Workington Comets v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Saturday 17th June 2006, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

This match highlighted the gap between our home and away form at the moment as we were well beaten at Workington.

Of course we had William Lawson missing, but the match was all too easy for the home side. Rusty Harrison was very competitive on his old track, but other than Henrik Moller's heat 1 win, none of our other riders beat any of Workington's top four.

Effort was not the problem but gating was a problem, and we didn't have a great deal of luck either.

We only managed two race winners all night. Having said that we should really have had three of the first four winners!

The track was tricky in the early stages with too much loose wet dirt, as Comets admitted they were trying to combat their dust problem.

Henrik made light of it in the opening heat, leading from tapes to flag with a very encouraging ride.

Derek flew from gate 4 to lead heat two and for three laps wasn't challenged. He drifted a bit on the next bend, and Aidan Collins closed up. It needed a smooth turn to finish but Derek again drifted out, lost control and lost the lead.

We weren't in the hunt in heat 3, but Rusty led from James Wright in heat 4 using the outside dirt. Once again all was well for three and a half laps - but that fourth turn caught our man out and again we had gifted a win to a Comet.

Heat 5 was a depressing 1-5 by which time Theo had had three rides without beating an opponent.

Rusty was out in heat 6 in the black and white, not an easy heat but he pushed through on the second bend to beat Stead and Piszcz and score 6.

Derek had to pass John Branney in heat 7 to share the heat with Matthew, and Theo rode much more convincingly to take a second place in heat 8.

Heat 9 was the best of the night, partly thanks to Rusty bursting through the tapes! He went off 15 metres, and caught Piszcz after a couple of laps. The two had a great battle with Rusty trying everything and eventually passing.

Matthew took a TR in heat 10 and passed Collins to score 4. We shared heat 11 and tried Theo on a TS in heat 12. He rode well to catch and pass Collins on the last bend, just failing to get by Matthew who was slowing to give his captain the additional point.

The tactical options were now used up and we were 34-44 behind. Could we keep it to that?

The answer was no. Rusty beat Steda in heat 13, a 2-4, then we were very unlucky in heat 14. Derek led the way but was passed by Piszcz; we should still have shared it but Derek's slowing bike gave out on the last corner. Aidan Collins laid down, and though he was quite a bit back the ref ruled that it was Derek's fault, and excluded him.

We lost a 1-5 in the final race and an 18-point defeat was a pretty disappointing result.

Full Result Details