Monarchs Eclipsed By Comets

REPORT Saturday 18th May 2024, 5:21pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

An undermanned Stellar Monarchs went down heavily at Workington on Saturday as the hosts showed their pedigree moving back to the top of the Championship league table.

It looked like a daunting task for the Armadale men going into the meeting but there was still a sense of disappointment with the performance captain Paco Castagna who can be happy with his days work taking two of the Monarchs three heat victories saying after, 'One of the toughest days for us as a team, last night I stayed with the management after the meeting to try and help find a guest for Josh but we couldn't find anyone so I think they were happy to see Josh wasn't riding today.

'It was a tough day for all of us it's a place we hadn't been before so we had to dig deep to find the set-up and we struggled. I made a change after my first heat and it showed.

'It is a tough loss and we are going to have to dig very very deep.'

The hosts were relentless from the off with star of the show Tate Zischke taking the first victory of a flawless five ride full maximum to open proceedings with partner Craig Cook tucked in behind him the writing was on the wall.

Further advantages in eight of the next nine races meant the Comets had the match mathematically clinched by heat 10 although there was some reasonable action throughout.

Heat seven the race of the day as Castagna and home man Troy Batchelor ran side by side for the majority of the race, the Aussie just getting the win on the line.

Castagna would gain a modicum of revenge in heat 11 but with this being one of only three race wins on the day for the Monarchs coupled with 13 last places the result was only ever going to go one way,

So, a tough day for the Armadale men who will

now look to get on the board in the Championship when Scunthorpe visit West Lothian next Friday night.

Workington 61: Cook 9+4, Zischke 15, Vuolas 11, Vissing 6+2, Batchelor 11, Liebmann 5+1, McGurk 4+1

Stellar Monarchs 29: Pickering r/r, Hagon 2, Thomson 4+1, Castagna 11, Sedgmen 9, James 3, Coles 0

Full Result Details