GREAT START AT ARMADALE

NEWS Saturday 6th April 2013, 1:40am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs turned in an excellent opening night performance, taking a big 59-31 victory over Glasgow in the first leg of the Spring Trophy, with Craig Cook and Theo Pijper both scoring paid maximums.

Craig was winning his races with ease, other than the opening heat, but we saw some superb overtaking by Theo showing his mastery of the tight turns.

There were excellent returns elsewhere as well with Jozsef Tabaka scoring 9+1, Claus Vissing 8+2, Derek Sneddon 7+1 and Marcel Helfer 5+1. Young Max was right in the thick of things with 2+1 and is learning fast.

Glasgow didn’t enjoy too much luck, particularly with Joe Screen suffering a foot injury in heat 11 when he caught it in Claus Vissing’s back wheel. Perhaps Tigers’ most interesting rider was new Aussie Joey Ringwood who showed a willingness to wind the throttle on and won heat 11.

Monarchs will happy with Claus Vissing’s excellent first appearance at Armadale. He won heat 13 and looks quite comfortable in spite of his previous reputation as a big track specialist.

Even though it was a comfortable home win, there was quite a bit of entertainment as Tigers made several good starts. Pick of the heats was heat 9 in which Grieves and Pijper passed and repassed before Theo won it on the final turn. However Cook (heat 1), Pijper (heat 5) and Bager (heat 14) also won races from the back.

The weather was bright and the track rode well. The crowd seemed to enjoy the new starting gate position, which allows them to see the riders at the gate, and Monarchs must be greatly encouraged with their opening night.