Ipswich Witches v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Thursday 9th June 2011, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

On a long night at Foxhall Heath, we only started racing effectively in the second half of the match and finished up pointless against the Witches.

The riders of both teams found the track difficult in the early stages, and the first two heats stretched over a dismal hour. We didn't get a heat winner till heat 8, and though we finished up with five of the last eight chequered flags and another heat 15 5-1, It wasn't enough.

Our ongoing problem is being swamped at reserve, where Mills and Hart had a points spree.

In spite of missing the start in heat one we shared it as first Wethers then Wolbert came under Doolan, who is struggling.

We also shared heat two thanks to the exclusion of Hart who spun off into the path of Jake Knight on the first turn. Hart was excluded but it was Knight who needed the treatment.

Then came our bad patch. We should have shared heat three, but Andrew Tully two-wheeled into the third turn and baled out to avoid running into Katajisto.

The rerun was a 1-5 though Kalle put pressure on Mills, who we were constantly told was 'riding through the pain barrier' after a crash on the first attempt to run the heat

Knight then demolished the tapes, and we lost a 4-2 as Bjerre won the rerun from Cook.

Heat 5 was a hugely disappointing 1-5 to Smith and Mills as our opening pair missed the start completely, then heat 6 was even more disappointing.

Craig Cook came out on a TR and blasted to the front past Doolan. For a couple of laps he had 6 points in the bag, then on successive bends of lap three he went too wide and allowed both Doolan and Poole through.

At 25-11 it was starting to get embarrassing but at least we shared heat 7. The result was unexpected with reserve Hart winning while heat leader Bjerre pulled a big locker and never made up the lost ground on Tully and Katajisto.

Would we risk a TR in heat 8? No, which was a pity because Matthew won easily from Mills and Poole.

Craig Cook must have learnt from his previous heat as he won heat 9, the first defeat for Ipswich guest Smith.

Our pair gated in heat 10 but half way round the turn, Kalle lost it in style and brought down Doolan. Kalle needed attention but walked off, though his bike looked in need of repair.

In the redraft, with Kalle out, Andrew could only split Poole and Doolan, and we were now 16 points down.

Time for the second TR, Matthew, but though he and Kevin made a decent gate they tangled on the first corner, which let Bjerre grab the lead.

Witches then surprisingly used no. 8 Blackbird as r/r, and in the best race so far Tully rounded Mills to win. Blackbird fell and we took another advantage.

We were now eating into Witches lead and heat 13 was the race of the night. Cook led but was a little slow, which forced Wolbert to dive through to the front. Cook was passed by Bjerre but held off Doolan, and we were now 10 down.

To have a chance of a point we needed a Kalle special in heat 14, but it didn't happen and we lost a 1-5.

Pity, because Wolbert and Tully comfortably mopped up 5 points from Bjerre and Smith in the final heat.

Full Result Details