Edinburgh Monarchs v Redcar Bears

REPORT Friday 18th September 2009, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Redcar have had a fair season and might have been expected to give Monarchs a fight in the second part of the double header, but their score was only marginally better at 60-33.

They did better with their TRs than the Bandits had, but they only really had two effective riders in Ty Proctor and Ben Wilson ? and the Aussie Proctor didn?t even win a heat.

He did look impressive chasing Fisher in heat 1, coming quite close at the final turn ? too close in fact because he clattered into Monarchs? no. 1 as Ryan locked up slightly coming off the last corner. Ryan came off heavily but in his usual incredible style, bounced back up immediately.

As Kessler (who had a dismal night) had already pulled out, Monarchs gained a 5-0 from the opener.

Aaron Summers strolled to victory in heat 2, but Byron Bekker came off chasing Stuart Swales who was having his first Armadale ride since 2001!

What would the veteran Bears? middle pair be like? They were likely to hold they key to whether their team could really challenge, and on the evidence of heat 3 they were not really up for it. Tully and Wethers raced away and easily took a maximum advantage.

Heat 4 was excellent. Ben Wilson doesn?t have a good Armadale record but he is a changed rider this season, and he led all the way as Kevin Wolbert tried every line to make an impression. At the final turn the German made the vital move, forcing his way through on the inside for a great win.

It was TR time already in heat 5, Proctor taking the ride. Wethers rounded him at the first turn though and there was more chance of Tully catching Proctor than the visitor making inroads on Matthew?s lead.

We then had a team ride from Fisher and Rajkowski ahead of Wilson, and with another following from Wolbert and Summers over Stoney and Kessler, the match was pretty well over already with Monarchs leading 31-12.

Proctor too the rider replacement ride in heat 8, but Rajkowski had his favourite gate 4 and swept past. It was a fascinating race with Ty trying every line, going in wide and cutting down to the line, but not finding quite enough to catch the amazing Raj.

Tully and Wethers banged in another maximum against Ben Wilson in heat 9 and Monarchs were now a point better off than in the Berwick fixture!

Rajkowski might have completed a four ride paid maximum in his easiest heat, but he picked up a puncture and had to ride the last lap at slow speed, gifting a second place to Stonehewer.

Wilson took the TR in heat 11 and was coming off gate 4, paired with Proctor, and this time the Bears made the most of their chance. Wolbert tried hard to peg them back but we lost an 8-1.

At the end of the heat Proctor fell quite heavily for some reason, possibly a mechanical problem.

Tully got us back on track in heat 12 to complete an excellent home return for him. The visitors? 8-1 pair was out in heat 13 but Wolbert this time had gate 4 and swept to the front with Fisher backing. They made no mistake in landing another 5.

Wethers was having an excellent match and kept his unbeaten run in heat 14. Kessler fell under pressure from Summers, with the German excluded. Summers also fell in the rerun after losing a chain with meant we lost the second point in the match.

To finish with Ben Wilson swept home in heat 15, with the Raj for once unable to get away from gate 4, and Matthew?s possible maximum thwarted.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Matthew Wethers.

Full Result Details