Through to the Next Round

REPORT Sunday 15th May 2016, 0:09am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Border Roofing Monarchs qualified in the end pretty easily for the next round of the Knockout Cup, going down 42-47 against Plymouth in Devon but winning 96-83 on aggregate.

Monarchs led from the start up to heat 8, and the top man of the night was captain Sam Masters with a maximum. It was also an excellent night for Max Clegg who carried on the good work from Friday night.

Team manager John Campbell confirmed that we made it with a bit to spare in the end, but said “There was a spell in the middle when things slipped a bit. However Sam was magnificent and we could always rely on him. Max had a very good meeting as well and he seemed a changed person, much more confident.

“We lost 5-1s in heats 9 and 10 and we certainly needed the one we got back in the next race. That was one of the best heats, actually Nielsen was in front, he didn’t make the start but he got to the front. First Eric went round him, then Sam went round him, and on the run to the line Sam passed Erik because Erik shut off. Erik thought that was Nielsen, not realising that Sam had passed him as well!

“There were some other decent skirmishes but in the end we were quite comfortable.”

One of our team might not be so comfortable in the aftermath of the match and that is Ryan Fisher, returning to his old track. John said “He had had a bit of a disagreement with Barker at the start of heat 6. He lifted coming out of the second bend and crashed into the fence. His helmet had to be cut off to release him, and that was impounded, and he wrecked his bike. He had to switch to a bike that wasn’t set up for the place.

“He’s done a fair bit of damage to the bike and he’ll be very sore in the morning without question. It was his shoulder which took the worst of it. But as ever he just laughs it off, and even had a joke with Barker in the pits afterwards.”

Monarchs took a 5-1 in heat 1, a real confidence-boosting start, and then were delighted to see Max Clegg win heat 2. This was a 4-2 with Perks excluded and our guest Dan Greenwood taking the point, so at 9-3 we led by 24 on aggregate.

We took further advantages in heat 5 (Masters and Riss again) and the rerun heat 6 which was another win for Max Clegg!

We led up to heat 8 but then lost these two 5-1s, before the exciting 5-1 in heat 11 settled any nerves. We qualified with a 4-2 in heat 13 and all that remained was to see Sam complete that maximum.

So Monarchs now race the winners of the Redcar v Glasgow tie in the next round.

Full Result Details