Academy Take The Spoils At Shielfield

REPORT Sunday 2nd July 2023, 5:41am

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs Academy

The Stellar Monarchs Academy got back to winning ways at Shielfield on Saturday night in a match where the score line only tells half the story.

On paper it was a dominating performance with 11 heat wins to only 6 last places but with both Mickie Simpson and Kyran Lyden withdrawing early on it was far from straight forward as Academy manager Scott Wilson explained after

'Tonight was a wild one, we had a bit of everything! Obviously I'm delighted with the result but what was most pleasing was the manner of it. We had our backs to the wall losing Mickie and Kyran early on, with Alex (Spooner) missing already, but the other 5 boys dug deep and got us over the line with a little to spare. I'm extremely proud of them for that.

'Dayle Wood was our match winner, having to take 7 rides to help cover for his missing team mates on a track he had never ridden before was a big ask. He rolled his sleeves up and delivered for us - a fantastic performance.

'Naturally we have concerns over Mickie and Kyran, we hope their injuries aren't too serious and we can start to build some momentum as a team again.'

As mentioned by Wilson the match was not without its incident as first Lyden aggravated his shoulder injury in heat 1 then more dramatically Simpson's bike caught fire on the start line in heat 3 with Simpson on board at the time he was forced to withdraw from the meeting with burns to his leg and the first thoughts are for speedy recoveries for both Lyden and Simpson.

The hosts were not without their struggles also as captain Greg Blair failed to complete the meeting after a heat 7 off and our best wishes go to Greg as well.

Taking away incident and injury it was a quite brilliant display from Wilson's men as they led from the start and dominated throughout.

Multiple heat wins for Max Clegg, Adam Roynan who was imperious dropping his only point to home number 1 Connor Coles in heat 10, Jacob Hook and Dayle Wood at reserve set the tone and the hosts had no answer.

With the afore mentioned Monarchs sharing the checkered flag among them in each of the first 8 races the result was never really in doubt as the remaining visitors all stuck to their task well.

Special mention must go to Wood who on a busy night was quite exceptional, a mix of strong starts and brave outside riding leading to a paid 16 score that was the major difference between the outfits.

So, a much needed boost after a tough run for the Monarchs who now have a bit of time to rest man and machine before Workington head to Armadale in a fortnights time.

Berwick 38: Coles 11, Phillips 9, Halder 6+2, Blair 2, Douglas 3, Watson 6+2, Garrad 1

Edinburgh 51: Clegg 11, Lyden 1, Roynon 14, Hook 9, Simpson 2+1, Wood 13+3, Parker 1

Full Result Details