Important point gained at a tough venue

NEWS Saturday 11th September 2021, 11:57pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The What the Fork Monarchs are in the thick of a tussle for a Playoff place but made a big step forward tonight by gaining a point at Leicester, something very few teams do. Exactly as they did on their last visit in 2019, Monarchs top two clinched the point with a last heat 5-1.

Team manager John Campbell said "Good to get a point at the end of it all, performance OK, exceptional at the end from Sam and Josh, and our guest Jordan Jenkins held us together at the start.

"He was very, very good and definitely kept us in it. Leicester have a lot of good riders but it was a very pleasing end to the night. Josh rode out of his skin to get second in the last race and wasn't very pleased when I told him third place would have done!

"They all did their bit, Kye was very disappointed when his bike packed up in his last race but he will be OK for Sunday at Newcastle."

The team fought hard all night to stay in touch, levelling up at heat 4 through Richie Worrall and impressive guest Jordan Jenkins, then dropping 10 points down by heat 9 only to fight back through 4-2s in heats 10 and 13.

There was still an 8 point deficit at heat 14, won by Josh Pickering, leaving Josh and Sam Masters to gain an advantage in the final heat. This they did in style with a 5-1 over Ryan Douglas and Hans Andersen.

Anders Rowe suffered a recurrence of his knee injury and will miss the Newcastle match tomorrow at least.

The result moves Monarchs above rival playoff contenders Kent and Birmingham, and a win at Newcastle tomorrow would be enough to clinch the place. If they don't achieve that there will be a further opportunity at Birmingham on Wednesday.

Full Result Details