Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Monarchs

Losing the match at Glasgow wasn’t a great surprise, given our away form, but we would have liked to leave Ashfield on Sunday with seven fit riders.

That pleasure was also denied us thanks to a nasty heat 8 incident which ruled Derek Sneddon and Charles Wright out of the rest of the match, with Derek suffering the worse injuries.

Charles straightened on the first turn and the pair collided at the fence, cartwheeling several yards.

Overall it was a thoroughly unsatisfactory and depressing afternoon for speedway on a very poor track. Whether it was sheer ineptitude or an attempt to put the visiting team off, only the perpetrators would be aware.

For the first 8 heats the riders struggled round hanging on to the positions they had gained round the first two corners. Derek and Charles had been our two best performers until that point, though little good it did them.

Following the incident we had a lengthy track grading exercise, and thereafter the riders were able to race more freely. There were even two simultaneous overtakes in heat 10.

Our race winners were Charles Wright (heat 2), Craig Cook (heats 9 and 15), Theo Pijper (heat 12) and Matthew Wethers (heat 14). Craig recorded the two fastest times of the night.

Had we gained the 5-1 we had gated on in heat 8, and retained the services of our riders, we would very likely have gained a point or more.

For a track looking to increase attendances this was a poor event. The possibility of racing and passing is what makes fans want to attend, not the fear of incidents when riders get close to each other. Several Edinburgh fans attended on Sunday using the Groupon cheap tickets, and there was much comment of the sort “Thank goodness I didn’t pay full price.”

Derek will obviously be out for a while, adding his name to a list of significant injuries our riders have experienced at Ashfield – Frede Schott, William Lawson, Ross Brady, Kalle Katajisto, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers. Let’s hope there are no more.