Edinburgh Monarchs v Ipswich Witches

REPORT Friday 14th August 2015, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Ipswich had only three of their own riders lining up for this semi-final, but their guests were quite effective and only in the final two heats did the Border Roofing Monarchs pull clear with what looks like a decisive advantage.

There were travel problems for the Witches too. Rohan Tungate just made it before start time, while Richard Lawson missed his opening ride.

The home side were supplying virtually all the race winners, so the margin was going to depend on how many points the backup riders could supply. Circumstances decreed that Ipswich had their top two scorers in their opening pair which gave them a lop-sided look.

The most eventful racing in the early stages involved the reserves. Max Clegg started with a win and then passed Ashley Morris in a good battle in heat 7, before blowing a motor. You never know what Rob Branford is going to do from one bend to the next; he also had a good pass on Morris in heat 4 but lost it again, but later he redeemed himself with a fast gate and smooth ride in heat 14.

Meanwhile Craig Cook and Kevin Wolbert were masters of all they surveyed. Cook broke his own track record in heat 1 and was untroubled until heat 13 when Lawson shot from the tapes. Cook hunted him down and thundered past down the home straight at the end of lap three, but carried just too much speed into the pits bend and lost the position again.

No such problems for the impeccable Wolbert, who joined Cook for a last heat 5-1 by a wide margin over the two top Witches.

Erik Riss was up and down but made an important contribution, while it was a tough night for the usually super-smooth Sedgmen. Both Worrall and Lawson gave him a hard time at various stages, and he took a hefty tumble on the first corner of heat 6 but was fortunately OK to continue.

Ipswich’s backup riders kept trying hard enough, but they probably didn’t score enough to give them much chance of reaching the final.

Full Result Details