Strong display brings a 20 point win

The Stellar Monarchs gave the kind of home track performance they were built to achieve with everyone contributing good points for a convincing win. Team manager Alex Harkess would probably have liked a few more points in the quest for the aggregate bonus at Workington tomorrow.

Joint top scorer Justin Sedgmen said "I think all of the boys did their bit tonight including myself. Twenty points is great but the bonus is ours to lose so we've got to hit them hard tomorrow.

"I thought one or two decisions might have gone our way, there were restarts and the bikes were starting to get a little worn out. I had to sort my clutches out, it was hard work but the end result was a good one.

"It's good to rock up with everyone there which we didn't have during the week, and the seven of us do ride well together."

That they were restricted to 20 was mostly due to outstanding visitors' performances by Troy Batchelor (15) and Jacob Hook (13), both recording by far their best Armadale score and winning 7 heats between them. Other than Vinnie Foord who put in bags of effort, the remaining Comets seemed to find the Armadale track a bit of a mystery.

It didn't look so easy in the first couple of heats. After Batchelor had won the opening race, Comets' reserves seemed to have a 5-1 in the bag only for Foord to lose control spectacularly on the final corner and drop to the rear.

An electric gate by Justin Sedgmen in heat 3 helped bring the first break in the scoring with Palm Toft third, and this was followed by two 5-1s in heats 4 and 5. Heat 4's rerun was notable for a best ride to date by Jordy Loftus who rode fast and steady to get the better of Foord, a ride very much appreciated by the home support.

Palm Toft was the heat 5 winner and looked as quick as he has all season in that one.

Jye Etheridge withdrew from the meeting after a heat 3 last bend fall, not a heavy one it seemed but probably adding to a much more spectacular one on BSN at Oxford the night before. Bad luck on Jye but given Jacob Hook's form, something that Comets could cover for. Hook beat Monarchs' opening pair in heat 6 but had to give best to Castagna in heat 8 as Monarchs moved into a 32-16 lead.

After the visitors had made the gate in heat 9, both Sedgmen and Palm Toft flew past them down the back straight only for Zischke to come off as Palm Toft went through. The Dane seemed rather unlucky to be excluded, and Hook beat Sedgmen in the rerun.

By heat 11 Monarchs had built a 20 point lead. Sedgmen won heat 12 which was shared, then the highly impressive Batchelor won the final three races. His first bend work was top class, the product of many years experience.

Monarchs will travel tomorrow looking for the win, but it will surely be a much tougher prospect against a team who are very good on their home track. At the end of the night Jordy Loftus was voted Monarch of the Match, which pleased him greatly and was also well received on the terracing.

There was a welcome parade of familiar faces on show tonight with stars of not too long ago, Peter Carr, Shane Parker and Shane Bowes all present.