SUPERB WIN AT BERWICK

NEWS Saturday 18th July 2015, 11:40pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

With another of these astonishing performances that we seem to come up with regularly, the Border Roofing Monarchs controlled tonight’s match at Berwick on a difficult circuit, eventually winning by an amazing 54-38.

Berwick do seem to vary the preparation of their track and tonight the outer half of the circuit was deep and grippy. It’s doubtful any of the riders enjoyed it but the ones who got on with the job were those in blue and gold, with the home men mostly tentative for at least the early stages of the content.

We had six different race winners in our side and the seventh man, Erik Riss, had a paid win included in his best away score so far. So it was certainly a seven-man effort. Our guests were outstanding and we thank them profusely. Liam Carr scored 7+2 and Richie Worrall in truth was worth more than his 8+1, protecting a slightly below-par partner.

If there was one Monarch who let the conditions get to him a bit it was Justin Sedgmen, who has never professed his love for Shielfield. He actually made the start in heat 1 but had dropped to the back before the end of lap one, while Richie Worrall pushed his way through to take the win.

Remarkably, Berwick rider Liam Carr was a comfortable winner of heat 2 – guesting for us! There can’t have been many occurrences like this. Max Clegg had got away well but like Sedgy he dropped to the back.

Our gating was good though and in heat 3 we were away again, this time with no mistake as Kevin Wolbert and Erik Riss picked up a 5-1 from Jorgensen and Thornblom, the Bandits’ new signing.

Cook then romped home in heat 4 from Doolan with Liam Carr getting another point ahead of Hall, 3 out of 3 for Liam against the home reserves so far.

We hadn’t expected this to go as well as it was, and after heat 5 we had gone far enough ahead for the home team to use a TR! This time it was Sedgmen leading from Worrall, and though Justin wasn’t quick Richie managed to hold position with Jorgensen on his tail.

Bandits didn’t use a TR against Cookie who headed Tungate, with Max Clegg taking a good point in front of the hard-pressing Coty Garcia, a real trier for the home side. So we were 24-12 up by the time the TR came out.

Believe it or not we nearly took this one 5-1 as well with Wolbert and Riss ahead, and it was only late in the race that Doolan caught Riss to turn a 5-1 into a 4-4.

Heat 8 should have been covered by Sedgmen with the opposition coming from Garcia and Hall, but he suffered a machine problem at the start and was excluded on two mintes, with Max Clegg coming in. Any prospect of this starting a Berwick fightback was scotched when Max flew to the front at the start and rode with tremendous tenacity to hold off Garcia, who fell on the last corner. This let through Liam for a paid win, having held off Hall for the whole race.

That was 33-17 with the TR used! Berwick had no race winners so far, and either we were brilliant, or they were awful, or both.

We did then lose two 4-2s in succession though, Jorgensen heading Cook in heat 9, and guest Tungate winning heat 10 with Kevin having his only bad ride at the back.

Heat 11 should have gone better for us but again Justin Sedgmen didn’t have a good ride, in spite of making the gate. He was too slow and had Doolan snapping at his heels with Worrall pushing hard from third. Doolan eventually went ahead, and Worrall came through also to give chase, making up a fair bit of ground.

Wolbert rode a great first turn to take heat 12, and we were 12 ahead with 3 races left.

Cook and Worrall took a 4-2 in heat 13 which secured the win, and Erik Riss’s second place in heat 14 ensured the 4 points. He held off a strong challenge from Hall on the last lap with the home men falling on the last bend, which gave Liam Carr another point.

The best ride came in the final race, a glorious outside pass by Cook on Jorgensen which took our final score to 54. Kevin took third spot. Craig had not been complimentary about the condition of the track but said it had improved enough by the final race to pull off that pass.

So it was another great night for the Monarchs’ fans though a pretty depressing one for Berwick who had given their fans hope with a win last weekend against Rye House. You could only give

Doolan and Jorgensen pass marks for Bandits with Garcia plenty of praise for effort.

Full Result Details