Great Fightback Lands A Win

REPORT Thursday 14th July 2016, 9:57pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs fought back from a very unpromising position early on to grab victory by 48-45 at Redcar tonight.

John Campbell said “After an absolutely dreadful start when we were getting nowhere, the whole team became very determined to do something.

“The 8-1 obviously turned it but Sam explained to me during the interval – not that I understand the technicalities – that he had made some changes, going one way which hadn’t worked, then changing to go the other way. He was magnificent at the end of the match, it made the difference to him and to the whole team.”

He added “Mark Riss was exceptional really, and after the match I said to the two brothers that I didn’t know who was the better of them. It should be Erik obviously but certainly Mark was a match for him tonight.

“The track was super-slick and dusty from heat one. There were one or two passes but it was almost suicidal moves which were making them possible. Ryan came back in furious after the last heat but all that happened really was that he failed to make a start off the outside – he had no chance from then.”

The Monarchs’ boss also responded to a twitter comment: “I’ve just read on twitter it was a fortunate win but it certainly wasn’t that. The suggestion is that we won because they had two guys fall off, but those guys were over-riding, that was the problem for them.”

When we trailed 10-2 after two heats it didn’t look much like we’d even get a point, and we didn’t get a race winner till Sam won heat 5. However Mark Riss took an excellent third over Jonas B Andersen in that heat and the fightback was on.

Or at least it was after we’d lost a 5-1 in heat 6, with Kevin thereafter switching machines. That allowed the TR for Fisher with Erik Riss also taking advantage of a messed-up first bend by Bellego for an 8-1.

The match was then transformed as we went on to take 8 out of the last 9 race winners, adding just enough third places to get us over the line in front. Mark Riss (heat 8) and Erik Riss (heat 12) were really vital heat winners as Masters and Fisher did their work in the other heats in the run-in.

Max Clegg and Dan Bewley didn’t get big scores but both managed to take a point off Lee Payne, which proved vital in the end.

Campbell concluded “It’s an encouraging situation because with each match that goes by, Mark gets better, and Kevin surely won’t be as bad again! He had machine troubles, with the chain coming loose in two races, which obviously concerned him.

“I was very impressed with our old friend Tobias Busch, he really looked like a speedway rider and the best of the Bears.”

Full Result Details