LEAGUE LEADERS PULVERISED

NEWS Saturday 11th August 2012, 11:51pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

In their fourth match in four days the Scotwaste Monarchs were being asked to show a lot of stamina, with both men and machines tested. They made light of it though and in one of the best ever team performances they hammered a shell-shocked Newcastle side by 64-29.

Once again the whole team was magnificent, showing such determination and skill, though there were two absolute stand-out performances.

Craig Cook will be setting a lot of records this season, and tonight scored his third 15 point maximum in three days. It seems unlikely that a Monarch has ever done this before though the record books will be scrutinised.

He simply murdered the Diamonds from the starts and won his races by miles. He wasn't the only maximum scorer though because we saw a performance from Jozsef Tabaka that was in its way equally impressive. The Hungarian wasn't gating but with fast, smooth and thoughtful riding he caught and passed several visiting riders to score a 12-point maximum.

He even managed to round Stuart Robson twice in an eventful heat 11, stopped due to a Claes Nedermark crash, with Robson trying everything to move Jozsef over in the rerun but unable to do it.

The rest of the team were in the thick of things all night. Derek Sneddon had some great battles, earned two paid wins and lost out to Nedermark in heat 8 which was one of the best of the night.

Theo Pijper did superbly on his second motor, having blown one last night, and once again his pairing with Matthew Wethers was rock-solid. They were unlucky to lose to TR Stuart Robson in heat 5, Wethers having a bike problem in the rerun after they had led in the first running of the race.

Andrew Tully had some thrillers with Robson too, and Christian Henry, and in spite of the wide scoreline the standard of entertainment was good.

Finally Marcel Helfer showed how he is getting to grips with Armadale, backing his partner to 5-1 advantages in his first two races.

For the second night running the visitors only managed two race winners, and that's not because the Diamonds have become a poor team – it's because Monarchs are an exceptional one!

Full Result Details