STRONG FINISH FOR VICTORY

NEWS Friday 5th October 2012, 0:57am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs finished with two 5-1 heat victories to take a 48-42 victory over Scunthorpe, who would be happy to get a point with their patched-up side.

It was actually patched up very well, because guests Sam Masters and Kevin Doolan scored 26 points between them. Amazing to think that both these riders were dropped by their clubs earlier in the season, as was third top scorer Gary Irving.

Conditions were damp, as they always are at this time of year, and amazingly on a day when dry weather was forecast there was still an Armadale shower at 7:30.

Monarchs started well and held a 6-point lead after 5 races, but six heats later the Scorpions had levelled. It was a tough night for Andrew Tully whose gating was not at its best – he lost 5-1s in heats 7 and 11 in spite of great efforts to overcome the slow starts.

Jozsef Tabaka crashed heavily in heat 12, in which Scunthorpe took the lead with Doolan heading home Pijper.

Sam Masters won heat 13 and Scunthorpe probably had victory in their sights at that point. However Jozsef Tabaka picked himself up from his heat 12 crash and came to the line, and at last made a start, backed by the captain for a 5-1.

That put Monarchs two points ahead, with choice of gates in the final race. They took 2 and 4, undoubtedly the favourable gates, with Aaron Summers on 2 and Matthew Wethers 4.

Scunthorpe had a point in the bag and needed a 5-1 to win, which is probably why they gave Doolan gate 3 and put the unbeaten Sam Masters on the inside. Summers beat Masters away but Wethers didn’t make a good start – he made up for that in style by driving through the pack to the fourth corner.

Meanwhile Summers joined him at the front and they were unchallenged after that.

Gating was the important factor, and in too many heats the home men were beaten to the first corner. Byron Bekker pulled off a couple of excellent passes, though he concedes that he can’t gate.

We also saw a great win from the back by Wethers in heat 5, and plenty of interesting tussles. Both teams put everything into the match and that’s what makes for engrossing speedway.

Scunthorpe will be happy with their point which makes them well placed in the section. Monarchs now look to next week’s cup tie and hope for a drier track with perhaps a stronger inside line, as they try to pull back 20 points on Ipswich.