SOME LATE JOY AT WORKINGTON

NEWS Saturday 12th May 2012, 9:45pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

For the first half of this match it looked as if we were going down to an even bigger hammering than on our League Cup visit, but improved results from our top three gave us some late consolation in a 58-34 loss.

It's still a long way from being a good score but there are no easy points against the powerhouse Comets at home, and we didn't help ourselves by gaining only 2 additional points from our TR rides.

Matthew Wethers took another heavy knock, moments after going to the front in heat 7, but in his usual fashion he still came out for the following heat. It was not a good night for him overall though.

We achieved very little in the early stages. Craig started with two second places, one of these a 4-point TR, and Theo took a second place in heat 3, a shared race. That was about the sum total of our efforts over the first 8 eights as we trailed dismally by 36-14.

Suddenly Andrew Tully popped out of the start in heat 9 to win in a fast time, and Richard Lawson equally displayed the importance of good gating as he trailed in at the back behind Micky Dyer after messing up the first corner.

Cook won heat 11, and in heat 12 Theo Pijper pulled off one of the few overtakes of the evening when he caught Irving off the last corner after a race-long chase.

Even better, Tully and Cook stormed off to a very easy 5-1 in heat 13, and they looked like repeating it two races later until Lawson passed Tully for second place.

Craig Cook again showed his local fans how well he is going with 14 points, and it just might be the start of some better away form for Andrew Tully. Micky Dyer fought hard again but his fellow reserve Charles Wright was well off the pace in spite of his track knowledge.