IF Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs go on and capture the Premier League speedway crown they may well look back on last night's clash against Redcar Bears at Armadale as being a pivotal turning point of the championship campaign.
Redcar were fully exp
ected to push the Capital outfit all the way and, when Monarchs lost their guest star, Carl Stonehewer after less than a lap of the opening race, it seemed as if fate had handed the Bears a gilt-edged opportunity to smash Monarchs' unbeaten home record which would have been a catastrophic setback to their title hopes.
But Stonehewer's loss merely galvanised Monarchs, who displayed flashes of greatness, to muzzle the Bears 55-37, a fantastic victory which takes the Capital heroes back to the top of the table on their own.
Stonehewer came to grief on the second bend when team-mate and Monarchs skipper Derek Sneddon appeared to pick up some drive and moved across Stonehewer, who smashed into the safety fence. The Workington Comets star has a suspected broken ankle and withdrew from the meeting. But Monarchs have already proved their resilience in adversity this season and proceeded to answer this latest test of character when under duress.
The third heat exemplified Monarchs' positivity when Ryan Fisher and Andrew Tully scorched to a 5-1 over James Grieves and Chris Kerr.
And, after ten races of a match, which was alive with some sizzling and ferocious action, Monarchs led 30-20 with adrenaline seemingly coursing through their veins.
Tully returned to double-figure form. The Bathgate racer posted a ten-point score which included two race victories.
And he admitted the loss of Stonehewer could easily have had a detrimental effect on the team.
"It might have done", he said. "But everybody realised we just had to dig deep and get on with the job.
"We all had a great meeting against Birmingham last week and we simply kept that level of
performance going.
"We had to step up a gear and we did. It was the first dry night we've had in weeks and the track was a lot slicker than normal.
"I was just focusing – as always – on my starts and I made a couple of good gates.
"Everybody was pretty happy at the end aside from some of the dodgy decisions we got from the referee."
Tully added that he personally prefers a bit more dirt on the track.
"I do, but at least when it's slick everybody goes for it. You know you are not going to hit a slippy patch and get flung all over the place. You can trust the track more.
"This was a big victory for us. We managed to prevent Redcar's top two from getting maximums, which helped.
"Stoney's accident just spurred us on, it could easily have had the opposite effect."
Fisher romped to an 11-point total from five rides and continues to induce near heart failure among the home support with his audacious blasts round the outside.
The Californian praised Monarchs' resolve, saying: "Everybody was up for it, we really worked hard for the win. As for me, I needed to score as many points as I could because I'm financially strapped.
"I was trying out two engines which Billy Hamill gave me. I used one and will try out the other in the Premier Fours at Workington tonight and I'll possibly buy them both.
"I felt really good on the one I used except when I ran into Gary Havelock in one race. I overrode a little and made a bunch of mistakes. I was pretty happy with the way I rode, I felt comfortable and the track was more consistent.
"It's great to be back on top of the league that is where we want to be. We are aiming to win every match".
Stonehewer's rides were covered by Sneddon and Aaron Summers and the latter was totally back in the groove in the wake of his crash in Germany almost a month ago.
Summers was top scorer with 12. He combined with fellow Aussie Matthew Wethers for a 5-1 in heat four and repeated the trick with partner Tully in heat ten, defeating Grieves and Benji Compton.
Wethers and Sneddon featured in the hottest race of the evening against Havelock and Josh Auty in heat 11. This was a humdinger of a scrap and you could have thrown a blanket over all four at one point.
Sneddon eventually prevailed to take the chequered flag and Wethers agonisingly lost second place when Auty charged round the outside like a motorised bull to pip him on the line coming out of the fourth bend of the last lap.
Redcar, while back at full strength, still lacked the heavy artillery required to knock Monarchs out of their stride.
Although Grieves and Ty Proctor gobbled up 20 points between them, captain Havelock could only muster seven which he will consider something of a disappointment.
Former Monarch Grieves, defeated by Fisher in the third race, gained revenge when he headed the American home in the heat 15 finale.
Monarchs' next big league test is their away trip to Berwick Bandits a week today.
Added Tully: "We won there in the Premier Trophy earlier in the season but Berwick are a better team now and it's going to be a very hard match for us."
Monarchs: Summers 12, Fisher 11, Tully 10, Sneddon 10, Jonasson 7, Wethers 5.
Redcar Bears: Proctor 10, Grieves 10, Havelock 7, Auty 4, Kerr 3, Compton 3, Bugeja 0.
The full article contains 944 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
