Scottish Open 2008

REPORT Friday 1st August 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

In spite of mass calloffs and more shocking weather, there was plenty of interest in the 2008 Scottish Open.

The full list of the riders originally booked who were not present is: (Injured) Daniel Nermark, William Lawson, Carl Stonehewer. (Not fit enough for non-Birmingham meetings) Jason Lyons. (Too heavy a programme after racing in USA) Billy Janniro. (Called unexpectedly to Poland) David Howe. (Flight from Sweden cancelled) Thomas H Jonasson.

In came Joe Screen, Travis McGowan, Robert Ksiezak, Ty Proctor, Tero Aarnio, Trent Leverington and Anders Andersen.

After heavy rain on Thursday, overnight and on Friday morning the stadium was awash, so in the end the track conditions were remarkably good, though certainly not easy, and equally not what they would normally be ? the outside was pretty strong.

Robert Ksiezak was quickly away in the opening heat with the three Monarchs in the race right on his tail. Aaron Summers made a hard move to pass going up the home straight and both Tully and Wethers followed. Ksiezak rounded Wethers again and Tully came inside Summers to complete an eventful opener.

McGowan easily won heat 2 and Joe Screen had a few lengths to spare over Fisher in heat 3.

Rory Schlein came off gate 1 in heat 4 and bumped James Grieves entering the first turn. It transpired that James? engine had seized, and he fell heavily against the fence.

He needed lengthy treatment in the ambulance, a delay that took us well past 8pm and necessitated another bout of fence repairs, of which we have seen so much recently.

No-one was excluded but James Grieves was forced out of the meeting. With no reserves present, we had five 3-rider races, the first of which was a fast Schlein win in the rerun of heat 4.

Heat 5 was all-change from the programmed lineup with Redcar?s Proctor beating three Glasgow Tigers.

Ryan Fisher and Aaron Summers took the main points from heat 6, then Rory Schlein took on his fell Elite Leaguers. Screen tried to block him out on the outside of the first corner but Rory rode a powerful wide line to race clear.

McGowan was pushed to the back by Matthew Wethers who had fallen in his first ride.

George Stancl led heat 8 with Andrew Tully quickly into second trying to set up a challenge. He cut to the inside off the fourth bend just as Makovsky lost control and hit him hard with his back wheel. This sent Andrew at high speed through the fence at the start of the home straight.

It was an accident but Andrew stormed over to have words with the Czech.

Makovsky was excluded and the rerun was a good dice between Derek Sneddon who gated and Andrew Tully who eased through inside with his superior turning ability.

Stancl came back into contention by winning heat 9 from Ksiezak, with Joe Screen surprisingly ineffective in third.

Sclein took his score to 9 in heat 10 with Aaron Summers recording another solid second place.

Heat 11 finished up with just two finishers, won by Leverington after Wethers fell again. Then we had an interesting Fisher v Tully tussle in heat 12.

Ryan realised how strong Andrew can be on the inside so kept that covered and seemed well clear going into the last lap. Andrew still got right up for a challenge off the last corner and came within a whisker of a remarkable pass.

Meanwhile McGowan was well back in third place.

So the leading scorers were: Schlein 9, Fisher 8, Tully 8, Summers, Screen and Stancl 6.

McGowan took a much needed win from heat 13, an easy heat, then Screen and Fisher added wins. Wethers chased Fisher hard in heat 15 though it was now too late for Matthew to reach the latter stages.

Schlein met Tully in heat 16, making a quick gate and moving over to block Andrew?s run. Andrew spent most of the heat regaining second place and never managed a challenge on the leader.

Leading scorers: Schlein 12, Fisher 11, Tully 10, Screen 9, Summers 8, McGowan, Stancl and Ksiezak 7.

Rory was out again in heat 17 and took his fifth win, obviously qualifying directly for the final. Ryan Fisher should have joined him but regrettably spluttered to a halt at the back of the field.

McGowan won heat 18 and even though Summers was a slightly disappointing third, he had done enough to reach the semi.

None of the riders in heat 19 had a chance though Matthew won the heat, and Screen beat Tully in heat 20 to take the second direct place in the final.

Sadly Fisher stopped again in the semi after making a fast start. McGowan took over with Summers second for much of the heat, but unable to prevent Tully coming past.

It would have been a travesty had anyone other than Schlein won the final, and it was never in doubt. The fight for the minor places was closer, with Tully right amongst the two Elite riders, until Screen covered the inside to hold Andrew off.