EQUAL THIRD IN DEFENCE OF FOURS

NEWS Sunday 3rd August 2014, 7:13pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs made the Final and finished equal third in defence of their Fours title at Peterborough, the worthy winners being the Somerset Rebels.

We would have been joint second had Sam Masters not frustratingly lost a chain in the final heat, coming down after he had two points in the bag.

Last year Somerset were without Jason Doyle as we took the title, so we can't quibble even though we had to race without Max Fricke today. The meeting came just too soon after his heavy fall on Friday. Max was there and would have ridden had it been imperative, but this probably would not have been wise.

In fact reserve Justin Sedgmen was our most consistent rider and didn't get as many points as he deserved for some thrilling racing.

The final was fiercely contested with racing which was a big improvement on the two scrappy semi-finals which were full of delays and race stoppages. Twice the referee's control panel lost power which meant fans hanging around on a hot day.

The qualifiers from the first semi were Somerset 14 and Scunthorpe 13, with hosts Peterborough on 11 and Newcastle 10.

We were through in our semi with a race to spare after Justin Sedgmen won heat 7. Our scorers were Sedgmen 5, Masters 5, Cook 4 and Worrall 0. That gave us 14, equalled by Workington, with Redcar on 11 and Berwick surprisingly trailing on 9. It didn't stop their fans making plenty of noise.

We made a poor start to the final with Craig at the back in heat one (as he was last year!), a point for Sam in heat two and a lucky third for Stevie in heat three.

The racing was unpredictable to say the least as the final unfolded, and we then got three good second places from Justin, Sam and Stevie, and it was good to see Mr Cool ride well in heat six after disappointing rides earlier.

Sedgy was again right in the thick of heat 7, a great race, but he only got a point and could hardly believe he hadn't got more!

Craig rode one of his stunning round-the-boards rides in heat eight, but was held out by Grajczonek who made sure he rode the same line. With just the final set of four races to go, we were in third place and just three points off the lead!

Once again Sedgmen was terrific in heat 9 but again his reward was only a point. It was the same story for Craig Cook in heat ten and now it looked like our Fours crown was heading south.

Somerset clinched it with a Nick Morris win in the penultimate race, a superb battle with Steve Worrall who had put his earlier struggles behind him.

It looked like we would finish strongly as Sam led the last race, but he was passed by Ollie Allen who was probably the most impressive rider in the meeting. We were on target for equal second until that desperately unlucky loss of chain for Sam, thankfully unhurt.

Our boys again did us proud and though they might feel a little disappointed in a season when so much has gone right for us, we certainly can't complain about how they performed.