Strong first leg for Monarchs

REPORT Saturday 29th September 2018, 1:01am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Staggs Bar Monarchs gave themselves an excellent chance of progressing to the Knockout Cup Final after a 59-31 victory in the first leg of the semi at Armadale tonight against Workington Comets. The second leg is at Workington on Saturday.

Alex Harkess said "I would not like to think we could lose the tie after a result like that. We got our last home match out of our system and rode as we would normally expect. James Sarjeant did well as a guest and after he had beaten Campton twice I gave him an extra ride in heat 14, but he couldn't quite manage a third time."

Anything is possible of course but there would have to be a major turnaround for the Comets even to go close. They started the match very well and were level after three heats, just two down after four and still in touch at 20-28 after 8 heats.

The home side rode well and gave it their all, and that certainly included guest number 7 James Sarjeant who showed what an excellent performer he can be. He never looked like touching the tapes and was competitive in every race. The heat leaders were completely on song with maximums for Erik Riss (full) and Richie Worrall (paid), and just one point dropped by Ricky Wells in heat 1 (in which he was accidentally baulked by his partner).

In spite of near perfect displays by the heat leaders, Josh Pickering still won the Monarch of the Match award! He started with a tape-touch leaving him pointless from heat 3, then was unbeaten thereafter and finished with a victory on the line after one of his famous chases in heat 12 against Doolan.

Comets' riders won the first two races and they had another victory from Mason Campton (his second) in heat 8. Home 5-1s in heats 5 and 6 put a different complexion on things even though heat 8 was a 4-2 to Workington. They did lose Rene Bach to illness which was most unlucky, but in truth the visitors had a disorganised air about them and they were unbalanced by a terrible performance from their no. 1. It was hard to understand some of their changes in the latter stages and it can only be assumed that there were some discussions behind the scenes.

Whether Comets were happy or not, there were some good races. Sarjeant and Campton had a couple of excellent battles, there was that Pickering special in heat 12 and heat 10 was also very interesting. Doolan passed Palovaara early on but Ricky Wells came from well back to stroll through on the inside line for the win.

But we will see what tomorrow brings. Jordan Stewart comes in at no. 7 for Monarchs.

Full Result Details