Good away point for the team

The Staggs Bar Monarchs grabbed a point at Peterborough today thanks to a great second place from the back in the final heat by Erik Riss. The final score was 48-42 in Panthers’ favour with the Monarchs’ points being spread throughout the team.

Monarchs had been six points in front after six races but as team manager John Campbell said “All of our team were competitive and tried very hard but we just weren’t quite good enough. We needed more race winners and even Ricky and Erik only managed three wins between them.

“Everyone scored points though and that was encouraging. Erik did a fantastic job in that last race. We were 4 down and very surprised that Peterborough chose gates 2 and 4 in the last heat because gate 1 had been dominant. Palm Toft moved and Erik made the start, but the referee pulled it back. In the restart Ricky didn’t leave the tapes and the Panthers gated, so well done to Erik for overhauling Scott Nicholls for the point. Nicholls had been very impressive.

“We needed a few more points from Mark Riss, he didn’t have a great day but Max, Joel and Josh can be happy with their performances, and Matt started well.”

Ricky Wells opening the match with a race win, and we followed up with a 5-1 in heat 2 after Bacon had touched the tapes. We kept Lunna at the back in heat 3 and took another 4-2 in heat 4, before sharing heat 5. The score then was 15-21 and in came Palm Toft as a tac sub, which brought them a 5-1.

Our next race winner was Ricky in heat 11 and a 4-2 there, with Ostergaard at the rear, levelled up the scores. Heat 12 was a disappointment though as Mark lost a 5-1 for the second time in the match. Two shared heats left us looking for a 5-1 to draw in the final race.

John Campbell added “Results elsewhere today proved that Friday’s shock result at Peterborough was not because they are a bad team, but because Workington are currently a great team!”

Wounded Panthers Canot Be Underestimated

The Stags Bar Monarchs make a long trip south today as they head for Peterborough in SGB Championship action.

The Panthers are smarting after a humbling 33-57 defeat at home to Workington on Friday evening so the Monarchs will have to be wary of what is sure to be an expected backlash. From all reports the main issue the Panthers faced on Friday night was a complete inability to get out of the traps with a slick track meaning there was no way back into the majority of races. In fact the home side were held to only 2 heat wins all evening and with the power throughout the line-up that cannot be expected to be replicated.

The Monarchs fans saw the ability in the Panthers outfit when they recorded a point at Armadale just a couple of weeks ago so they will not be underestimated despite that score on Friday.

The Panthers are expected to line-up with their full 1-7 with the missing riders from their Armadale visit back in tow. Led by Scott Nicholls who will probably admit he hasn’t found the quickest way round his new home track yet and normally backed up well by the Danish contingent of Ulrich Ostergaard, Michael Palm Toft and Emil Grondal not to mention the fast improving Nike Lunna the Panthers have a strong top 5 that should be capable of much better.

An experienced reserve pair of Simon Lambert and Tom Bacon complete the line-up with both being more than capable of a big score particularly at home.

That is not to say the Monarchs should travel targeting any less than our first away points league points of the season. We have fared reasonably well around the East of England Showground shale in recent years with Mark and Erik rating it as one of their favoured circuits. Ricky Wells is in fantastic form and if the track is as slick as it apparently was then Matt Williamson should be in for a strong night also.

Our other reserve Josh Pickering a known fan of the track also albeit when it is at its grippiest may need to be a little sharper from the gate than normal if the track is on a par with how it was on Friday but Josh has been scoring well and showed some improved form from the traps on Friday so this should continue.

As will be the case in the majority of our away trips this year the unknowns will be in how our new boys Joel and Max perform but there are signs from both they are getting to grips with British speedway. Joel should prefer the wider open spaces of Peterborough due to his Swedish experience and Max was buoyed by his performance in the Open on Friday night after a tough couple of weeks.

So a match that could go either way, while it would be fallacy to expect a repeat of Friday nights score line for the home men with the experience and speed in the Monarchs team an away win would also not be a complete surprise.

Can we do it?