Title Partner
Poole Pirates
Team Manager: Neil Middleditch |
48 | ||||||||
| 1. Rory Schlein | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2. Kyle Bickley | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 3. Stevie Worrall | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||
| 4. Stefan Nielsen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |||
| 5. Danny King | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |||
| 6. Zach Cook | 3 | 0 | 1* | 1* | 5 | 2 | |||
| 7. Danyon Hume | 1 | 2* | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 1 | ||
Edinburgh Monarchs
Team Manager: John Campbell |
42 | ||||||||
| 1. Sam Masters | 2 | 2 | 2* | 3 | 2 | 2* | 13 | 2 | |
| 2. William Lawson | 1* | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| 3. Kye Thomson | 0 | 1* | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||
| 4. Josh Pickering | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 0 | |||
| 5. Richie Worrall | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1* | 3 | 10 | 1 | ||
| 6. Luke Crang | 0 | FD | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 7. Nathan Greaves | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
On a night where it would have been so easy to collapse the What the Fork Monarchs showed their mettle once again sticking to task to become the first team to leave Poole with anything this year courtesy of a heat 15 maximum from Richie Worrall and Sam Masters in heat 15.
With the disappointment of a late collapse at Plymouth 24 hours earlier still fresh in the memory it would have been the easy option for the Monarchs to fold when facing a 14 point deficit 8 heats in and with the track causing issues for both sets of riders but that isn't what this team does. A late fight back including that last heat 5-1 from Worrall and Masters meant 1 league point was reward for their efforts leaving team boss John Campbell to say 'It was a very very tough start I couldn't believe it to go so many races without winning a race is not our style, when we got back into we certainly got back into it and Sam and Richie were briallent in heat 15 to get the point.
'This is the toughest top 3 we have come up against this year and after not starting well against then we have come out on top of them at the end to get us that vital league point.'
As Campbell said unusually for the Armadale men heat wins were hard to come by in the early stages as a home man was first to the checkered flag in no less than the first 8 races, most of this work being done from the gate as passing was at a premium on a track that neither camp seemed overly happy with.
With the Monarchs occupying last place in 6 of these first 8 races that meant the hosts had built a hefty 14 point lead.
Heat 9 would be the start of the fight back as Worrall and tactical substitute Masters roared from the tapes for a maximum.
The lead was lessened further in the following heat albeit in unusual circumstances as Josh Pickering hit the front only to hit a bump and head for the fence thus allowing home man Rory Schlein through. Schlein would fall victim to the same patch of track the following lap doing very fell to stay on but allowing Pickering back through.
Some remedial work was done after this and the best of the racing on the night would follow. Kye Thomson with an unsuccessful chase of home man Stevie Worrall in heat 12 and heat 14 the pick of the night as Pickering and Stefan Nielsen passed and repassed.
With Pickering able to get the better of Nielsen in this one it meant the gap was 10 going into the last race and a repeat of their heat 9 maximum exploits was required by Worrall and Masters.
The Monarchs pair duly delivered as they shot from the tapes Masters allowing Worrall round him and looking over his shoulder every lap to ensure home number 1 Schlein could not split them and the Monarchs pair wheelied over the line to show their delight at claiming a hard fought point.
It's another day on their travels for the What the Fork Monarchs as a battle of the big guns looks in store as we head for Poole on Wednesday night.
The Pirates are probably the form team in the division just now going unbeaten in their last 8 matches including away wins at Leicester, Kent and Plymouth where the Monarchs fell to a 10 point defeat on Tuesday night so the task ahead looks large.
The basis of the Pirates side is strength at the top end where Rory Schlein, Steve Worrall and Danny King form a spearhead that is probably only matched in the division by our own the battles between the two sets of heat leaders sure to be tight throughout.
The Pirates are far from a 3 man team though with Stefan Nielsen the main backup Nielsen's form so far this year being noticed by Sheffield who have recently snapped him up for a Premiership spot.
At reserve Danyon Hume has proved to be another shrewd move, the Pirates like Edinburgh were forced into changes due to the introduction of the rising star system and Hume who remarkably was without a team spot at the time was sharply and cleverly snapped up.
2 guests make up the remainder of the Pirates septet for this match at number 2 Kyle Bickley deputies with the saga that has been the attempted signing of Ondrej Smetana now coming to an end but not in time for this one.
The other change is at reserve where Zach Cook of Plymouth steps in for brother Ben who still is a couple of weeks away from a return from a nasty injury sustained guesting for Redcar last month.
Poole have been relatively untroubled at home so far with 38 points the highest any visiting team has mustered so far.
A big task lies ahead for the Monarchs but this is often when they are at their best, Sam, Richie and Josh will be relishing their battles with the home top end and with 16 points scored by William, Kye and Nathan at Plymouth a slight uptick on this could keep us close.
A large and vocal group of Monarchs will be in attendance to cheer them on if you aren't one of the ones able to make it along then live updates will be available on the Monarchs website tapes up at 7.30pm!
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
