THREE LEAGUE CUP POINTS IN THE BAG

NEWS Friday 6th April 2012, 11:06pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs rode very well to defeat Newcastle 42-33 in their first home league cup match, abandoned due to heavy rain at heat 12 (the result stands).

Expectations were that this would be a tough match against a team who know the track well, but in reality the main reason it was close at all was the excellent display by the visiting reserve Richie Worrall, whose recent scores have been so impressive. This boy is going places.

However Monarchs had their own stars – a brilliant 4-ride maximum from Theo Pijper who showed total mastery of the difficult conditions even though he still isn't fit, and three wins out of three for Craig Cook.

On top of that the reserves were again pleasingly effective, Micky scoring in all his rides and Charles bouncing back after a disappointing first ride.

The track was remarkably good considering the weather we've had in Central Scotland today, though it did become tricky and when the heavy rain started, we did well to get to heat 12 to allow the result to stand. Full marks to referee Chris Durno for pushing the races through after a couple of early crashes.

Amongst the highlights, Andrew Tully set the fastest time of the season in heat 1, Charles Wright led Robson till the final bend in heat 4, Craig Cook caught Nedermark on the final bend of heat 7, Theo Pijper superbly passed race leader Robson in heat 9.

And of course with the rain lashing down at heat 12, we had to successfully conclude the race which Theo did in style, even though he admitted the track was very tricky indeed by that time.

It was a very encouraging show by the team who look as though they will be extremely hard to beat at Armadale.

Full Result Details