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Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers
Challenge, 22 July 2005
Armadale Stadium, Edinburgh

Edinburgh 41
1(g)Brent Werner2*1*11*. ..53
2Kristian Lund3210. ..60
3Cameron Woodward2*RF2. ..41
4Daniel Nermark32232 ..120
5Rusty Harrison23220 ..90
6William LawsonR130R ..40
7Robert Ksiezak100.. ..10
Glasgow 48
1George Stancl133F1 ..80
2Trent Leverington0X21. ..30
3Stefan EkbergF22*3. ..71
4Claus Kristensen1031*. ..51
5Shane Parker33333 ..150
6James Cockle2*011. ..41
7Adam Roynon3102. ..60

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

It was a strange move for Edinburgh to ask local rivals Glasgow to bring this match forward to fill a gap in the fixture list when they were still without Theo Pijper and Ross Brady and had a barely fit Robert Ksiezak at reserve. Glasgow came to Armadale with a full strength team on the crest of a wave after a number of excellent away results and the inevitable happened. It didn’t help the Monarchs’ cause that they turned in a woeful performance in gifting so many points to a Tigers side who must have thought that Christmas had come early. Edinburgh had Brent Werner as a guest for Theo Pijper at number 1.

Edinburgh made a bright start with a 5-1 in the opening heat when Kristian Lund and Brent Werner got to the first corner ahead of George Stancl but threw their advantage straight back at Glasgow when William Lawson suffered an engine failure when leading heat 2. Ominously for Edinburgh Robert Ksiezak fell off twice, remounting on both occasions for the third place point. Daniel Nermark won heat 3 comfortably but the battle was for second place between Stefan Ekberg, who had made the better start, and Cameron Woodward. It ended on the third lap when Ekberg fell under pressure from Woodward for another 5-1 to Edinburgh. In heat 4 Shane Parker made the start and, after surviving a couple of efforts from Rusty Harrison to get past, he finally pulled away for the win. Adam Roynon again took a point from Robert Ksiezak so the Tigers pulled two points back from the 2-4. The score after heat 4 was 13-11.

In heat 5 Daniel Nermark headed George Stancl from the gate but when Trent Leverington pulled a locker on the fourth bend Cameron Woodward ran into him so the race head to be rerun with Leverington excluded. As happens so often the lead from the gate changed hands this time with Stancl leading into the first bend where Daniel Nermark locked up and fell off. He remounted in time but then Cameron Woodward had a very expensive engine blow up on the fourth bend, second lap which meant that the heat result was a 2-3 to Glasgow with only one point now separating the teams. Shane Parker just managed to squeeze past Kristian Lund down the back straight at the start of heat 6 and went on to win the race for a shared heat but Monarchs took a 4-2 in heat 7 with Rusty Harrison winning from Ekberg and William Lawson having to settle for third place after looking like challenging the Glasgow rider. Another Edinburgh 4-2 in heat 8 was a disappointment for the home side who must have fancied a 5-1 when Lawson and Lund led Leverington from the tapes. However Leverington powered past Lund’s feeble effort to maintain his second position to take the score after heat 8 to 26-21.

Shane Parker made it three wins out of three in heat 9 as Cameron Woodward fell while lying third to gift the third place point to James Cockle for a Glasgow 2-4. Then Glasgow took the lead in heat 10 when Kristensen and Ekberg left the Edinburgh pair for dead at the gate. Brent Werner was unable to mount a challenge on the Glasgow pair as Kristian Lund, his partner, baulked his attempt to get past him for three laps. This took the score to 29-30 and things just went from bad to worse as Edinburgh crumbled. A fast start from George Stancl kept Rusty Harrison in second place in heat 11. Edinburgh chose this heat to give Robert Ksiezak his third ride so Glasgow took a 2-4 to increase their lead to 3 points. The score after heat 11 was 31-34.

Heat 12 was another bad one for Edinburgh as Ekberg and Cockle made the start. On the third bend Cockle straightened up and Cameron Woodward had to change direction quickly to avoid running into him and baulked his partner, William Lawson, instead. Woodward sorted himself out and chased and passed James Cockle before setting off after Ekberg. Although he was reeling Ekberg in he ran out of time and the result was another 2-4 to Glasgow who now stood 5 points to the good. Shane Parker won heat 13 which was shared after George Stancl had paid a visit to the fourth bend fence to make the score 36-41 and Glasgow were home and dry. Edinburgh threw away more points in heat 14. William Lawson was well in front with Daniel Nermark in second place but Lawson’s bike started to slow on the second lap. Nermark slowed to help protect his partner but it was clear that Lawson was not going to complete four laps so Nermark had to take the win without support. Parker completed his maximum in heat 15 but Daniel Nermark took second place ahead of Stancl for another Glasgow 2-4 which leaves them 7 points ahead for the second leg later in the season.

Match Report by Merlin