HARD FOUGHT WIN

NEWS Sunday 17th May 2015, 8:54pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

A good team performance with everyone contributing important points brought the Border Roofing Monarchs a 48-42 win at Newcastle to maintain our unbeaten start to the PL campaign.

After Sam Masters had won heat one, we took the lead in heat two with a very welcome 5-1 from reserves Rob Branford and Max Clegg. We never lost that lead but every time we looked like pulling away, we were pegged back by the Diamonds for whom Stevie Worrall was again outstanding.

He dropped his only point to the top Monarch Craig Cook who won three heats, still not gating well but the fastest man on show.

We led by two points up to heat 6, won by Craig Cook after Lewis Kerr had made a mistake on the second turn and baulked Max Clegg. Max almost caught Rose at the end of the race.

We did take a 5-1 in heat 7 though, both Sedgmen and Wolbert edging past Lindgren in the early stages.

Heat 8 was obviously going to be a tough one with Worrall in as r/r for Rosen, but Erik Riss made a good second turn to get into second place. Unfortunately he carried too much speed into the bottom bend and lost control, so the Diamonds narrowed the gap back to 2.

We shared the next two, with Cook beating Worrall in heat 9, then heat 11 was going our way with Sam Masters leading and Erik Riss holding a good third place. Lindgren was putting in a really determined ride, trying to pass Sam on the outside, and he looked to have the speed. However Sam wasn't giving him too much room and the Swede came off going for a small gap.

There wasn't much passing in the meeting and it was easy to sympathise with Lindgren whose bold effort didn't pay off. However Erik and Sam got ahead of Rose in the rerun and pushed us back to a 6-point lead.

It was now the interval so we had time to reflect. Surely we had the strength to hold the advantage?

Kevin Wolbert rode well all night but he never made a start and again he could only come second in heat 12 behind Worrall. It looked like a shared race all the way with Max in third place, but looking over both shoulders at every bend, usually starting with looking the wrong way. Eventually this cost him as Rose passed up the final straight.

Heat 13 started badly with the Diamonds on a 5-1, but our pair worked the first corner so well that they reversed the positions. Craig was gone but Sam by this stage was struggling for speed. Lindgren passed him but Kerr came down trying to find a way inside, and a 4-2 result was awarded.

We needed to share heat 14 to ensure the win, and a great gate by Justin from the inside (probably the worst gate)took him clear. This time it was our turn to nick a point on the final bend as Rob Branford's race-long hard work brought him a point by the narrowest of margins.

So now we were 8 up and looking for a shared race to get the 4 points. Unfortunately we didn't get it as Steve Worrall again rode perfectly to hold off Craig Cook, while Sam was tailed off behind Lindgren.

Newcastle are not having much luck at the moment with Rosen and Nielsen missing. Their gating was sharper than ours for much of the night but we worked the opening bends well in some of the vital races.

It was interesting to see that the fastest rider at Newcastle this season has been Christian Henry (now equalled by Cook) so that suggests his problems are mechanical.

From our viewpoint it was another good night, and we maintained our unbeaten run at Newcastle since September 2103 (three visits last season) where once a victory was as unlikely as Scotland winning the World Cup. Well done to all of the team.

Full Result Details