Hard Fought Draw Takes Us Top Of The League

The Parsons Peebles Monarchs fought back from 8 down before conceding a heat 15 5-1 in earning a well deserved draw at Newcastle this evening.

Star of the show for the Monarchs was undoubtedly Max Clegg. Max recording an outstanding 14 point haul from reserve with some lightning gating and determined riding on show.

Monarchs co-promoter Alex Harkess was fulsome in his praise after the match commenting ‘Full marks to Max he believed in himself, he went out to win races and he did. He was making starts and without a doubt he was the star man.’

Harkess was happy with his teams efforts having watched them battle back from 8 down midway through the match to lead going into heat 15. A diamonds 5-1 meant the spoils were shared but Harkess could not fault his team’s efforts saying ‘It’s strange that it is a draw and we are possibly disappointed with the draw but only due to the situation we were in. Being 8 points down early on a draw would have been more than acceptable but that’s the way it goes. We then got ourselves into a wining position and it was a shame we didn’t get that win but a draw is more than ok.’

The Monarchs made the worst possible start as home men Ashley Morris and Robert Lambert flew from the tapes to take a 5-1 in the opening heat with further advantages for the Diamonds in heats 3,5 and 6 putting them 8 up at this stage.

A warm and sunny day in the north east of England meant that the track was slick and dusty and gating was at a premium particularly early in proceedings. The Monarchs appeared to be capable of matching their counterparts out of the start but time and again were outfoxed in the first and second bend.

The tide started to turn from heat 9 onwards though as the Monarchs found their groove with Clegg instrumental throughout. The comeback started in this race as the Monarchs pair rocketed from the gate and while Sam Masters was eventually pipped by Ludvig Lindgren as he tried to shepherd his younger partner round Max had done enough and a 4-2 started the ball rolling as the Monarchs looked to come back into the match.

Better things were to come in the next race as the Riss brothers rocketed from the tapes to record a 5-1 over Morris and previously unbeaten Lambert and all of a sudden the deficit was only 2 points.

The scores were tied in heat 12 as Erik Riss repeated his trick from heat 10 taking a tapes to flag victory and with Clegg battling past Connor Coles into third the Monarchs had clawed it back.

The visitors then took the lead for the first time in heat 13 as Masters and Ricky Wells outfought their opponents going into the first bend and raced away on a 5-1. Steve Worrall came down while in third but the referee rightly awarded the race and the Armadale outfit were now 4 up.

The penultimate race was heat of the night as Ben Hopwood surprised everyone by making the gate of his life to lead. Clegg was right on his tail with home captain Ludvig Lindgren looking to get past the Monarchs man and level things up. Clegg was to have other ideas though as he found the dirt line on lap 3 blasting round Hopwood to take the chequered flag to the delight of a large travelling contingent.

The Monarchs could not make this stick in the last race though as Worrall and Lambert led from tapes to flag but on reflection a draw and 2 points that takes the Parsons Peebles Monarchs back top of the league as the quarter way mark of the season perhaps this will be viewed as a better result for the Monarchs than the home men.

Looking To Shine Against the Diamonds

The Parsons Peebles Monarchs take to the road again Sunday evening as we take a trip down the A1 to Brough Park to take on the Newcastle Diamonds.

The Diamonds will be on a high after recording an excellent victory at Peterborough last night and although currently sitting 9th in the table this is wholly down to having raced less matches than any other team in the league and the hosts will be looking to use today to springboard up the standings.

Boasting one of the strongest top 4’s in the league the Diamonds are currently unbeaten at home and have not let anyone leave Brough Park with so much as a point so far this season and with 50+ scores recorded against Berwick (twice) and Ipswich we are in for a battle to gain anything.

The battles at the top end will again be something to behold as the Diamonds are led well by Robert Lambert and Steve Worrall. The two Englishman are always well backed by Ludvig Lindgren and Lewis Rose also in what is an impressive quartet.

The Diamonds have been forced into a change at the bottom end as Ben Hopwood replaces the injured Danny Phillips. Phillips unfortunately suffering serious injuries in a crash last week and we wish him all the best in his recovery.

A couple of familiar names complete the Diamonds ranks in former Monarch Ashley Morris who after a bit of a nomadic career appears to be settling in well in the north east and a familiar name but for a different reason is reserve Connor Coles. Coles is of course the son of long time Monarch from the Powderhall era Michael Coles and it will be interesting to see if he has the same swashbuckling style that his dad had.

As last Sunday at Peterborough was the Monarchs 8th match of the season this means our new averages come into effect and a line-up shuffle is required.

After his excellent start to the season Ricky moves to number 1 in the team swapping places with Sam who moves to number 5. Unfortunately Mark Riss’s spell at reserve comes to an end also and he will now form a middle of the order pairing with his brother Erik as he moves to number 4 switching with Max who moves to number 6.

So an interesting tussle awaits as we head to a track where we have had some success over the last few seasons. A depleted Monarchs missing Erik and Ryan Fisher managed to claim a point in a curtailed match last season in a meeting that was ultimately to end Dan Bewley’s season for us. We also tasted victory at Brough Park over various competitions in 2013, 14 and 15 as well although of course those were different line-up in different circumstances and the Monarchs may well be happy should they head north with a point this evening.

NEWCASTLE SAPPHIRE ENGINEERING DIAMONDS: Robert Lambert, Ashley Morris, Lewis Rose, Ludvig Lindgren, Steve Worrall, Ben Hopwood, Connor Coles

EDINBURGH PARSONS PEEBLES MONARCHS: Ricky Wells, Josh Pickering, Erik Riss, Mark Riss, Sam Masters, Max Clegg, Mitchell Davey