on the visiting star's tail. We were now 8 up but heat 7 was a bad one!

Firstly Rusty went through the tapes and had to retreat 15 metres, and to make matters worse when he arrived at the first bend he found Sean spinning and falling in front of him! He was badly impeded and it was hard to understand why the heat wasn't stopped. By the end Rusty was hot on the heels of Sanchez and Legault, but he may well have felt hard done by.

The 8-point gap was restored as Theo and Derek easily took 5 in heat 8.

Heat 9 was another Andre victory, and our opening pair brought their total in 3 heats together to 14 with a combination ride in heat 10. We were now level on aggregate and it was maybe surprising that Sheffield didn't give Ashworth a TR in heat 11.

He led the heat early on but Rusty pulled off a great outside pass.

Derek Sneddon led heat 12 but it seemed that Legault had the drop on Matthew for second. Matthew again though kept his challenge alive, and burst past the Canadian on the last lap for a 5-1.

With Andre in the next one a TR was inevitable and in fact it was a 1-8, with Ashworth pulling off a good backup ride. Henrik missed the start badly and Rusty's outside challenge was unsuccessful.

That meant we were 9 up on the night, 3 down on aggregate, but once again Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers were the men for the job. Sanchez was on a TR but was left well adrift, and so we were now 1 up on aggregate going into the last race.

Theo was the obvious choice for the final heat but who else? Derek had already had 7 rides, so it was Rusty, Matthew or Henrik who were eligible. Henrik's gating not only got him the nod, but also proved the key factor as he flew round the outside and raced away for a great win. Theo was at the rear but passed a surprisingly ineffective Andre Compton while Ashworth took second.

So the bonus was ours, though it is unlikely to carry us through to the semis. We have one PT match left, against Berwick in a fortnight.

HALMOND ENGINEERING MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Derek Sneddon.

Full Result Details