18 point lead for Redcar tomorrow

REPORT Friday 16th September 2022, 11:45pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The WTF Monarchs grabbed an 18 point advantage in the Playoff quarter final at Armadale tonight in a match in which both teams took knocks. Monarchs started very strongly and were 14 ahead by heat 8, and later took 5-1s in heats 13 and 15, and yet the Bears never gave up and were indebted to their reserves for good points hauls.

Monarchs' team manager Alex Harkess said "If you'd offered me an 18 point lead at the start I'd certainly have taken it, but in the end I feel a little disappointed that we didn't take a bit more of a lead. I thought we rode pretty well but there were heats we might have done better in."

There were three multi-rider pileups which prolonged the meeting, at the first bend in heats 2 and 8 and then a more serious one in heat 9. In this, Paco Castagna had gone ahead down the back straight but lifted, so was caught by Kye Thomson (inside) and Lewis Kerr (outside) as they reached the third turn. With Kerr pushing in and Thomson pushing out, it ended with these two falling and both Castagna and Andersen also running into the melee.

Kerr was then withdrawn from the meeting, and although Thomson (who was excluded) took his fourth ride, he limped round and didn't look comfortable. Kerr's injury was described as concussion and Thomson had an arm injury, and we will have to wait and see whether either will ride tomorrow.

The match was certainly hard-fought throughout. Monarchs were 8 up by heat 3, with another heat 2 5-1 exactly as in the cup tie, and they added three more 4-2s in heats 6, 7 and 8. Masters and Pickering looked untouchable, and Kye Thomson also took a win over Wright in heat 3.

Lasse Fredriksen had an excellent third over Summers in heat 1 and then succeeded in passing Newman in heat 6 late in the race with a bold outside sweep. He also got up from the heat 8 crash to force his way past Andersen to win the rerun.

At that point Monarchs would be much the happier team, and they only had one last place at that point. However they then had four successive last places with heat 12 resulting in a 1-5, bringing the margin down to 10.

It took the usual duo, Masters and Pickering, to build up the points tally once more with 5-1s in heats 13 and 15. Heat 14 was won by Kyle Newman who bounced back from engine problems earlier, and we will see how important that battling effort might be.

Monarchs don't generally lose by 18 away from home – but they did on their last Redcar visit, and with the doubts about who might be turning out on both sides, there is still a lot of work to be done. It starts at 5pm at Redcar tomorrow.

Full Result Details