SUPER ASHFIELD SUCCESS

NEWS Sunday 1st July 2012, 7:59pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs gave their supporters a big surprise today, in the nicest possible way, by winning deservedly 46-44 at Ashfield in what was now of course the first leg of the KO Cup quarter final.

We await news of the second leg and we still hope that might be Friday, but at this stage it would appear that we have given ourselves a very strong chance of reaching the semi-final, where we would meet Ipswich.

Craig Cook and Theo Pijper were our strong men in the west with five heat wins between them, but everyone would agree that it was a triumph for the team with all seven riders competing hard and scoring important points.

There were never more than 2 points between the teams, and there were some very good heats. Alex Harkess said "I was quite happy with how we were competing and keeping it close, and I felt if we were going to lose it wasn't going to be by much.

"Our riders had just the right mentality, they knew if they could gate ahead they could stay there. I felt Charles had a good chance in his final ride because he had had such a good ride in his previous one for no points, and he did the job with Matthew to put us in front."

Joe Screen was unbeaten going in to the final race, which Monarchs needed to share to win the match. Great joy for the travelling fans then to see Craig race to the front round the first corner and pull clear. Theo Pijper kept nipping at Grajczonek for third too but in the end he couldn't add to his very well gathered 11 points from his previous rides.

As ever, Screen was quick to offer the hand of congratulations to Cook after the race. Craig said "It was good to get one over on Screeny!"

It was such a pleasant day, not simply because we won, but because it was a hard fought and sporting match. It's always going to be a bit of a white-knuckle ride on the big Ashfield bends but the surface was a lot more rideable than on our previous visit, and the riders seemed to appreciate it.

Mason Campton was a big contributor for the Tigers and has become a very good reserve. Josh Grajczonek also rode well, Grieves had a bit of an unlucky day but the Tigers did have three low scorers, with Sitera especially poor.

On our side, everyone did their bit and they can be very happy with themselves.

Full Result Details