Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

REPORT Friday 31st March 2006, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

At last we saw some Speedway at Armadale, and the team earned a well-deserved six point win over Glasgow.

The weather again did us no favours, a horrible morning and bright afternoon being followed by a horrible evening. Nevertheless the riders of both teams got on with the job until heavier rain brought the finish after heat 12, due according to referee Will Hunter to bad visibility.

Certainly the track held up very well, and everyone who has been working at the stadium during the week should be very proud of their efforts, stadium and circuit both being as good as possible for the opener.

After a delay till the doctor arrived, we were under way with heat 1 and a big win for Theo over Danny Bird. David McAllan stopped at the gate and Henrik Moller showed a decent style, not too far away from Bird. Theo looked very sharp indeed throughout.

Tigers looked likely to get the better of heat 2 as Cockle and Ksiezak led, but they were going rather slowly which caused everyone to bunch up - they went into the last lap virtually four abreast! Ksiezak squeezed ahead to win, Sean Stoddart fell entering the final turn, and Cockle shot across the turn and bowled over several boards.

Sean pushed home for the point with the ref ignoring Glasgow's suggestion that he should have put the red lights on and excluded him as well as Cockle.

Matt Wethers and William Lawson then romped away for a 5-1 in heat 3, and even better followed as Shane Parker floundered against Derek Sneddon and Rusty Harrison in heat 4. As he often has, Rusty sat unselfishly behind his partner to ensure the 5-1.

So Glasgow were using their first TR (Bird) at the earliest possible stage, and he was assisted in taking 6 points by a William Lawson engine failure. Matthew prevented a 1-8 by fighting his way past David McAllan in a good battle for second.

Interest in heat 6 was at the back, where Shane Parker languished for much of the race. Theo won easily, and Henrik tried to catch Robert Ksiezak before Parker got to him. He didn't quite manage it.

Rusty easily beat Tigers' middle pair in heat 7 but Sean gated badly and coulnd't really challenge.

We were strong in heat 8 and Theo plus Derek came up with the goods without difficulty.

That put us 9 up again, just in time for a Parker tactical ride. He won from the gate and again a 1-8 was on the cards until William Lawson passed Ksiezak. Matthew tried very hard to follow suit but missed out on third by a wheel.

Excitement in heat 10 as Moller made a gate for the first time and looked good out in front. He was gradually reeled in by Nieminen who made an impressive pass. Theo was hampered by a clutch problem in what should have been his easiest ride.

Rusty missed the start in heat 11 but passed McAllan, which closed the gap right up to just 2 points. However we stretched that again as Derek and Matthew sped clear of the opposition, and at that point the ref descended from his box.

Really heat 12 shouldn't simply be used as a convenient stopping point, but in this case the rain actually did get heavier at this point. The match was called off due to poor visibility rather than over any problems with the track.

HALMOND ENGINEERING MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Derek Sneddon.

Full Result Details