Title Partner
REPORT Monday 11th August 2008, 10:00pm
Edinburgh Monarchs
The weather let us down again but we still put on a show for Sky, and gave the unlucky Workington Comets a heavy defeat.
The first few heats featured some ?incidents? as the riders struggled a bit with the first two bends in front of the packed terrace, but in the end it wasn?t a long running meeting as we might have feared. And the Monarchs performed superbly.
Monarchs also had the rub of the green, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Workington did not ? starting in heat 1 when Tai Woffinden packed up at the start. That gifted us a 5-1 though Ben Taylor did keep Derek Sneddon under a bit of pressure.
The Comets gated in heat 2 but drifted wide allowing the home pair to come through. John Branny fell on bend 2 and again on bend 4, and caused a stoppage. Wright was away again in the rerun but this time Summers passed outside and Tully inside, and we had a second 5-1.
Heat 3 also had an unfortunate start as Nieminen lifted on the first corner and swept across the turn, forcing Thomas Jonasson into the fence.
This time the Comets? captain was out and the Monarchs? pair made the start. Joe Haines was determined to stop the rot for his team and passed Matthew, only to be repassed again. Going into lap three Matthew lost his back wheel and spun round with Haines running into him.
Matthew excluded, race awarded as a 3-2.
Fisher and Summers then easily beat Carl Stonehewer in heat 4 and the match was at this stage remarkably one-sided.
Comets needed to hit back quickly and sent out Tai Woffinden on a TR. He was outgated though by Thomas Jonasson, and Matthew Wethers also cleverly nipped ahead on the pits bend of the opening lap. In dicing with Wethers Woffinden clipped his leg on the second lap and was rightly excluded, though Tai regrettably indulged in some graceless comments in a Sky interview.
Once again we capitalised with a rerun 5-1 and now led by 23-6.
Mark Lemon was in good nick and he led all the way in heat 6. Derek Sneddon made a poor start but soon passed the toiling Stonehewer, only to make a rash move round the outside of the road bend and fall.
That was a chance lost, and Nieminen impressively won heat 7 even though first Fisher (who seemed to have a bike problem) and then Tully put him under strong pressure.
Charles Wright made a good start in heat 8 but as the Sky commentators noted admiringly, Aaron Summers was displaying mastery of the second bend and swept by on the inside line.
Derek Sneddon held third but could not improve his position.
Once again the Jonasson-Wethers pair showed its mettle with an easy 5-1 over Stonehewer and Wright in heat 9, and we were now 38-15 ahead.
Lemon took another fine win over Nieminen in the next, but Derek Sneddon ended a disappointing night at the rear. Had the match been tight Tully would no doubt have got that ride.
Woffinden finally managed a trouble-free ride to win heat 11 after an early challenge from Fisher.
Thomas Jonasson was on a maximum going in to heat 12, but he got a bit tangled up on the pits corner and dropped to the back as Nieminen won again. Comets were making more of a show now but it was too late.
Woffinden won heat 13 from Fisher and Lemon, but in the non-heat leader races we continued to have a strong advantage, taking an easy 5-1 from heat 14.
The Comets? luck continued to be bad, and both of their riders hit machine problems in heat 15. Nieminen led but stopped before the end of lap 1, then Woffinden rode a great race to pass the home men, only to stop on the final corner and trundle home for the point.
An enjoyable night for Sky and for the home fans but not, perhaps, for the visitors.
HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Aaron Summers.
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