Edinburgh Monarchs v Scunthorpe Scorpions

REPORT Friday 31st August 2012, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The only thing this match is likely to be remembered for is the admirable way that Scunthorpe’s young riders went about their business.

From heat two onwards they controlled the match and a 15-point winning margin in no way flattered them. They had a huge advantage at reserve where the home pair were totally at sea – almost literally.

It was another dismally wet Friday, drizzling throughout with the surface muddy from the off. The prospect of a double header, with increased admission, in these conditions had clearly kept many at home.

The injuries Edinburgh have suffered to Cook and Tabaka, both maximum scorers in the last home match, have crippled their side. But even had these two been fit it’s hard to see how the Scorpions could have been stopped in conditions they coped far better with.

When you add in the fact that Andrew Tully had had his Armadale bike stolen the previous night you can see why the home side would like to erase this one from their memory.

There were no complaints over the solid contribution of James Grieves, always a reliable guest, and Matthew Wethers showed the throttle control to do well. He rode a successful heat 9 TR, but a brave bid by Theo Pijper to turn that into an 8-1 ended with him face down in the mud.

It was a toss-up which visitor was the most impressive. Ashley Birks had two good meetings here last year but did even better this time, looking completely at home. Michael Palm Toft far exceeded his previous Armadale performances and won his first three heats, and Thomas Jorgensen recovered from engine problems in his first two rides to also excel.

These three actually managed to slightly upstage Josh Auty, who rode quite conservatively by his standards but was still in double figures.

Full Result Details