Redcar Bears v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Thursday 22nd March 2012, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

All of our riders did something in our opening fixture at Redcar last night as we went down 49-41. They just didn’t do quite enough.

Redcar were already without Matej Kus and lost Gary Havelock in a very unpleasant crash, so they did well to win – there was something for both teams to take out of the match.

For an opening meeting, it was an acceptable performance by us. We had four race winners in the last seven heats, to add to the heat 2 victory by Micky Dyer, which suggests our guys were getting into the groove in the second half of the match. Obviously we need more race winners in future matches.

Although Derek had come off on the parade, it didn’t stop him making a lightning start in heat 1. Ostergaard got past him on the opening lap, but our pair kept the rider replacement Justin Sedgmen at the back.

We had the first sight of our new reserves in heat 2, and it was very favourable. Micky was in second, chasing Max Dilger, with Charles ahead of Branford, when Dilger fell on the straight just after the end of lap two. The heat was awarded as a 5-1.

That was levelled up in heat 3 when Matthew got a total stinker of a start, and the home pair of Sedgmen and Havelock scored an easy 5-1 over Theo Pijper.

Craig Cook briefly showed ahead in heat 4, but Aaron Summers cut through to win a shared heat,

The disaster came in heat 5. Sedgmen (inside) and Havelock (outside) were heading for the third bend in front with Derek hard after them, when Havvy suddenly came down. It came as a major surprise to see a rider of that experience fall for no obvious reason, and it left Derek with nowhere to go but into him and over, coming down hard on the track and being rammed by his bike.

Havelock came off worst and we wish him the speediest possible recovery from what seem to be pretty severe injuries. Although Derek rode on he was very subdued from that point.

The rerun, at least half an hour later, was a good battle between Sedgmen and Tully with the home man re-passing to win.

At that stage we were level and might well have fancied our chances, but we needed a few race winners.

We looked like sharing heat 6 as well with Cook and Dyer holding the minor positions but Micky shot across the corner on the final lap and lost the point to Dilger. We were now two down.

Bears brought Branford into heat 7 and Theo Pijper led from Summers for a bit, before Aaron came past for the win.

Redcar used Summers again in heat 8 and this time we had no answer as he led easily, supported by Dilger for a 5-1. It was clear that Derek at the back was struggling.

Finally we got our second race winner through Craig Cook who won heat 9 comfortably from Dilger and Sedgmen. Micky was competitive again but finished at the back.

Ostergaard had no difficulty winning heat 10 and regrettably our pair got caught on the outside of the first corner with Matthew coming off. This gifted a point to Branford and we were 8 points down.

Andrew Tully needed a fast gate and he got it in heat 11 with Aaron Summers poorly away. Aaron came through the pack and at one point nearly ran into Andrew, who eventually pulled away.

Heat 12 was very encouraging because Matthew made a start at last, and Micky Dyer turned in an excellent ride to withstand a four-lap challenge from Sedgmen and take a paid win.

We lost a comfortable 5-1 in heat 13 against the home big guns, and then we got it right back again! This time it was Charles who leapt from the start and took an excellent victory with Theo looking after the opposition reserves.

So we were four down going into the final heat needing a second place to take a point. Craig gated second behind Aaron Summers, but he rode too tight and Ostergaard blasted round him for the 5-1 to give Redcar all three points.

Full Result Details