Edinburgh Monarchs v Rye House Rockets

REPORT Friday 24th July 2015, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

All meetings down south were off but Scotland was mainly dry – other than Armadale of course which had some lengthy afternoon showers to contend with.

This match could easily have been called off but the track staff set to work with the crowd patiently waiting till the work had been completed just before 8. We finished up with a track easy to ride (at least in mid-track) though it didn’t take long for it to go slick and dusty, understandably.

As a result there wasn’t a great deal of opportunity for passing, but those prepared to give it a go were worth watching.

The home team gradually built up an advantage and were always going to win comfortably, but there was some interesting resistance from Edward Kennett, NB Jakobsen and Luke Bowen. Rockets’ middle pairing struggled though with Robin Aspegren completely off the pace.

Kennett is a class performer of course, especially on small tracks, and he impressively swept past Kevin Wolbert to take his 6-point TR in heat 5. He was riding with Bowen and some may have recalled that this pair recorded two 8-1 advantages last year, but this time they were restricted to 7.

Bowen had won heat 2, and Jakobsen made it three heat winners out of the first six when he headed Sedgmen and Worrall.

That was it though, no more chequered flags even though Jakobsen in particular continued to impress. He rode with determination and style throughout.

The home riders could all be satisfied with their form, with points for everyone and four riders each beaten in just one race. Justin Sedgmen’s mastery of first corner tactics is a pleasure to watch, and Max Clegg provided a particularly good moment with his heat 7 cutback.

Both Clegg and Craig Cook found that if you tried a very wide line to pick up speed, you were likely to hit trouble. Cook’s fall came in heat 13 after the Rockets had gated, giving Steve Worrall a second chance which he gratefully grabbed.

Best heat was the last one as Wolbert and Jakobsen passed and repassed for second spot with the German eventually getting the upper hand.

Full Result Details