Another excellent victory

REPORT Saturday 14th July 2018, 1:06am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Following their resounding away win at Redcar on Thursday, the Staggs Bar Monarchs did not slip up tonight against Ipswich and defeated the Witches 51-39 in an entertaining and hard fought encounter.

Team manager Alex Harkess said "It was an entertaining meeting but I didn't think we were that good. The lower part of our team, you just didn't know what you were going to get from them in any race.

"The Witches had strong guests and they were able to push us quite hard. Heat 8 was a turning point, that could have gone either way but our two Swedes got a 5-1 and that steadied us."

Ricky Wells and Erik Riss were both unbeaten until heat 15, when the exciting Covatti headed them home, and so again they gave the Monarchs the foundation they needed. Both had excellent wins from the back, Wells in heat 1 when he came right from the rear to catch Matthew Wethers, and Riss in a thrilling heat 11 when he overhauled Rory Schlein.

Erik made a last gasp effort to try to catch Covatti in heat 15 and lost control on the final turn. He did well to stay on his machine.

Everyone else had their moments. The reserves took a heat 2 5-1, and Joel Andersson teamed up with his fellow Swede Victor Palovaara for a 5-1 in heat 8 against the flying Covatti. This was probably the key heat of the night as it doubled Monarchs' advantage at that stage in a heat which looked as though it might have favoured the visitors.

After a poor first ride Mark Riss looked much more like his old self with 7 points including an important win in heat 9.

Josh Pickering probably would be the least happy home rider with just two second places and two lasts, well below his recent standards.. His extravagant attempts to overtake sometimes took him just too wide into uncharted territory.

For the Witches, they deployed their riders well. Covatti was very quick when in front and has such an exciting style, and Matthew Wethers was as crafty as ever piling up paid 10. His race with Max Ruml in heat 7 was a highlight with the American just losing a tough contest.

Rory Schlein didn't score as many as he usually does but he always seemed a threat, while Connor Mountain was a handy reserve and their other guest Richie Worrall was in the thick of things too.

The Witches certainly have some patching up to do for the remainder of the season, and we wish them well with that, while we now take a two-week break for the Somerset / Cardiff weekend.

Full Result Details