Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

REPORT Friday 8th May 2015, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Three opening 4-2s gave Edinburgh the upper hand, which they never lost, but neither did they shake off the tenacious Diamonds till a 5-1 in heat 14 decided the distribution of the points.

It was a dull, drizzly night and the track became increasingly damp, though the standard of racing was actually quite good.

On an otherwise below par night for him, the best ride came from Craig Cook who threw himself into his challenge on race leader Lewis Kerr in heat 11, finally cutting back brilliantly and getting to the front.

He had only declared himself fit earlier in the day, suffering from the after-effects of his crash seven days earlier. He won his first race comfortably, moved Steve Worrall over on the first turn of heat 7 to engineer a likely 5-1 with Max Clegg, then suddenly fell off when well in front.

Then came his pass on Kerr, before he was blocked out on the first corner of heat 15 and ran into difficulties on the now-sodden track trying to make up ground.

Sam Masters was the rock for the Border Roofing Monarchs, while the middle pairing of Kevin Wolbert and Justin Sedgmen scored well enough without looking as sharp as usual, especially in their gating.

Armadale fans are very familiar with Steve Worrall’s quality and so it came as no surprise that he scored so well. He was fortunate to get a point in heat 7 but after that, fast gating and steady, clever riding brought him three race wins and a 4-point TR, including a heat 15 victory which stopped Masters’ unbeaten run.

Lewis Kerr was also excellent, and Ludvig Lindgren was solid without ever getting to the front. However the majority of the entertainment over the evening came from home reserves Max Clegg and Rob Branford, especially in their battles with Newcastle’s Simon Nielsen. All three deserved the plaudits from the fans – they tried so hard, made some good moves, and one or two errors as well to ensure that they were always worth watching.

Full Result Details