Scotty wins the Bonanza

NEWS Sunday 17th March 2019, 6:34pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

2019 Leicester rider Scott Nicholls added the Ben Fund Bonanza to his long list of honours when he romped home in the Final of Ben Fund 10, staged at Leicester for the second time. The other finalists were Dany King, Ryan Douglas and Sam Masters.

There was no direct 2019 Edinburgh interest for fans travelling down, following the withdrawal of Justin Sedgmen whose machinery wasn't ready. In all there were four programme changes, and this has become a bit of a scourge for this particular meeting. However replacements Josh Bates, Jedd List, Kasper Andersen and Zane Kennedy were of a decent standard.

The opening heat was a long-running shambles with only Nicholls emerging with any points, but the meeting then settled down to run reasonably smoothly.

Josh Bates was very exciting in the early stages, winning his first three heats, but his challenge faded later on.

Charles Wright also won his opening three races and at this early stage looks set for a good year. Danny King, after last season's injury-wrecked year, started with a tape touch and then took four wins to make the final. He will be delighted.

Sam Masters won the semi from Richie Worrall, Ryan Douglas and Josh Bates to join the three top men in the final, but then dropped out at the back in the last race.

The track caused some problems for a few of the riders but considering the rain on Saturday and during Sunday afternoon, we were probably lucky overall. The crowd looked quite acceptable which is the main reason for this fundraising event, and the auctions at the end kept the coffers ticking over.

Former Monarchs Neil Hewitt and Lawrence Hare were amongst the special guests, as was Ricky Ashworth who got a great reception for his tandem ride.

The 2019 season is up and running.