Title Partner
REPORT Friday 6th July 2012, 10:00pm
Edinburgh Monarchs
Having sprung a surprise at Ashfield last Sunday, we needed to be careful that the tables weren’t turned on us at Armadale when we staged our first meeting for five weeks.
We established an advantage right away and although it wasn’t easy, our heat leaders were so outstanding that Tigers didn’t have much chance of closing the gap.
We were off to the best possible start with Derek Sneddon’s great gate in heat 1, protected by Craig Cook ensuring that Joe Screen, initially at the back, wasn’t given a chance to challenge.
Heat 2 was our first sight of new boy Marcel Helfer, but initially it was Micky Dyer who went ahead. Off the second bend Marcel nipped up the inside into second, riding a smooth pits corner to hold position. So far so good, but going into the next corner he got too close to Micky, locked up and slid off.
Quite promising nevertheless. Micky took the win.
Josh Grajczonek gated in heat 3 and withstood a race-long challenge from Theo Pijper, with Matthew Wethers well back but comfortably in front of Sitera (on his first Armadale ride).
Off gate 4 in heat 4, Andrew Tully went straight through the tapes, so it looked as though we had just blown our 4-point lead. But… Andrew off 15 metres was quickly into third with Marcel struggling a bit this time, and a lap later he was round Mason Campton into second. Surely he could not catch James Grieves?
He made up the ground in no time, and a fourth bend cutback pulled him level up the straight. The pair rode just about level for another lap or so until Tully’s tighter turns proved unstoppable, and he came through for a memorable win.
Theo Pijper and Joe Screen fought a fine battle on the first couple of laps of heat 5, before Theo slid across Joe’s nose and established a lead. Matthew looked slow but just held off Chris Mills.
We gated on a 5-1 in heat 6 but Grieves went past Sneddon down the back straight, the positions being settled after that. Our lead was 8 points now.
Andrew Tully won again in heat 7, beating Grajczonek, but Micky Dyer missed an early chance to come past Sitera and finished a disappointing fourth.
Heat 8 didn’t go according to plan at all for the home side. Campton and Mills gated in front and the young Aussie was gone. Derek Sneddon took the high line and drew alongside Mills at one point, but a wobble by Mills threw him off line. Helfer then came into third for a bit and looked good with some outside runs, before he dropped back in the end.
The gap was now down to four on the night and six overall. Just as well we had a lead!
After a false start to heat 9 Matthew’s bike stopped and he switched to Micky’s machine. It stopped too! He finished up on a Tully machine and although he only managed a third behind Pijper and Grieves, he did look much quicker.
Heats 10 was a routine 4-2, then we took another as Tully won a good early battle with Screen in heat 11 to put us 10 points ahead, a bit of breathing space.
Theo won heat 12 and we had another interesting ride from Helfer as he blasted round the wide line, a line on which riders might be expected to come off, and although he finished pointless it was another good effort.
Tigers now needed three 5-1s to draw the tie. Screen and Grieves made decent starts in heat 13, but Cook turned fiercely into the first corner and went in front. Andrew Tully then produced an amazing move to drive between the Tigers, going quicker into the third corner and emerging in second place.
A stunning opening lap, a 5-1 and it was all over.
Just as well, because the next heat was Tigers’ 5-1 after Matthew Wethers had completed a poor night by apparently forgetting to turn his fuel on.
Cook and Pijper were the Monarchs’ last heat pair, and again they raced stylishly to a 5-1, making it a 38 point haul for the home top three.
DDS Monarch of the Match: Andrew Tully.
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Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
