Title Partner
REPORT Friday 7th August 2015, 10:00pm
Edinburgh Monarchs
Peterborough became the second team to win at Armadale this season, and although it was just by a margin of a point they deserved the victory.
Edinburgh had too many riders below par, missing out on vital points when it mattered. The Panthers scored well throughout their team, with guest Ricky Wells having his best ever Armadale match as stand-in for Ostergaard.
His pairing with Robert Lambert, making his first appearance at the track, was outstanding and it was quite fitting that they finished the job by forcing Kevin Wolbert to the rear in the final race.
They did lose heat 1 to the top home pairing of Craig Cook and Justin Sedgmen but they didn’t slip up again.
Panthers followed up this reverse with an ominous 5-1 in heat 2, which signaled the start of a poor night for the home reserves. When Erik Riss won heat 3, a home 5-1, those who follow such things may have started to notice the trend for winners off gate 2. This unsatisfactory state of affairs continued for most of the match, with any of the better riders certain to win if they had the favoured gate.
Cook broke his own track record in heat 4, and both Panthers came down in heat 6 as the home side established a 3-point advantage. That was the furthest ahead they got and they never looked comfortable.
Scores swapped back and forward, influenced to a fair extent by who had gate 2. Monarchs led by a point going in to heat 13 and were looking for an advantage there, but Lambert (off gate 2) scored a vital win over Cook and Sedgmen.
Although Riss had won his opening ride (guess which gate he was off) it wasn’t a good night for the young German who only scored one further point. His fall in second place in heat 11 was important in such a close match.
He was at the back in heat 14 and that left Monarchs a point down, so that Cook’s last heat win (yes, gate 2) wasn’t enough and the Panthers were celebrating at the end.
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Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
