Edinburgh Monarchs v Stoke Potters

REPORT Friday 8th September 2006, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Stoke put up a good fight for the points at Armadale before a strong finish took the Monarchs home by a dozen.

Once again Theo Pijper was the home hero, scoring his first home league maximum of the season. He was never challenged after the first corner.

He easily won heat 1 and when Daniele Tessari bustled into second round the first corner it looked like an advantage. However Monarchs' Italian went too wide and was caught by the Potters' pair.

Assisted by an Evans' engine failure, the home reserves scored an easy 5 in heat 2, and Monarchs' dominance at reserve was a feature of the evening.

Matthew Wethers flew to victory in heat 3 but Henrik Moller dropped out on the first lap.

Monarchs were on a 5-1 in the early stages of heat 4 before Lemon caught and passed Sneddon. Stoke's first heat winner was Paul Thorp in heat 5, with the suspicion of a flying start, but we managed to keep Leverington at the back, even though the Aussie was riding better than he has sometimes done at Armadale.

Theo once again soared to victory in heat 6 and this time Daniele took a third spot, to increase the lead to 8 points.

This was halved though in an entertaining heat 7. Kessler led all the way but for much of the heat, Stoddart was in second spot with Clews buzzing around him and Lawson looking for a way through after a bad start.

Eventually Clews made it through into second as Sean stuck too much to the inside.

Derek held on to win heat 8 after a good battle with Leverington, who [assed Daniele early in the heat.

Mark Lemon finally made a start to win heat 9, as our pair passed the fast-starting Barrie Evans.

We brought Sneddon into heat 10 against Potters' middle pair, but he fell on the first corner as Theo Pijper won easily once more.

Thorp took his second win in heat 11, Lawson taking second, but we were now just four ahead - and the match win was far from certain at this stage.

An advantage in heat 12 was certainly a help. Matthew and Derek made the start thought Clews, always forceful, squeezed through into second.

Paul Thorp got a major flyer in heat 13, and this time the referee pulled him back. He received a warning and shook his head as he was given it - but it was overdue.

The rerun was a good heat with Theo clear, but William just hanging on by a tyre from a hard-pressing Thorp.

Robbie Kessler was on a TR to keep Potters' hopes mathematically alive, but this time Henrik Moller got it right with a perfect inside run on the first bend.

That was a 4-4 and the match was safe. Theo completed his maximum in the last heat and duly collected another Man of the Match award. It was a one-horse race.

HALMOND ENGINEERING MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Theo Pijper

Full Result Details