GREAT WIN TAKES US TOP OF THE SECTION

NEWS Saturday 11th April 2015, 10:56pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs turned in a great display at Berwick to win 50-40, take four match points and go ahead in the League Cup section.

We do look a really good team once more and when you get a performance like Craig Cook’s tonight, it gives a platform for the others to build on. He hasn’t been gating well, and he still didn’t make the start in his first two rides. In heat 1 he squeezed between Alex Edberg and the fence down the back straight, and in heat 5 he had even more to do.

This time he stormed under Jorgensen on the pits bend, then hit the outside on the next corner and swept majestically round Kevin Doolan for a brilliant victory. Who says you can’t pass at Berwick?

In his next three he found his gating touch and won all of his heats by a large margin. It wasn’t all about Cookie though, even he can’t win a match on his own.

Sam Masters just dropped a single point, in his opening heat to Claus Vissing. He didn’t look quick in any of his rides and usually had a Bandit on his tail, but he is a clever rider and never really gave them chances to pass. When it came to the crunch, the old firm of Cook and Masters bagged 5-1s in heats 13 and 15.

Kevin Wolbert turned in a very good 9 points, looking quick and pressing the race leaders hard in the heats he didn’t win. His race win in heat 10 over Barker was an important one.

Once again we had good points from the reserve berths. Rob Branford’s 8+3 was in some ways the key contribution of the evening and when he joined Justin Sedgmen for a heat 8 5-1 over Doolan and Edberg, he turned the match on its head.

Up until then we trailed by 2 in what looked like a match which would be nip and tuck all the way. Sedgy had had two very undistinguished rides and the heat did not look like a 5-1 on paper!

Justin finished on 4, Max Clegg had two important third places, and while Erik Riss didn’t score, every lap he does will be standing him in good stead for the future.

After taking the lead in heat 8, we pressed home the advantage making heavy use of young Branford to gain heat advantages. Our heat 13 5-1 clinched the win, then after losing heat 14 we took the final 5-1 for the fourth point.

Full Result Details