VITAL HOME WIN GAINED

NEWS Friday 7th September 2012, 11:58pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

By beating Ipswich tonight the Scotwaste Monarchs ensured that they remain favourites to grab the sixth Playoff position in the Premier League, though the Witches would be happy enough to take a point in what was rather a contentious affair.

Some blatant gamesmanship marred the latter stages of the match, with both Matt Tresarrieu and Rohan Tungate causing stoppages by failing to clear the track when their team was on the wrong end of 1-5 situations, and as ever Speedway's regrettably feeble rulebook allowed the referee no sanction other than to issue fines.

The requirement for all four riders to have completed two laps (including the faller, at the back, on the fourth corner of lap two, excluded from the rerun) is simply ridiculous and a more intelligent rule is urgently required. The current situation has been called a "cheats' charter" and that was how it looked tonight.

The trackstaff had to fight a battle against adverse weather once again, a seemingly never-ending problem, and the track was slippery and slick, certainly not the conditions the home men would have called for. Unfortunately (unlike the rulebook) that is out of anyone's hands.

Both teams knew the importance of the match and all of the riders gave everything they had. With the scores level at 24-24 after eight heats it seemingly could have gone either way, but Monarchs edged ahead and managed to hold on. Guest no. 1 Aaron Summers did a great job with 14 points but the guest reserve Micky Dyer had a poor night. He took the lead in heat 2 but fell at the pits corner, and never got going after that.

There were good returns from Andrew Tully, Theo Pijper and Matthew Wethers but an unlucky night for Derek Sneddon. His heat 8 win was a determined and important ride but he fell on a 5-1 in heat 6 after almost colliding with his partner, and then appeared to be accidentally knocked off in heat 10 by Morten Risager whilst trying a bold outside run.

Risager proved to be Witches' hero with wins in heats 14 and 15, and for a first time at Armadale he was very good. Dakota North, Taylor Poole and reserve Matt Tresarrieu were also strong performers and the cup semi-final between the same opponents next month will be eagerly awaited, especially with a certain amount of … err … irritation between the camps.

Monarchs have three matches in hand over the Witches and should they gain 9 points from their remaining matches (3 home and 2 away), that should take them out of reach. The only problem is the continuing requirement for guest replacements, with the reserve guest for Jozsef Tabaka proving the harder slot to fill.

Full Result Details