STRONG SHOW IN THE RAIN

NEWS Friday 19th August 2011, 11:34pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The rain wasn't forecast but arrived early anyway, but had little effect on the Scotwaste Monarchs who stormed to a 61-33 win over Redcar.

The Bears only really had two effective riders (Lyons and Summers) and in the early stages it seemed they would be the dominant men in the meeting, but home stars Kevin Wolbert and Craig Cook got the better of them with strong rides in heats 13 and 15 to record two 5-1s.

But it wasn't just Kevin and Craig who had good nights, it was probably the most solid show of the season by Monarchs. Kyle Howarth was back on song, Byron Bekker won the Monarch of the Match award for outstanding rides in heats 2 and 14, and each of Wethers, Tully and Katajisto went well throughout.

Monarchs had just two last places all evening, both falls by the hard-trying Byron Bekker.

The track looked really good and we opened up with three excellent races, especially heat 2 which was a great 4-man battle. Jason Lyons recorded the fastest time of the season in heat 1, a mere 0.1 outside the track record.

Then the weather took its toll but the track stood up very well and there was every opportunity for riders to attack the track. All the home men and some of the visitors responded.

After our poor performance at the last home match against Glasgow, a much stronger team obviously, this showing was something of a relief and we will surely give the Tigers a much tougher match next week if we can perform as we did tonight.

Following the Premier League match the Edinburgh Kumho Kings beat Redcar to win the Northern Junior League.

Full Result Details