A Few Problems at Workington

We made a decent start at Workington but eventually went down fairly heavily by 57-36 in our first away league fixture.

The margin of defeat was largely due to major machine problems for skipper Sam Masters who blew two engines and only managed to finish at pace in the opening heat.

He led heat 5, slowed and was passed then stopped, and he was on a 5-1 with Erik in heat 11 before slowing, then finally blew up again in heat 13. He says he hasn't blown an engine since 2011!

Workington certainly deserved their win with a solid show but we would surely have been in the hunt for a point had Sam had a normal night.

Our star of the night was Erik Riss with three wins in a determined performance, including a six-pointer in heat 8. He is really coming good but of course we generally rely on his pairing with Sam for our heat advantages.

Kevin Wolbert was also very good with a couple of wins, one achieved by miraculously weaving past the Comets pair out of the second bend.

Ryan Fisher won heat 4 against Vissing but was outpaced a bit after that. Both Ryan and Kevin showed a tendency to ride high up the first turn looking for drive but allowing the home men through on the inside.

As for the two newcomers, both showed signs of promise as usual. Jye remarkably blocked out home star Kenneth Hansen for a point in his first race, but he had bike problems later and fell in het 14.

Dan was never far off the pace and was getting good comments from the home fans on the terraces who presumably are aware of the potential the local boy has.

The biggest disappointment again was Max who never looked like scoring, even in heat two. He probably needs encouragement rather than criticism but he simply must commit himself to fighting the first corners. His former Cradley team mate Matt Williamson rode very well for Workington and Max should surely be at least at his level.

There was another local boy out having a few laps, one of ours actually - a certain Craig Cook.

Workington Bound

After our hard fought victory last night we travel to Workington tonight in our first away fixture of the Premier League season.

Our recent record at Derwent Park is nothing to write home about and we will have to go some to change that this evening. As we showed at Berwick last week though we are still a force to be reckoned with and if our top boys are firing then who knows what we are capable off.

Workington had the best home record in the Premier League last year and look to have built a team that is designed to carry that on into 2016. The top 3 of Ricky Wells, Kenneth Hansen and Claus Vissing are all masters of the wide open expanses of Derwent Park and our top men will have to go some to match up against them.

As always the key battles for the Monarchs will come at the bottom end as we look to Max, Jye and Dan to manufacture some points up against the Comets trio of Campton, Roynon and Williamson. The Comets trio have started the season off well particularly round their home confines and again there is the potential that this match is coming slightly too soon for our new guys.

Our title winning campaigns of 2003, 2008 and 2010 were built on targeting results at certain tracks and it may be that this tonight is a fixture that we do not have circled as a potential points gainer however there appears to be a steely belief in the camp and with 5 league winners in the Monarchs septet no one will be travelling there expecting any less than a win.

Individually Ryan, Sam and Kevin have all had strong performances round Derwent Park and we will need repeats of these if we are to gain anything this evening.