Fine showing from the Monarchs

REPORT Saturday 7th September 2019, 1:34am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Staggs Bar Monarchs gave perhaps their best performance of the season tonight to defeat Somerset Rebels by 57-32, scoring well throughout the side.

Sam Masters and Cameron Heeps led the scoring but reserve William Lawson was awarded the weekly Monarch of the Match prize, and no. 7 Connor Coles continued his recent progress with 4 points.

Coles survived a torrid first corner in heat 2. He said "I got hit twice and had some tough races. Nathan Stoneman hit me hard in heat 2 and even harder in my next one but I managed to stay on.

"I made some good starts, I always get on well when there are grippy starts. I was pleased to play my part in a good win. I want to get a double figure score by the end of the season and maybe get a slot for next year."

Somerset in contrast got literally nothing at all from their reserve berths, an unusual occurrence as there should be at least a minimum one point in heat 2.

In the runup to the match a close contest was expected, though that might have been revised a bit following Rory Schlein's withdrawal after a crash at Poole on Thursday night.

The two outstanding visiting riders were Nick Morris and Nico Covatti riding together at nos. 3 and 4. Morris was impressive throughout with only an unexpected fall in heat 7 when in second place spoiling his consistent scorechart. He won his last couple of heats including heat 15 in which he headed the previously unbeaten Masters.

Covatti started very strongly with two fast wins, but faded a bit later, though he was always worth watching. He had a couple of exciting tussles with home man Josh Pickering.

Somerset's other heat leader Chris Harris was mostly disappointing, taking 5 rides to amass 7. His best moment came in heat 13 when he managed to slip past Cameron Heeps who had been unbeaten, but the Rebels needed more from their most experienced man.

Every one of the Monarchs managed at least one paid win. Lawson, Sarjeant and Ricky Wells all took the chequered flag twice and it would have taken a very good side indeed to run the Monarchs close tonight.

The Monarchs' top men found time to support their partners in two of the five 5-point heats the home side recorded tonight. Sam Masters was happy to slot in behind James Sarjeant in heat 6, and Cameron Heeps did likewise with William Lawson in heat 11 after a very fast run off the second turn by Lawson.

Lawson didn't drop a point until heat 14 when he seemed to have more speed than Covatti but could not squeeze past.

Monarchs fans will wait to see whether their team can carry this form into their away matches at Berwick and Newcastle over the weekend. So far this season they have not achieved a lot away from Armadale, but tonight's display suggests they should not be ruled out.

Tonight's match was streamed live into Somerset's spacious clubhouse at the Oak Tree Arena and early reports are that this innovation was much appreciated.

Full Result Details