Friday 30 May 2008

Around the Premier League Tracks 2008
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Thursday, 29 May
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With no match at Sheffield this week the only match tonight was at Redcar where the Bears raced against Edinburgh in the first leg of their second round Knock Out Cup tie.


Knock Out Cup (second round, first leg): Redcar 38, Edinburgh 55 .


Redcar were at full strength but Edinburgh were missing William Lawson who was riding in the British Final and Thomas Jonasson who was on his way to Finland for a World under-21 Championship meeting. They had Tomas Topinka as a guest for Lawson at number 1 and used Rider Replacement at number 2 for Jonasson.

What was expected to be close run affair turned out another sizeable win for an Edinburgh side currently on fire. The Monarchs produced ten of the race winners and only three last places to leave Redcar with a nigh impossible task in having to pull back a seventeen point deficit in Friday’s second leg.

What a start for Edinburgh! In the opening race Tomas Topinka jetted from the gate to lower the track record to 54.4 followed by Gary Havelock and Andrew Tully (R/R) for a 2-4. The Monarchs added a 1-5 in the reserves race. Andrew Tully gated and waited for Aaron Summers to come round the outside of him before the pair team rode smoothly to keep Josh Auty in third. Six points ahead another fine start from Derek Sneddon and Ryan Fisher threatened another race advantage for the visitors but Sneddon headed for the second bend fence off the first corner allowing the other three riders to pass him by. Fisher went on to win the race comfortably for a 3-3 then Edinburgh increased their lead to eight points in heat 4 when Matthew Wethers became the fourth Monarchs’ rider to win a heat. He made the best start to the race, rerun after Andrew Tully had been warned for moving at the start, then fended off a challenge from Ty Proctor down the back straight to go on for the win. Tully’s third place gave the visitors another 2-4 taking the score to 8-16.

James Grieves gated to win heat 5 and Daniel Giffard threatened to join him up front briefly before Topinka pulled away from him to cement his second place. The 4-2 pulled Redcar’s arrears back to six points but they were eight down again after heat 6. Gary Havelock made the gate and looked in control of the race but he got a real shock when a charging Andrew Tully thundered under him on the third and fourth bends to take the lead and go on to win. Matthew Wethers took third for a 2-4 and another heat advantage went the visitors’ way in heat 7. Fisher and Sneddon were quickly off and running but a forceful move by Ty Proctor saw him pass Sneddon for second place restricting the damage to a 2-4 which increased Edinburgh’s lead to ten points. The Bears gave Ty Proctor a Tactical Substitute ride from 15 metres back in heat 8 but it was to no avail. Fisher and Summers soon left Bugeja behind in their charge round the first two bends and, although Proctor did make up some ground on Summers, he never really looked like having any points to double. The resultant 1-5 saw Edinburgh almost out of sight now 14 points ahead with the score at 17-31.

James Grieves was next to appear with the black and white helmet cover, this time taking a Tactical Ride in heat 9. He just got to the corner ahead of Matthew Wethers who pushed him hard all race on the inside without being able to pass him. This gave Grieves the full six points but, with Tully taking third from Giffard, Redcar were restricted to a 6-3 advantage which cut the lead to 11 points. Ryan Fisher made a good start to lead Gary Havelock home in heat 10 but Joni Keskinen scored his first ever ‘genuine’ point for the Bears by fending off the challenge of Derek Sneddon for third resulting in a shared race. Ty Proctor made the gate for an excellent win ahead of Wethers and Topinka in heat 11 for another 3-3 then heat 12 became the third consecutive shared race. Derek Sneddon led from the tapes until towards the end of the third lap when he was passed in quick succession by James Grieves and Andrew Tully taking the score to 32-43.

The charge round bends one and two in heat 13 resulted in Matthew Wethers and Tomas Topinka coming out in front of Havelock and Proctor and that’s the way it stayed for a 1-5 which put the Monarchs 15 points ahead. However Josh Auty finally made a gate to lead home Aaron Summers and Ryan Fisher in heat 14, ruining Fisher’s maximum in the process. Finally Ryan Fisher completed an excellent and classy night’s work in winning heat 15 by the proverbial mile while James Grieves found himself again with his hands full trying to keep Matthew Wethers behind him. He managed it though but the race still finished as a 2-4 to the visitors giving them a 17 point advantage to take into the second leg.

Scorers: For Redcar – James Grieves 15+1 (5) (with 6 point TR), Ty Proctor 8 (6), Gary Havelock 7 (4), Josh Auty 4 (4), Daniel Giffard 3 (4), Joni Keskinen 1+1 (3), Arlo Bugeja 0 (4).

For Edinburgh – Ryan Fisher 16+1 (6), Matthew Wethers 12 (5), Andrew Tully 11+1 (6), Tomas Topinka 8+2 (4), Aaron Summers 6+2 (4), Derek Sneddon 2+1 (4).

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