GLASGOW WIN PAIRS AGAIN

NEWS Sunday 8th October 2006, 0:01am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Glasgow beat Sheffield in the final of the Premier Pairs 2006.

Edinburgh, with four of their top five unavailable, had an all-Scottish pair of William Lawson and Derek Sneddon in action. They didn't get close to qualifying, scoring 12 from their four heats.

After losing by 2-7 to both Sheffield (Ashworth and Ben Wilson) and King's Lynn (Doolan and Nermark), William Lawson managed to hang on to second ahead of Pepe Franc to limit the loss to 3-6 against Newcastle.

This was Pepe's only defeat in the qualifying heats, but also the only rider either Monarch managed to beat!

Our final heat was heat 17 against Glasgow B (Ksiezak and McAllan), thrust into the competition by Rye House's withdrawal (of which more may yet be heard).

Robert Kseizak fell on the first lap and was excluded, and Derek Sneddon made the start in the rerun. He was passed on the outside by McAllan which made the heat a 5-4 to Edinburgh.

The racing was mainly processional but with the weather threatening, the meeting was pushed through at a decent pace. The King's Lynn and Somerset pairings looked like challengers but they fell by the wayside, leaving Glasgow to take an easy 6-3 in the final.

So the final two shared events of the season went to the home team, a very common occurrence in recent seasons. It did seem that the enforced decision to stage Fours and Pairs on two successive days helped the crowd, with travelling supports from the likes of Somerset and Mildenhall visible.