Stoke Potters v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Saturday 5th July 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Depressing drizzle eventually brought our close-fought match at Stoke to a premature end.

We were leading 28-26 at the time and showing plenty of resolve, having fought back from the 1-5 lost in heat 3.

The view of the management and riders was that we would rather contest this fixture on a dry circuit and hopefully with a full team, rather than risk losing out in a heat 12 stoppage on a track which had made the event a lottery.

The match had started in driech conditions with two wins for Derek Sneddon, gating well and holding a tight line. He had a few yards to spare over Magnus Karlsson in heat 1, and a big winning margin in heat 2.

It took two attempts to start heat 1 after Buzz Burrows had pushed Derek off the first time. Guest Ricky Ashworth was stranded from gate 4.

Derek wasn?t in heat 3 and we lost it 5-1, though Andrew did challenge the Dane Kristiansen.

Andrew Moore held off Ryan in heat 4 and this time Derek had to settle for third.

Gating was again important in heat 5 and this time it went our way. Ashworth and Tully went ahead while Barker lost control, and although the home captain came through and made up some ground, we held on comfortably.

Magnus Karlsson led down the back straight in heat 6 but Ryan shot past him going into the third turn. Burrows made an error which allowed Aaron into third, but he didn?t hold it long.

However it was Tully involved again as we took our second 5-1 in heat 7. Matthew backed up by holding off Moore and we were now 4 points up.

Heat 8 looked like another opportunity. Ref Dowling allowed Buzz Burrows time over and above his 2 minutes to change to a red helmet colour.

After a hectic first corner it was the Stoke pair of Buzz plus handy Dane Jakobsen who went ahead.

Derek fell trying to make up ground, giving Matthew a second chance which he took advantage of by beating Burrows for second.

Heat 9 went to Barker but Kristiansen made a mistake on the first bend, giving Ryan and Aaron a comfortable shared race.

Times were now 5 second higher than at the start of the match and the call-off was no great surprise.

There were some positives to be taken from this curtailed match, not least a good display by Andrew after a couple of not so good ones.