DISAPPOINTMENT AT WORKINGTON

REPORT Saturday 14th June 2014, 9:52pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Having already suffered a bizarre call-off at Peterborough earlier this season, Edinburgh fans saw tonight's match at Workington abandoned after nine heats following injury to Kyle Howarth.

Whilst no-one would dream of disputing that Kyle had been hurt in an unusual accident in which he caught his foot under his engine, or indeed that it was important that he received the correct treatment, it was very much a fact that the visiting fans and everyone else in the Edinburgh camp would have liked the fixture to run to a conclusion.

A second ambulance was apparently 66 miles away, though the stadium ambulance in which Kyle was being treated would only have had to travel to Whitehaven, seven miles away.

However we were informed that this would take an hour and the match had been abandoned. It was noted that the blading off of the shale on the 3rd/4th bend had already started well before the abandonment was announced. It will all have to be done again.

In fact it looked as though the match was being turned on its head in the fateful heat 9. Sam Masters won it with excellent support from Aaron Fox to put us 26-28 behind, and to say we were well placed over the next six heats is an understatement. We had Craig Cook (two wins), Steve Worrall (three wins), Max Fricke and Sam Masters lined up for ten rides at least over these closing stages.

Up to that point we had had one or two out of touch and incredibly had all of the first eight last places. Justin Sedgmen looked totally underpowered, Derek Sneddon battled but didn't score and Aaron Fox took time to settle- until heat 9 in which he comfortably held off Howarth (till his last lap mishap) and Wells.

Cook and the super-reserve Worrall had won all of their heats by miles, and Sam Masters was getting into the groove. Max had a couple of decent second places and it's hard to imagine that we would not have overturned that 2-point deficit. What we didn't particularly want, of course, would be to run just one more heat to let the result stand - and it was conceded that that would have been an unsatisfactory outcome.

Speedway fans do have to put up with quite a bit.

Full Result Details