Super Sam

NEWS Sunday 8th January 2017, 9:31am

by Howard Williams

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Double delight for Monarchs fans at the second round of the Australian titles at Mildura with Sam Masters holding off the persistent challenges of Max Fricke to win the round, and Josh Pickering beaten on a countback for the last place in the semi final line up after scoring eight points.

Both improved their overall series standings, Masters (26) to third behind Dave Watt (32) and Justin Sedgmen (29),and Pickering to equal eighth on 13 sharing that score with Jack Holder and Rohan Tungate. With Pickering's home track to host the final round of the series he may fancy his chances of just sneaking into the top half of the rankings by the end of the series.

Masters enjoyed a perfect score after four rides but lapsed a little to not score in his last ride and finished third on the scoresheet for the round after the heats one point adrift of Fricke and Watt. First cab off the rank for Sam was a relatively easy win made that little bit easier after Sedgmen came off trying to make up ground after being slow away and was excluded. "Untroubled" would best describe Sam's second ride with Pickering making it a Monarchs 1 - 2. Nick Morris picked up the odd point for third. Heat 12 was one of the rides of the night, Masters got caught in traffic early and had settled in second behind Todd Kurtz. For the next three and a half laps Masters explored all sorts of lines from the white line to the fence but coming off the final bend Masters cut back and grabbed the lead from Kurtz just before the line. Rohan Tungate had retired mid race continuing his wretched 2017 series.

It was a quick turn around for Masters with him being out again in heat 13. This heat loomed as a danger heat with Batchelor, Brady Kurtz and Holder all capable of taking the win. As often happens it was an anti climax with Sam completing a tapes to flag win and a fairly processional heat and a potential bullet was dodged. In his final ride Sam was in white with Fricke and Watt inside him. Those two gated brilliantly and engaged in an epic battle up front with Fricke victorious. Meanwhile Masters had somehow found himself in last and couldn't get by Proctor to pick up a consolation point so if was a disappointing zero added to the score chart.

In the final Masters was in blue with Fricke inside him. After a competitive turn one Sam emerged in the lead and riding mid track with Fricke in second exploring options closer to the pole line. Several times Fricke loomed up on the inside but with the better line into the bends Sam was able to see off each foray by Fricke. It was a very happy young man that crossed the line first.

Pickerings night was more fruitful that the previous round at Gillman. In his first heat he copied his early Gillman form by gating last but passing the rider in third for a point, this time Mason Campton was the victim. Second time out was a Monarchs 1 - 2 with Pickering following Masters home and keeping Morris behind him which was no mean feat. Third time out Josh came up against the dual class acts of Fricke and Batchelor and they were too sharp off the line and with Jordan Stewart an earlier faller it was "thanks for the point" and we move on. A better gate in his fourth heat snared two points with Pickering not the first rider to discover that Sedgmen is more than useful on his home track. Certainly the best was saved till last again with another good gate for Pickering to find himself second behind Brady Kurtz once the dust settled. From there on Josh was a man on a mission to take full points from the heat. Despite Pickering using every trick he knew Kurtz was able to protect his lead so it was a happy / sad two points to end Josh's nights work. One more point and Josh was in the semi final (sad) but it was a great note to finish on (happy).

We move on to the tight and technical track at Undera for round three next Wednesday. It's fair to say Undera isn't near the top of list of many riders favourite tracks, so the ability to forget about any disappointing previous years visits will be handy. Undera won't decide the title, but it could easily ruin a riders chances with a poor night. Patience is the key, bide your time and concentrate on the link between the brain and the throttle will be the order of the day. On the bright side, Masters has won at Undera before so that's a big plus. We await developments with interest.