Rye House Rockets v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Saturday 10th May 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

No-one goes to Rye House expecting a win, but in the end we were a little disappointed to go down by 6 points.

We took the lead in heat 2 and held it until heat 9, but the turning point probably came in heats 7 and 8 when we lost important points which could have seen us extend our lead.

It was an eventful night and apparently one of the best matches they have seen at Hoddesdon for some time. The drama started early with William Lawson spinning off on the first corner while Andrew Tully nipped up the inside to lead and win in the fastest time of the season!

If that shocked the homesters they had more to worry about as Aaron and Andrew comfortably took 5 from heat 2.

We were encouraged to see Ryan pass Robert Mear going into the third turn of heat 3 to take the lead. Woffinden was at the back behind Derek Sneddon and we were on a 4-2 until Mear re-passed Ryan, who then seemed to slow for the rest of the race. Woffinden only subdued the Sneddon challenge on the last lap and it was the home side who eventually took the 4-2.

Next up we had a fine ride from Matthew wethers to take Bowen from the back, with Aaron keeping key Rocket Ekberg at the back.

William Lawson led heat 5 but Woffinden was much more impressive than in his first ride, pulling off an outside overtake to win. Aaron took another good third.

We also shared heat 6 behind Neath, this time keeping the lively Mear at the back.

Heat 7 should have been a minimum 3-3 but here we made our first error. We were holding second and third behind Ekberg when Derek Sneddon made an error on the pits bend and Halsey ran into him and brought him down.

Derek was excluded and we lost a 4-2 in the rerun. Ryan again wasn?t looking quick on a track we thought would suit him.

Heat 8 was going well though, with Matthew in front and Aaron second, until Mear made a big dive into the pits bend on lap three. It was powerful enough to push Aaron out and over the track?s infamous camber, and Bowen came through as well.

We were still 2 ahead but it could have been 8 at that stage!

Woffinden won heat 9 from Tully and Wethers, and we gave Andrew another ride in heat 10 replacing Derek.

However Neath and Mear made the gate and there was no way back, with Ryan disappointing at the rear and pulling out. We had lost the lead and the Rockets? tails were up.

Halsey took his third ride in heat 11 but we could do no better than share it through William and Ryan, behind Ekberg. William led early on but gave the Swede a bit too much room round the outside.

Woffinden was now looking very impressive and headed Tully in heat 12. Sneddon made a poor start and couldn?t catch Bowen, so we were now 4 down.

We did well to share heat 13 which was rerun after Ekberg took a heavy fall on the first corner.

We then brought Andrew in to heat 13, in place of Aaron rather than Ryan, no doubt in the hope that Ryan could lift his game. However Ekberg won it and Ryan again looked out of sorts, so a Rockets? 4-2 ended the match.

William rode his best line of the match round the top of the camber to take an excellent win over Woffinden and Neath, so a 42-point total was a good one by any standards at Hoddesdon.

Ryan went out for some laps after the match, convinced that problems with his fuel had cost him points. He came in believing this was sorted.

Full Result Details