ALEX HARKESS: CORRECT DECISION

NEWS Saturday 5th July 2008, 10:47am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Our match at Stoke was abandoned after 9 heats with the Scotwaste Monarchs leading by 28-26.

By that stage heavy drizzle had made the track very slippery, and while we could have gone on to win, the result was going to be something of a lottery.

The team had shown good form to recover from an early deficit, taking 5-1s in heats 5 and 7 (both involving Andrew Tully).

We then lost a rerun heat 8 4-2 and shared heat 9 before the decicion to call the match off.

Alex Harless said "It was the right decision. While we might have won, we would have been very frustrated if we had got to heat 12 and lost it in these conditions. We would far rather go back in dry weather when I believe we should ve capable of winning."

Guest Ricky Ashworth finished last in heat 1 off gate 4 but won heat 5 in style, Derek Sneddon won heats 1 and 2, and rider replacement for Thomas had proved successful dropping just one point.