WORKINGTON'S Carl Stonehewer celebrated his 36th birthday in style at Armadale last night when he was crowned "King of Monarchs" after winning a special top scorers heat – the climax to the four team tournament which marked Monarchs' Diamond Jubilee celebrations at the Lothian Arena.
Stonehewer pocketed £1000 in cash, presented by Monarchs' 1967 World Finalist Bernie Persson, and then proceeded to shower everyone in champagne after stepping off the podium.
Stonehewer was out against Monarchs trio Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully
and Ryan Fisher, who had all top scored for their respective teams – Old Meadowbank, Coatbridge, Powderhall, and Armadale.
But the Englishman didn't have things all his own way and had to fend off a determined challenge from Wethers after the race was re-run when Fisher came to grief and was excluded at the first time of asking.
Sporting an ear-to-ear grin after crossing the finishing line in front, Stonehewer revealed he had reservations about accepting the invitation to ride.
He said: "I've had a couple of accidents at Armadale in the past and I had a terrible meeting for my club in March. But I thought I'd come and have a skid – no pressure. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"The track, as always, was superb and there was a lot of good racing for the fans to enjoy.
"Luckily I made the gate in the final, but I left Matthew a gap. However in the restart I knew not to leave that gap again. But I knew Matthew was there, I could feel him up my exhaust pipe.
"I was trying inside and outside to confuse him a little and I just managed to hold him off to win. What a lovely birthday present!"
Stonehewer, who had some titantic battles with Monarchs legend Peter Carr not so many years ago, has always loved coming to Armadale. "I just adore coming to Scotland," he said. "Everyone is so warm towards me and I feel so welcome, especially when I go to the bar afterwards.
"I normally have a wee dram or two. The Monarchs fans have always been great to me, and that means a lot."
Stonehewer's victory over Wethers also decided the outcome of the four-team contest after Powderhall and Armadale finished level on 33 points each.
The battle for supremacy really just involved both these squads with Old Meadowbank and Coatbridge well out of contention, the latter team weakened by the withdrawal of James Grieves who was injured at Sheffield the previous evening. And the former quartet never really got going even though they had former Monarchs captain Theo Pijper in their line-up. The Dutchman toiled and only scored four points.
The interest for many Monarchs fans was the inclusion of Swede Robert Eriksson in the Powderhall line-up. Eriksson who quit the Capital club in 2001, continues to ride in his country's Allsvenkan League and it showed. The 34-year-old rider, having led two races before he was overhauled, made no mistake in his third outing when he was a convincing winner over Wethers and Monarchs skipper Derek Sneddon. But Eriksson confessed he had bike problems even before the meeting started. "It took me a couple of rides before I really got going. But the real problem for me was I didn't have a bike," he explained.
"My bike showed up just two hours before the start and it had an engine I had never ridden before. There was a lot of new things on it, and of course I hadn't ridden Armadale in seven years. But I thought the track was fine, it wasn't too bad at all. I ride competitively in Sweden and I've been on a good run recently. So I was quite confident within myself. Once you get the bike set-up right and it behaves the way you want it to, you shouldn't have too many problems.
"However I found it a little difficult simply because I had never seen the engine before. You hadn't a clue what the bike was going to do, it was a completely different chassis to what I'm used to. I tweaked a few bits to get more power and I managed to win my third race."
"I still like Armadale, I've done more than a few laps round the place in seasons past, and it didn't take long to get back into it again," Eriksson added.
Powderhall's third potent scoring member was current Monarchs reserve Andrew Tully who has hit a deep purple patch of late after notching up 13 and 15 on Premier League duty at Rye House and Mildenhall respectively last weekend. And the Bathgate race once again provided his share of thrills with victories in three of his five outings, including a meritorious effort against Armadale's Jason Lyons in the second heat.
It was Lyons' victory in heat 16 over Fisher and Stonehewer which drew Armadale level with Powderhall.
But in the final reckoning Stonehewer's barnstorming individual effort in the top scorers showdown proved too good and no one will begrudge him and Powderhall their well-earned glory.
A host of Monarchs past and present watched the action from the hospitality lounges, including popular Dane Jan Andersen who enjoyed a farewell salute in 2002. He commented: "It was great to be back among so many former riders. I miss speedway so much, especially the social side.But it was good to see some of the current Monarchs team in action."
Results: King of Monarchs top scorers race: 1 Stonehewer, 2 Wethers, 3 Tully, 4 Fisher. Team event: 1 Powderhall, 2 Armadale, 3 Old Meadowbank, 4 Coatbridge.
The full article contains 944 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
