Great return by Victor

NEWS Saturday 22nd June 2019, 0:53am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Staggs Bar Monarchs' returning Swede Victor Palovaara didn't let a little bit of bike trouble worry him in his first match of the season tonight, as he won four races and topped the scoring in a 49-41 win over Redcar Bears. Victor scored 13 points.

Victor won the opening heat, then hit trouble but came back to finish with three race wins to save the day. He said "In my second ride the clutch arm slid off so the clutch was slipping. I tried to fix it for my next ride but I couldn't so I borrowed Cameron Heeps' bike but I was lucky to get a point in that one.

"I'm glad it worked out and I am happy to be riding with Ricky Wells again. He's good, he can control the bike and it's nice to know you have someone safe to ride with."

It was just as well the Swede made such a great return because the bad news which came early in the night was that Josh Pickering's comeback was not a success. He had been out for a month with a possibly serious shoulder injury, but believed he was ready to race. On his opening lap in heat 3 he went between Ostergaard and the fence to set up a 5-1 with Joel Andersson, only to slide off at the start of lap two and further damage the injury. Probably a rational view would be that he should not have ridden at all.

It was an up and down match for the team whose performance was rather patchy even though they had three men in double figures. Having gone six points ahead after four heats, they were pegged back by three successive Redcar 4-2s, and it might have been worse as the Bears sat on a 4-2 in heat 8 until Jack Smith fell.

Monarchs then picked up two 5-1s, both won by Palovaara, and although Redcar came back at them again, a 4-2 in the race of the night heat 13 followed by a shared heat 14 was enough to get Monarchs over the line. There was disappointment for Redcar in the final race as Ricky Wells pipped Charles Wright for third place, which was enough to ensure that Bears missed out on a consolation point. The heat was again won by Palovaara.

Wright believed he had held on to third and made the point forcefully to the referee, but onlookers in line with the start reckoned the decision was correct.

Heat 13 was a good one, Palm Toft passing Wells on the opening lap only for Wells to come back with a strong outside pass. Meanwhile Heeps got past Wright to give Monarchs a vital 4-2.

Along with Victor, Joel Andersson (11+1) and Ricky Wells (10+2) were in double figures in spite of some ropey gating. That was also the downfall of Cameron Heeps who just couldn't get out of the start other than in his first race. Of the five heats in which Redcar gained 4-2s, they probably gated on a 5-1 in every one with a Monarchs rider coming through to second each time.

William Lawson managed one of his better scores but there is still an awful lot of room for improvement. His points are virtually all at the expense of struggling riders and Monarchs need more from reserve.

On the Redcar side, Wright, Palm Toft and Jordan Stewart all won two heats, with Tom Bacon taking one in heat 8 after Palovaara missed the two minutes and rode the Heeps machine off 15 metres. They came up just short in the end though.

A guest will probably be sought for tomorrow's visit by the Staggs Bar Monarchs to Redcar, with Pickering definitely out, and it is hoped that Palovaara will come in to the Fours on Sunday.

Full Result Details