Edinburgh Monarchs v Sheffield Tigers

REPORT Friday 31st August 2007, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

All of our riders rode pretty much to their potential as we had a misfortune-free night at last and beat Sheffield 53-40.

With Tigers missing Andre Compton and James Cockle, injured the night before, we were fairly firm favourites pre-match, but so many things have gone wrong recently that we were reserving judgement.

In fact we took control early on, and there might have been a point when we thought the bonus could come into play. Heats 11 and 12 put paid to any such thoughts, and realistically with such inexperienced reserves we are never going to thrash anyone.

Sheffield brought in Lee Complin to replace Andre, not as strong perhaps but his presence is a virtual guarantee of entertainment. He provided it and overall this match gave us some of the best racing of the season.

Once again Derek Sneddon started the match well and he led all the way in heat 1. Behind him George Stancl chased and harried Ricky Ashworth, moving into second place on the back straight of the final lap. He had to go quickly into the pits turn and left the line, allowing Ashworth to cut back and just pip him for second spot on the line.

Paul Cooper was likely to be a key man in ensuring Sheffield took the bonus. He won heat 2 with a bit to spare but once Ben Taylor and Kalle Katajisto settled down they easily shared the heat.

Laukkanen and Tully carved up the first corner of heat 3 to take a 5-1 from Complin, just finding his feet and locking up once or twice to lose ground.

A routine 4-2 in heat 4 put us in the comfortable position of 16-8 ahead, a rare feeling recently.

We didn?t let up there and we saw a fine win for Laukkanen in heat 6. Ashworth and Wilson made the start, but Laukkanen was soon past Wilson. He set out after Ashworth while Tully got onto Wilson?s tail. It was hard to know whether to watch back or front and both produced passes late in the race.

Laukkanen finally went for a round-the-outside move on the road bend, with Tully hitting the inside of the second bend to clinch an exciting 4-2.

We then had another example of teamwork from Stancl and Sneddon who had to work hard to hold off the challenging Parsons. George worked hard to slot in between Derek and Joel while Derek concentrated on moving wider to leave room for his partner. We got the 5-1.

Matthew Wethers won heat 7 and Sneddon took his third win in heat 8, both shared with our reserves bringing up the rear.

Kaj took his third win in heat 9, but this time the attention was on Andrew Tully?s powerful chase on Parsons. He threw everything into it and just fell short.

Lee Complin stopped Derek?s unbeaten run by passing him on the outside on the second bend of heat 10, though it was a comfortable win for Stancl.

We were now 18 points up, just 10 short on aggregate, so Sheffield used Ashworth as their TR in heat 11. It worked, Matthew making a poor start and having to catch and pass Wilson. A 2-7 ended any interest we might have had in the bonus.

We also lost the next heat as Complin from gate 4 rounded Laukkanen who was on gate 1. It was interesting though to watch Kaj work away and reduce Complin?s lead, finishing just a length short at the end.

Good work by Stancl and Wethers took the 5-1 in heat 13, and that made the match points secure.

Andrew Tully faced Parsons and Cooper in heat 14, and gained the three points with a superb first lap. He slipped under Parsons leaving the second bend and raced hard under Cooper going into the pits bend, moving him right out to the limit of where he could go without being brought down. Excellent riding from Andy.

The final heat was the best yet. It was a major surprise that we didn?t use Laukkanen, our most impressive rider, but that doesn?t mean to say that Stancl and Wethers didn?t deserve the ride.

They looked like making it count as they made the start, but they had Lee Complin chasing them.

Lee squeezed through a small gap outside Stancl on the road bend, and worked his way into contention with Matthew as they hit the lest corner.

He raced wide and cut back, and grabbed the verdict on the line. A superb exhibition by one of the best young talents around.

A very enjoyable night?s racing and a satisfactory result for both teams.

Full Result Details