MORRIS INSPIRES GLASGOW TO VICTORY

NEWS Friday 5th August 2011, 0:42am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs were beaten 48-42 by Glasgow at Armadale tonight, and that might well be a case of last year's champions handing over to this year's.

There's no doubt about who was the star of the show. 17 year old Nick Morris, impressive on Sky TV in the Elite League recently, showed the whole of Scottish Speedway his quality by scoring 17+2 on a track which most of the riders agreed was more difficult than the normal Armadale surface.

It just meant that the boldest and most skilled riders came to the fore, and Morris prospered with his brilliant tight turns and cutbacks which few could withstand.

Only Kevin Wolbert and Andrew Tully from the Monarchs' ranks were really comfortable, and the home reserves were outscored by the almost ridiculous margin of paid 29 to 1.

Unfortunately both Kyle Howarth and Tim Webster were ruled out of the match before the end, and will miss the trip to Workington tomorrow.

The match score see-sawed for much of the night, with Monarchs taking the lead in heats 3, 5 and 10, each time by 2 points.

However with Craig Cook below his usual form, and the reserves struggling, Monarchs could never assert their home advantage as they normally do. Invariably Morris was the architect of the downfall.

He was involved in no fewer than five 5-1 heat advantages for Glasgow, and there was simply no answer to the quality of his riding.

He may have a little bit of growing up off track to do, as his Facebook altercation with his own fans last week suggests, but on-track he already has all the maturity you could ask for.

Aaron Summers did well as guest for Glasgow, Theo Pijper was adequate and Richard Sweetman did well when he gated. Joe Screen scored points but found the track difficult.

Matthew Wethers, Craig Cook and Kalle Katajisto gave some backing to Wolbert and Tully but Monarchs just did not look a well-balanced or competitive enough team against this year's strongest outfit.

It's a big turnaround after the past three seasons of success for Monarchs, but you can never rest on your laurels in speedway and it's time to be thinking ahead to next season whilst not giving up on the current campaign.

Full Result Details