Edinburgh Monarchs v Ipswich Witches

REPORT Friday 7th September 2012, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

This was the second match in two days between the sides most likely to take the sixth Playoff position.

Yet again, Friday brought the worst weather of the week and another afternoon of hard toil for the track staff to make the circuit rideable. In the end it was better than the week before but quite slippery and slick, and conditions certainly played their part in the events.

The riders on both sides clearly appreciated the importance of the match, and though it wasn’t possible to bring off many passing moves, incidents were always likely as the riders battled for position.

For the home side Aaron Summers was an outstanding guest and dropped his only point in the final heat. But it has been the no. 6 position which has been tougher to fill, and this time Tabaka’s replacement Micky Dyer was out of luck. He has been on good form but fell after taking the lead in heat 2 and never got going after that.

Derek Sneddon also had an unlucky night. He was on a 5-1 with Summers in heat 6 but the pair got too close, Sneddon locked up and caused Tresarrieu to fall.

After a determined win in heat 8 Sneddon fought an amazing battle in heat 10 against Taylor Poole and Morten Risager, riding an apparently impossible outside line, and it did seem that on the final turn Risger had accidentally brought him down. Referee Flint’s view must have been that the home man shouldn’t have been there anyway.

Theo Pijper, Matthew Wethers and Andrew Tully were all in the thick of things though none looked at their best in the awkward conditions. They probably can’t recall what Armadale is like with a dry circuit.

Ipswich deserve full credit for taking such a positive approach. When they drew level at the half way stage they looked just as likely to win as Edinburgh, and in the end they deserved to get a point. On his first Armadale appearance Risager had an excellent night and his wins in heats 14 and 15 delivered the point, while Dakota North, Taylor Poole and Matt Tresarrieu all rode with great spirit.

There was controversy in the latter stages, Tresarrieu slid off in heat 11 with Monarchs on a 5-1, and Tungate took a heavier fall in heat 13 in the same situation, at the end of lap two. The rules give little incentive for the riders to rise quickly, though neither bothered to make it look convincing when the red lights came on.

Then we had North put back 15 metres for arguing with the start marshall prior to the final race, and he can thank his Danish team mate that this didn’t cost his side.

Full Result Details