Monarchs send Pirates away pointless

NEWS Friday 8th July 2022, 11:22pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The WTF Monarchs came through with flying colours tonight after a very tight encounter with the League Champions Poole, recovering from a 2-point deficit after heat 12 to win 49-41 which was enough to ensure that there was no consolation loser's point for the Pirates.

Delighted home captain Sam Masters said "Poole are a very strong team, the strongest in the league I think so to beat them here is awesome, I'm so stoked for the boys. I knew they'd push us all the way but everyone did their bit. Heat 14 was massive, I was expecting a last heat decider and they had choice of gates too."

The match was tense throughout with never more than two points between the teams until a decisive heat 14. It was the closeness of the scores rather than the quality of the racing which held the interest, though we did finish with another superb display by the Monarchs' top two in the best race of the night, heat 15.

Scores were level over the first four heats with heat 1 rerun after Kemp fell and failed to clear the track. Masters had been leading but Steve Worrall took advantage of his second chance. Jacob Hook scored a notable win in heat 2 and he went on to give probably his best performance so far.

Pirates edged ahead in heat 5, Monarchs levelled again when Pickering beat King in heat 7. Josh in fact gated in his first four races, an unusual occurrence.

After a good meeting last week, Lasse Fredriksen was off colour tonight and trailed in heat 8 as Poole regained the lead.

The next three race winners were Thomson, Masters and Pickering but the key points scored by Hook in heat 10 and Sarjeant in heat 11 once again put Monarchs in front by two, only for a 1-5 from Poole's King and Ben Cook over Thomson and Hook to swing the 2-point advantage the other way.

This is the stage at which Monarchs usually hand over to Masters and Pickering to finish the job but up against Poole, could they come up with the goods again? Not half, they were a long way clear for a 5-1 in heat 13 over Worrall and Lawson.

Still only two points in it, but heat 14 proved the decisive one. At last Paco Castagna came to the fore after three disappointing rides, and led home Jacob Hook for a 5-1 over the Cook brothers which clinched victory.

There still remained the question of whether Poole would get a point. They needed to share heat 15 and when Worrall and King gated in front, it seemed surely they would get it. However Monarchs magnificent top two do like putting on a show! Masters has a superb inside line and used it to perfection to pass first King then Worrall, and Pickering on his more familiar outside then got round King. He finished with such an extravagant wheelie that he almost came off his machine, but he managed to control it.

Just to prove you don't have to be a World Champ to have a good race, two of the best heats of the night came from Dean Douglas and Edward Davison in the Northern Junior League match which followed the Monarchs' win.

Full Result Details