OUT OF THE CUP

NEWS Friday 12th October 2012, 11:01pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Luck was in short supply for the Scotwaste Monarchs tonight as they won the match 52-37 against Ipswich but went down 87-92 on aggregate.

The unluckiest man was Jozsef Tabaka, who had engine failures in his first THREE rides, each time while leading! Unbelievable.

In heat 2 he led to the pits corner, then shed a chain and came down. Prior to heat 7 with much assistance, he switched his engine to another bike – took the lead and lost his chain again! This time he didn’t fall off.

With not many heats remaining to repair the damage, Jozsef went ahead in heat 11 with Andrew Tully behind him, on a 5-1, only to have his cutout come out and stop the bike.

Desperate misfortune for the team, for whom Craig Cook and Theo Pijper rode brilliantly and were unbeaten throughout the evening.

After all the rain on Thursday and Friday, the track was in better condition than anyone had a right to expect, though understandably it was slicker than Monarchs would have liked.

Had Tabaka managed to keep going, Monarchs would realistically have been 12 or 14 points to the good by heat 7 and would probably have had Tabaka in heat 8 to stiffen that race. However with the two stoppages, a heat 8 1-5 left the score at 25-23 and the tie was all but over then.

There were still only two points in it after Jozsef’s third EF at heat 11, but Monarchs then gained a 5-0 when both Ipswich riders were excluded after they tangled up on the first bend in heat 12.

Monarchs pulled away over the final three races, with Cook’s last bend win over Tungate in heat 13 the race of the night.

It all really became a bit of an anti-climax as we watched Jozsef’s misfortunes. Ipswich were consequently not put under pressure, and we can’t say what might have happened had we been given an even break of luck. To be fair, the Witches probably eased off in the latter stages.

It hasn’t been a lucky season for Monarchs, with bad weather and injuries to key riders, and tonight’s misfortunes tended to confirm that it hasn’t been our year. We wish the Witches well in the Final, but they know it could have been a lot tougher for them.

An away win at Workington tomorrow would give us a chance of a Premier Playoff final place, but that’s an unlikely prospect – very few teams win there. We’ll give it our best shot, then host the Comets at Armadale next week.