Record-equalling success

REPORT Saturday 28th July 2018, 1:50am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Having scored 57 at Redcar recently, it wasn't really expected that the return at Armadale would be close, but equally few would have predicted the record-equalling 69-21 victory for the Staggs Bar Monarchs tonight.

New boy Richie Worrall was one of four maximum men on his debut. He powered ahead in all his races and was never headed by the opposition after the second bend. He said "It's certainly easier riding with these guys than against them. It was nice to enjoy my speedway, it's been a little bit hard recently. It would have been nice to have a little bit tougher opposition to see what we can do but I think we have an excellent team and I can't wait for next week."

Monarchs were certainly good, there is no doubt about that. Four paid maximums (Wells, Riss, Worrall and Pickering) and another two (Andersson and Palovaara) who dropped points in just the one race. But Redcar were undoubtedly below expectations and their loyal travelling fans must have been very disappointed, perhaps especially in Ben Barker who seemed to lack his usual competitive spirit. Jorgensen and Jonas B Andersen had their moments while Dimitri Berge had probably his best ride at Armadale in his fourth outing.

There was, believe it or not, a certain amount of entertaining racing. In a curious heat two, Max Clegg passed Jordan Stewart, dropped back, turned his fuel on then caught and re-passed Stewart just as the other visiting reserve Mikkel B Andersen fell off.

In heat 4 we had a good tussle involving Jorgensen and Joel Andersson which Joel clinched with an inside run off the final corner. Josh Pickering enjoyed his night, passing team mate and opposition alike on his outside run on a track which seemed to be to his liking. He had his hardest heat in heat 12 against Berge who he finally passed round the outside to keep his unbeaten run going. and then Ricky Wells also managed a double overtake on the last corner of heat 10.

He sat at the back for 3.5 laps probably assuming the chance would come, and finally it did on the last corner as he went inside both Bears to preserve his unbeaten run.

Meanwhile Max Clegg lived up to his pre-match billing as a regular overtaker by missing every start by a mile and picking up paid 5, just missing out on one or two more.

So it was hardly a contest, and there were a few very easy 5-1 heat victories, but there were some heats to enjoy. Expect tougher contests up ahead.

(The scoreline equalled the result recorded by Monarchs in 2008 v Mildenhall as the highest achieved at Armadale).

Full Result Details