Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Tigers

REPORT Friday 10th July 2015, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Armadale is in need of some more competitive fixtures after some recent one-sided matches, but this wasn’t the answer as the home team had an easy ride once more.

It didn’t start out that way. Aaron Summers made the start in heat 1 but Justin Sedgmen moved smoothly past out of the second corner, then Sam Masters lost a lot of ground on the third turn and almost made it all up again.

Heat 2, Josh Bates was away all too quickly from gate 4 but allowed to proceed. Arthur Sissis held second challenged early on by Liam Carr, and later passed by Max Clegg.

Cameron Heeps then led all the way in heat 3 under a fairly limited challenge by Kevin Wolbert which consisted of showing Heeps his front wheel on the inside at every bend, but no real challenge.

Craig Cook broke the track record for the altered track in heat 4 but with Carr at the back the scores were still level.

Wolbert moved Summers wide on the second bend of heat 5, allowing Riss into second, and this gave Edinburgh a 4-point lead.

They should have doubled it in the next race but Masters suddenly spun round on the pits corner and earned an exclusion, so after 6 heats a 20-16 scoreline suggested a close match in prospect.

It was a misleading impression. Max Clegg was involved in 5-1s in the next two races, and Sheffield almost totally caved in from that point on.

Summers managed a 4-point TR, Carr earned a very unlucky heat 12 exclusion when partner Wolbert parked his bike on the second bend, and Riss fell in the second running of heat 14 which proved to be the race of the night.

Heeps led early on but Clegg forced his way inside, riding neck and neck till the home man edged ahead to complete his best performance so far.

But it was a rare breakout of exciting racing on a generally processional night. Cook and Sedgmen were the dominant home riders, and it would be hard to say that any of the Sheffield riders enhanced their reputation.

Full Result Details