Tigers Can't Be Tamed

REPORT Wednesday 29th June 2016, 10:16pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs battled bravely but ultimately were undone by a brilliant performance by an inspired Fernando Garcia as we went down 51-39 at Ashfield tonight.

The Monarchs acquitted themselves well in the opening stages being only 2 down with 5 races to go but the Tigers exerted their control over the remaining heats although there are positives to be taken from the Monarchs camp against a team that is dominant round their home shale.

The match was nip and tuck in the early heats with the Monarchs taking the majority of the heat winners without being able to exert any control. We started with a 3-3 in heat 1 with Sam first from the tapes and leading all the way to the flag with Lawson never far behind. Heat 2 saw the Tigers take the lead as Danny Ayres rocketed from the tapes and with Garcia comfortably in 3rd a 4-2 saw the Tigers take a 7-5 lead.

We bounced straight back in the next heat. Erik and Ryan rocketing from the gate leaving Rene Bach and Richie Worrall in their wake. Richie slid off at the back though on bends 3 and 4 on lap 1 and despite a cursory attempt to get off the track his bike was stuck under the fence and the race had to be stopped. Of course as is so often the way things didn’t go the same in the re-run as Bach managed to split our pairing and hold it to a 4-2 in our favour which tied the scores at 9-9

Each of the next two heats were shared firstly a tapes to flag victory for Aaron Summers over Kevin Wolbert with Dan Bewley taking a good third place ahead of Danny Ayres thus dampening Ayres flamboyant celebrations somewhat. Heat 5 saw Sam round the field on the 1st and 2nd bend to clear off for the victory. With Mark sliding off at the back though we could not break the deadlock.

This was to be the last time we had so much as a share of the lead as the Tigers broke the deadlock in the next heat. Man of the match Fernando Garcia rounded Kevin coming off the 2nd bend to join his partner Lawson up front and once Lawson let him round to team ride him home that was that.

We held the score close over the next few heats with a share of the spoils in each of the next 3 races. We would have hoped for better from Erik after he looked to have made the jump in heat 7 but he fell to the back and could not support Ryan who made an audacious cut back between the two Tigers coming out of the 2nd bend to romp to victory. Heat 8 we would probably have classed as a bonus 3-3 as Mark and Dan gated on Ayres and easily kept him at the back to gain us a share of the spoils behind Richie Worrall. Heat 9 saw a brave ride from Kevin as he scrapped the fence twice on the opening lap to take victory over the Worrall and Bach pairing with Max at the back.

It looked like we may be finding a way back into the match as Ryan and Erik took a 4-2 over Lawson and Garcia in heat 10 and this meant we were only 2 down with 5 races to go. At this stage Ryan and Sam were both unbeaten and Erik and Kevin had had their most impressive race of the night in their previous races so there was a feeling we may be in with a shout. On the Tigers side team manager Stewart Dickson got his troops together to give them a pep talk and gee them up for the remaining races and what a team talk it turned out to be as the Tigers outscored us 20-10 over those 5 remaining heats.

It could be argued that the gate positions had as much to do with this as the team talk though as after a run of gates 2 and 4 the Monarchs reverted to gates 1 and 3 mostly for the rest of the meeting and with gate 1 an absolute graveyard (0 race wins from the gate on the night) we always looked to have our work cut out. So it showed in heat 11 as Sam appeared to try and anticipate the start. Many a referee would have brought all 4 back for an unsatisfactory start but Craig Ackroyd decided that Sam had penalised himself and allowed the race continue. With Sam flailing at the back Garcia and Summers raced off to a confidence boosting 5-1.

Heat 12 saw the Monarchs fall further behind. Worrall was jet propelled from the start and with Garcia passing a tentative Clegg the Tigers took a 4-2 and we were now 8 down with the match looking beyond us but with a point still very much in mind.

Heat 13 put another dent in that hope though as Summers took the chequered flag with Sam in 2nd and Lawson in 3rd. Summers gated well and with Sam chasing the dirt Lawson sneaked round the inside on the 1st and 2nd bend and firmly slammed the door shut on Sam coming down the back straight. This seemed to gee Sam up as he gave chase executing an inside swoop on Lawson on the 3rd and 4th bend of lap 3 to split the Tigers.

Heat 14 put paid to any hopes we had of that consolation point as once again the best we could do was split the Tigers pairing. Ryan was off the dreaded gate 1 and although it looked like he had made the start he could not get all the way out to the dirt line this allowed the impressive Garcia to come under him again this was a hard move with Ryan taken to the fence and having to shut off. Ryan gave chase but could not get back on par with the fast Garcia and with Bach holding off Dan we were 12 down and any chance of a point had gone.

Although there was nothing left to race for that did not stop heat 15 form being another entertaining heat. All 4 riders made a level jump but once again it was the Fish who made an imperious cut back to go between Summers and Lawson and despite the latter's best efforts to lean on Ryan going into the 3rd bend he was not to be denied and raced off to victory. Unfortunately Sam slid off at the back so a final tied heat left the score at 51-39 and Monarchs leaving empty handed.

None of the parties involved will be overly disappointed with tonight’s efforts though with Glasgow recording the victory they required to take them back to the top off the table and of course after so long in our shadow there vociferous support will be happy to take home the bragging rights. For the Monarchs we can be happy with the performances of Dan and Mark both riding steady lines and showing that if they can start gating more consistently then they will be in the mix. Ryan was majestic and his cutbacks dicing between the two tigers in heats 7 and 15 were things of beauty with Sam and Kevin had their moments also.

The biggest winner tonight may well have been Scottish Speedway. With the Sky Sports cameras in attendance a hard fought battle with exciting racing in front of a passionate and big support had the Speedway world and beyond talking. Comments from such luminaries as current and former team GB managers Alan Rossiter and Nigel Middleditch and from outside the sport from the likes of England and Southampton striker Charlie Austin. The Sky team must have been delighted with what was on show and hopefully this will see them back in Scotland in the not too distant future with a trip to Armadale for the return fixture.

So we move on to the home fixture on Friday against Berwick in another match that we will need to be at our best as we look to avenge our home defeat by the Bandits form earlier in the season.

Full Result Details