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Edinburgh Monarchs v Stoke Potters
Premier League, 24 June 2005
Armadale Stadium, Edinburgh

Edinburgh 53
1Theo Pijper31*21. ..71
2William Lawson1211*. ..51
3Ross Brady2*3233 ..131
4Daniel Nermark32*1*1*1 ..83
5Rusty Harrison21*20. ..51
6Cameron Woodward321*2. ..81
7David McAllan2*1*31. ..72
Stoke 42
2Robbie Kessler214^02* ..91
3Paul ClewsR1002 ..30
4Alan Mogridge00333 2.110
5(g)Stuart Robson36^333 0.180
6Barrie Evans10000 ..10
7(g)Luke Priest000.. ..00

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

Edinburgh faced Stoke for the second time in 9 weeks at Armadale tonight. The Monarchs were at full strength while Stoke turned up with Stuart Robson as their guest for Jan Staechmann and Luke Priest at number seven for the injured Jack Hargreaves. Once again they used R/R for Peter Carr at number 1.

Edinburgh made an excellent start. Theo Pijper raced away with heat 1 with Robbie Kessler pushed all the way by William Lawson for a 4-2 then followed with two 5-1s. Cameron Woodward and David McAllan quickly reeled in and passed the fast gating Barrie Evans in heat 2. In heat 3 Daniel Nermark and Ross Brady had an easy win ahead of Paul Clews with Alan Mogridge way at the back. However Stuart Robson stopped the Monarchs in their tracks by winning convincingly for a shared heat in heat 4 to take the score to 17-7.

Brady and Nermark took another 5-1 in heat 5 from Kessler and Mogridge to increase the home side’s lead to 14 points but they never improved on that. Stuart Robson was nominated for a TR in heat 6 and had a tapes to flag win from Lawson and Pijper so Stoke recovered three points from the lead then the next five heats were shared. In heat 7 Mogridge gave notice that he had found his gating boots for an easy win. Then Robbie Kessler took a TR in heat 8 looking for another six-pointer. David McAllan had other ideas though. He made the gate and raced away from Kessler who had his hands full for the whole race warding off the determined challenge of William Lawson for a 4-4. The heat 8 score was 32-21.

Robson scorched away for another untroubled win in heat 9 from Brady and Nermark then Mogridge did likewise from Pijper and Lawson. It was Robson again for yet another comfortable win in heat 11 from Harrison and Woodward taking the R/R ride which meant that Robson and Mogridge had registered five race wins in the last 6 heats without any support from a team mate. Edinburgh finally broke that run when Ross Brady won heat 12 while McAllan finally passed Barrie Evans with Paul Clews second for an Edinburgh 5-1. The score after heat 12 was 45-32.

In heat 13 Robbie Kessler quickly hit the front but Theo Pijper took Robson wide on the first two bends allowing Rusty Harrison to move into third place with Robson left at the back. However the immaculate Robson burst between the two Edinburgh riders to join Kessler and team ride to a 1-5 cutting the deficit to 9 points. Alan Mogridge again shot from the tapes in heat 14 for a comfortable victory from Woodward and Nermark and with Mogridge and Robson out in heat 15 the Potters must have fancied their chances of another 1-5. In the best race of the night by far, Ross Brady just shaded it into the corner from gate one with Mogridge outside him. He moved Mogridge over to gain a slight advantage going down the back straight and the race was on. Meanwhile at the back Stuart Robson had worked his way into third place ahead of Nermark. On the third bend of the second lap, with Brady still holding off Mogridge, Nermark thundered inside an astonished Robson, and took him wide. Back up the inside came Robson but a determined Nermark held on to his advantage and although, the two races at the front and at the back continued for the rest of the race, Edinburgh won them both for a deserved 4-2 to finish off in fine style. They will no doubt reflect that, on this slick racing surface, they only managed seven race winners to Stoke’s eight for their 11 point victory.

Match Report by Merlin