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Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers |
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Friday 23rd April 2010
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Premier Trophy |
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We chose the Premier Trophy visit of Glasgow to turn in probably our worst-ever performance at Armadale, and were deservedly well beaten.
It was clear from a fairly early stage that there was no way back from a disastrous heat 2 0-5, with only two of our riders making a significant contribution, and it took two successful TRs to make the score look semi-respectable.
Ryan Fisher and Matthew Wethers scored almost two-thirds of our points and were beyond reproach.
After all the worries of getting Kevin Wolbert and Kalle Katajisto here, neither made it worth their while. Kalle wrecked his engine at the start in heat 2 and seems not to have found the time to prepare himself once he did get here. He toiled to a score of 5+2 when he should have had far more.
Kevin, struggling for his best form anyway, got his passing move against Grajczonek all wrong and ran straight into him, bringing both down. It could have been a really bad one but both rode on, Grajczonek well and Wolbert not well, possibly due to back pain.
Andrew Tully looked Ok chasing Grieves in heat 4 but after that was completely out of sorts, losing three 5-1’s, taking his only points from Cal McDade (twice) and Ryan’s fall in heat 13.
Jozsef Tabaka failed to show any of the recent signs of improvement, and Cal McDade looked much less promising than the week before.
Glasgow rode well and their top four realised early that we were there for the taking. McGowan and Grieves have never had any Armadale hang-ups, Dicken revels in it when there is grip on the outside, and Grajczonek had by far his best meeting on our track and ensured that there were not many points to be had against his pair, though he did concede the two 2-7s we gained (our only advantages).
Racing highlights? Fisher brilliantly caught and passed Grieves in heat 6, a race stopped when Tabaka unforgiveably tumbled and gifted Jamie Courtney yet another point. Heat 13 was thrilling for two laps as Fisher bust a gut to get between McGowan and Grieves before running out of room and falling, and Matthew Wethers had two excellent efforts late on to pass Grajczonek in heat 14 and heat 15.
But it was a night which might make Glasgow look differently on their visits to Armadale, as many as they have left anyway. It will not be easy for Monarchs to rebuild confidence after such a rancid show but they must, starting with the visit to Glasgow on Sunday.
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