Edinburgh Monarchs v Stoke Potters

REPORT Friday 10th September 2010, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Five double figure scorers ensured there were no slip-ups in the last home league match against Stoke.

The Potters badly miss Jason Bunyan (injured) and Claus Vissing (banned) because their replacements Frank Facher and Jeremiah Thelaus are nowhere near being worth their assessed 7-point averages.

Only two points were dropped by our 5 main riders. Lee Smart caught Kalle Katajisto on the second corner of the rerun heat 3, and Ricky Wells was Potters? other race winner when he just held off an outside challenge from William Lawson in the early stages of heat 12.

The best heat of the night was heat 15 in which Wells held second most of the way with Matthew Wethers looking for a passing line, and finding it with an impressive outside pass. He came alongside wells going into the last lap and completed the move on the next bend, with Wells allowing him room to race.

Maximum scorers were Matthew, Ryan and Andrew, all riding exceptionally well.

Ricky Wells, Taylor Poole and Lee Smart were all worth watching. Smart seems to have grown (in all directions) but has a good leg-trailing style, and after his win in heat 3 it seemed he would be a big threat.

Unfortunately in heat 7 on a TR he lifted on the second bend and hit the fence hard. Thereafter he was less effective.

William Lawson had his best meeting since returning to Monarchs, looking really determined on the opening bends. If he continues like this it will be very encouraging for the matches to come.

Ashley Morris took one good point but struggled in some of his rides, and fell heavily in heat 8 after clipping Poole. It is all experience for the young man who is so enthusiastic.

Greg Blair had the job of replacing Kevin, and didn?t have much luck. He fell on the first lap of heat 3, then missed his next one due to a 2-minute exclusion. However in heat 9 he very nearly got a point, staying ahead of Thelaus till the closing stages.

He then had to withdrawn from his last ride as his engine had seized solid.

We now have 72 points with one away match remaining, and Cup and Playoff contests to come.

Full Result Details