Decent start in heat 3 Image Credit: Ron MacNeill

Well Beaten At Ashfield

REPORT Sunday 28th April 2019, 7:23pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Staggs Bar Monarchs were left to rue a lack of heat winners as they fell 53-37 to Glasgow in the Championship Shield

13 home heat victories to 2 for the Monarchs tells the story and in all fairness it wasn't till the later stages that the Monarchs could muster these by which point the meeting was lost.

Monarchs team manager Alex Harkess said after 'You can't win matches if you don't win heats, we didn't have any till the last third of the match. 8 or 9 seconds I think we had and that's not good enough. It's disappointing all round.'

The home men started well taking 5 heat advantages from the first 6 races and it this point it looked like the writing was on the wall.

Further advantages in heats 8 and 10 the latter after a disagreement between the referee and the Tigers management over the rules on if James Sarjeant should have been excluded or not meant at the interval the Monarchs were 16 down.

There were some shoots of improvement in the next few heats with our first heat win in heat 11 from Wells being backed up by Josh Pickering in heat 12 albeit with a moment that should have been avoided - the Tigers start marshall forgot to remove a pole used to prop up the tapes. Thankfully all riders avoided disaster.

The rest of the way the Tigers regained control and but for a Jensen puncture in heat 15 would have won by more on a day that leaves the Monarchs requiring maximum points the rest of the way if they are to have any chance of topping the group.