OUR PAIR DO WELL BUT ULRICH WINS

NEWS Sunday 6th September 2015, 8:16pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Craig Cook was top qualifier for the Premier League Riders Championship deciding race, and Sam Masters was unlucky to miss out on the semi-final, but the winner on the night was Peterborough's Ulrich Ostergaard who led all the way in the final.

Ricky Wells of Workington finished second with Craig third and Somerset's Josh Grajczonek fourth.

Did Craig choose the wrong gate in the final? He thought about it for quite a while before opting for gate two, which gave second qualifier Ostergaard the opportunity to take the inside. It doesn't really matter now, and Craig would have needed a better start anyway.

He fought his way into third and looked as though he was going to pass Wells also until he mde an error on the second bend of the last lap.

Sam's misfortune came in heat 14 after he had scored a very handy 7 from his first 3 rides. He lost a chain n his way to the first corner and that left him needing at least a second in heat 17. He could only manage a point.

Sam had started with a second ahead of Cookie in heat two, then he had a win in one of the most entertaining races of the day, heat 8. He was almost trapped on the inside line early on but pulled off an excellent inside pass on Tungate before reeling in Eddie Kennett for a tremendous outside overtake on the last bend.

He then picked two from heat 11 behind surprise packet Jonas B Andersen, before that chain loss hit his chances.

In Craig's case, he really seemed to be winding up for a big tilt at the title. Third in heat two behind Wells and Masters after passing Steve Worrall, he had to come from the back again in heat 6 for a second in a race surprisingly won by Thomas Jorgensen, the only points the Dane got before withdrawing with his shoulder injury.

Then off the more favourable inside gates Craig had two big wins, before coming from gate four in his last ride with a sensational round the boards move to ensure that top qualifying spot.

He had 12 but his three race wins gave him the edge over Ostergaard. They were joined by Josh G and Ricky Wells from the semi, in which Eddie Kennett lost a chain just before the start and earned a two minute exclusion. He was actually laughing as he walked back to the pits.

There was a decent crowd by modern standards and there were some interesting performances, with Masters, Garrity, Kurtz, Morris and Newman all lively in addition to the six qualifiers.

Pre-meeting favourite Brady Kurtz lost his chance with a rash outside move in his final ride when he probably only needed a point for the semi.

So that's it for another year, a podium place to add to Craig's record but congratulations to Ulrich Ostergaard.