OUR FOURTH KNOCKOUT CUP WIN

NEWS Friday 17th October 2014, 11:41pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

On a memorable night at Armadale the Scotwaste Monarchs completed their aggregate victory in the 2014 Knockout Cup, winning 105-75 on aggregate against an Ipswich team which put up an excellent fight and made it a true Cup Final.

Monarchs’ boss Alex Harkess said “It was a good meeting and I enjoyed it – eventually!”

The Witches undoubtedly must have felt they had let themselves down in their home leg, losing so heavily, but it was clear from the start they had brought a positive attitude with them for the Armadale leg. Young Cameron Heeps was a magnificent performer (he had never shown his true form at Armadale before) while Richie Worrall (always good at Armadale) and Adam Ellis (sometimes good at Armadale) also rode well.

So the home side had to show their mettle, and they did once again with all of the top four in double figures, another maximum from the brilliant Craig Cook, and some useful points from Aaron Fox.

Both teams were weakened, with Stevie Worrall and Derek Sneddon missing for Monarchs, and Gino Manzares not making the trip with Witches. The visitors were further hit when Morten Risager withdrew through illness, forcing the visitors to ride heat 12 with just one rider.

A big crowd saw some excellent racing, notably three battles between Aussies Justin Sedgmen and Cameron Heeps. In the opening race Heeps made a blinding start, was passed forcefully by both Cook and Sedgmen but came back to put real pressure on the Monarchs’ no. 2.

Two heats later it was Sedgmen doing the chasing, and he just failed to catch Heeps at the finish, and the pair saved their best battle for heat 8 when Sedgmen passed Heeps early on, but the visitor was rewarded after a race long chase and some thrilling outside line riding by a superb last bend overtake.

In the end Monarchs stretched their six point advantage at heat 11 to fourteen at the finish, but they knew they had been in a fight and Ipswich had twice as many race winners at Armadale (six) as they had had on their own circuit.

Monarchs travel to Workington tomorrow in their final League match, then race Somerset away (Friday) and at Armadale (Saturday) in the matches which decide the Premier League winners for 2014.

Full Result Details