Last Gasp Victory

It was certainly a night to remember at Armadale as the Border Roofing Monarchs pulled off what most people felt was a surprise 5-1 in the final race to grab a 46-44 win over Newcastle.

It’s true that we led all the way from heat 3 to heat 14, then lost our lead to a 1-5 in that race before grabbing it back again. But it felt like a potential home defeat for most of the night as the home men struggled to find form, while the Diamonds performed remarkably well in spite of the absence of Steve Worrall.

Fans of both teams were probably amazed watching heat 15, as Kevin Wolbert rocketed round the outside and Sam Masters slotted in to defend second spot from the hard pressing Robert Lambert. Lambert and Victor Palovaara were unbeaten prior to this race other than Lambert’s engine failure in heat one.

Theo Pijper stood in for Worrall, and Theo had suffered the night before with a couple of crashes (which were not his fault) at Sheffield. We’d be bending the truth if we didn’t admit that either with Worrall in place, or with rider replacement, Newcastle would have walked off with at least three if not four points.

Everyone expected Robert Lambert to do well, and he was brilliant after that heat one stoppage. But there were also superb displays from Victor Palovaara (a paid maximum till the last heat) and Lewis Rose who also scored double figures, resoundingly breaking his Armadale duck.

It was not a good performance by the Monarchs and the only excuse that can be offered is that Sam Masters was using an untried engine, after forking out extra cash to ensure that his usual Armadale engine, away to be tuned, would be available in time. It didn’t arrive. Sam never looked comfortable but battled with great courage, though he was still fuming at the end about what had happened.

Kevin Wolbert won four races and deservedly picked up the Calum Cairney Monarch of the Match award, and Dan Bewley swept to his first race win in heat 4 to great acclaim.

Ryan Fisher battled as always but Erik Riss, Max Clegg and Jye Etheridge were not at their best, and it added up to a poorish display all round. Certainly food for thought in the home camp.

Even though Newcastle had the first two race winners, we went 6 points ahead in heat 4 through Bewley and Fisher. But Lambert and Palovaara (one of the best pairings we’ve seen at Armadale?) then comfortably took 5 points against Wolbert.

Our normal powerhouse pair of Masters and Riss could only manage 4-2s in their next two heats together, so when Lambert and Palovaara slammed in their next 5-1 against Ryan Fisher in heat 11 we were just two points ahead. Looking down the remaining heats, it looked like we were in trouble.

Lambert won heat 13 and we lost the predicted 5-1 in heat 14, bringing us to the remarkable conclusion. We might not have ridden well, but we fought to the end and got the reward for that.

The most exciting heats on a nail-biting night were wins from the back by Wolbert and Fisher (over Kus) and Masters over Lindgren, plus a good battle between Bewley and Phillips in heat 8.

Diamonds In The Rough

It’s back to senior action at the Dale this week as the Border Roofing Monarchs face off against the Newcastle ‘Sapphire Engineering’ Diamonds.

The Diamonds are being tipped as one of the favourites to make the play offs this year and appear to have found a heady mix of young improving Heat Leaders and Reserves and solid experienced middle order riders that leaves them unbeaten in the league so far (albeit after only two matches) and in with a great shout of making the League Cup semi finals with a win at Redcar all that stands between them and topping the group.

The Diamonds are also one of the most successful visitors in the Armadale era and there have been numerous classics between the two at the Dale and with the makeup of this Diamonds team we could be in for another one this Friday.

After a couple of years that have not matched up to the expectations of the fans and long serving promoter co-promoter George English the Diamonds set there stall out to bring back success when putting their 1-7 together during the offseason none more so than when they announced a new number 1.

That number 1 is ‘Ruthless’ Robert Lambert. Lambert is undoubtedly one of if the not the single most talked about and hyped youngster in British Speedway just now and he is backing this up on the track. Much was made of his decision to jump straight into the main body of the team at EL level in his debut season last year but this was an undoubted success and after deciding to further his development in the PL he is showing why he is such a heralded prospect. Lambert has one previous meeting at the Dale under his belt and he was exceptional after taking a heat to dial into the circuit as he raced to 9+2 from his last 4 rides helping his then Peterborough Panthers to victory last August.

A recent change to the Diamonds line-up saw the introduction of Victor Palovaara in place of Tero Aarnio. Palovaara is no stranger to the Dale having been a Glasgow regular last year and when he has his gating boots on he is a hard man to pass. The young Swede has also been impressing in his home country in the Swedish top league against some truly world class opposition and is a danger man at the number 2 slot.

The Diamonds had to go through a tug of war to get there man at number 3 in the offseason but they were finally successful in their quest and Matej Kus lines up at that position. Matej has been around the UK for a few years now having had spells at Berwick and Redcar prior to joining the Diamonds. He is somewhat of a Brough Park expert for the Diamonds but this form and confidence seems to be spreading to away circuits this year and he is another who is capable of popping out and wining any heat at any arena now.

Joining Kus in the middle order of the Diamonds septet is Ludvig Lindgren. Lindgren has been a mainstay for the diamonds for a few years now and can always be depended on to offer the support the top boys require. Lindgren also has had a fair few decent meetings in his time round our home confines so will need to be watched carefully.

Number 5 and a change to the Diamonds line-up is incoming guest Theo Pijper. There’s not much that need said about the former league winning Monarchs captain. Any list of all time points scores at Armadale includes Theo’s name and while it may be seen as a weakening of the Diamonds that Stevie Worrall is not available due to his current blistering form they could not have picked a more experienced and classy Armadale performer than Theo.

Senior reserve for the Diamonds is Lewis Rose. Rose has been held back a little the last couple of years due to injury but this appears to be the year he makes that next step. The young Reading born man having been a solid and consistent contributor to the Diamonds early success so far this season.

Joining Rose in the reserve berths at the ‘Fast Track’ position is Danny Phillips. Phillips was one of the most coveted of the available 3 pointers this year and is repaying the Diamonds faith in him with some steady performances so far.

So all in all a tough match is in the making for our Border Roofing Monarchs. The home men can take great confidence though form a couple of battling away performances in the last 8 days taking a point at both Ipswich and Rye House. We were unlucky not to take more form Ipswich in particular when it has to be said we would have expected a win if not for Erik’s absence and perhaps some dodgy refereeing.

For the Blue and Gold Sam just continues to lead from the front. There may not be a more inform rider in the UK at the moment as he continuously wracks up double figures both home and away for both the Monarchs and Wolves in the EL. HE is ably been backed up by our German sensation Erik who is going form strength to strength. Kevin has been consistently solid at every meeting so far and while Ryan is still struggling for consistency anyone who saw his performance at Berwick or heat 13 against the Tigers the other week knows it won’t be to long till the top scores come back. Young Max has turned his season around the last couple of weeks and his showing the form and tenacity we all know he is capable off. Jye and Dan are getting better with every match and it is hoped there performances last Friday will give them the confidence boost needed to step it up to the Premier League level.

This promises to be an absolute cracker of a match between two evenly matched teams and in my opinion should be the best of the season so far so get yourself to Armadale tomorrow night and take in all the thrills and spills that Premier League speedway has to offer.