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Workington Comets v Edinburgh Monarchs
Premier Trophy (Group), 01 April 2006
Derwent Park, Workington

Workington 41
1Paul ThorpM20.. ..20
2Tomasz Piszcz31*22. ..81
3Ritchie Hawkins2*2*13. ..82
4James Wright333.. ..90
5Garry Stead22*2.. ..61
6Lee Derbyshire1*F... ..11
7Aidan Collins12M30 1*071
Edinburgh 34
1Henrik Moller200.. ..20
2Theo Pijper016^3. ..100
3Matthew Wethers1131*. ..61
4William LawsonR0... ..00
5Rusty Harrison332.. ..80
6Sean Stoddart000.. ..00
7Derek Sneddon31112 ..80

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

Workington and Edinburgh were both at full strength for this match which was the Monarchs’ first official fixture of the season..

The opening heat was strange to say the least. Firstly, Paul Thorp was excluded for having no dirt deflector on his bike. Aidan Collins replaced him (I didn’t realise that an exclusion of this nature had the facility for a replacement rider! You learn something new every day!). Then Tomasz Piszcz’s engine blew up on the start line and he was given a fresh two minutes to replace it (again that’s new to me!). Finally when the race started the Comets looked to be heading for a 5-1 from Piszcz and Collins only for Collins to develop motor problems allowing Henrik Moller through for second place. The result was a 4-2 to the home side. In the reserves race Workington looked to be heading for another 4-2 until Derek Sneddon passed Aidan Collins while Lee Derbyshire held off Sean Stoddart for a shared heat. In heat 3 the Comets scored a 5-1 from James Wright and Ritchie Hawkins ahead of Matthew Wethers as William Lawson suffered an engine failure. Edinburgh hit back with a 2-4 in heat 4 when Rusty Harrison beat Garry Stead with Derek Sneddon third ahead of Lee Derbyshire who had replaced Aidan Collins. This took the score after heat 4 to 14-10.

James Wright and Ritchie Hawkins scored another 5-1 in heat 5 ahead of Theo Pijper to double their lead then Rusty Harrison won heat 6 from the back for a shared heat. In heat 7 the Wethers/Lawson pairing suffered another 5-1 reverse this time from Aidan Collins and Garry Stead to move 12 points ahead. However Edinburgh hit back in heat 8 with Theo Pijper taking a TR. He duly won the race after a fast start and with Derek Sneddon taking third place ahead of Aidan Collins the Monarchs scored a 2-7 to cut the home side’s lead to 7 points. The score after eight heats was 29-22.

In heat 9 Workington stretched their lead to nine points when James Wright beat Rusty Harrison with Ritchie Hawkins third for a 4-2. Workington must have expected to increase their lead in heat 10 as Paul Thorp and Tomasz Piszcz faced the Wethers/Lawson pairing which had lost two 5-1s already. However Derek Sneddon replaced William Lawson and a gutsy first place from Matthew Wethers who passed Tomas Piszcz on the last bend was followed by a third place point from Derek Sneddon who kept Paul Thorp at the back for a Monarchs 2-4 to cut the home side’s lead to 7 points. Theo Pijper won heat 11 from Garry Stead and Aidan Collins as Henrik Moller slowed up at the back so the race was shared. Heat 12 was rerun after Matthew Wethers and Aidan Collins had come to grief with all four back. In the rerun it was Ritchie Hawkins from the tapes but Derek Sneddon took second place with Matthew Wethers passing Aidan Collins for the third place point and a shared heat. The rain which had started during heat 10 was now getting heavier as the heat 12 score went to 41-34.

The match was then abandoned due to poor visibility with the result standing since heat 12 had been reached. Edinburgh have now started three matches so far and managed to race a total of 26 heats for an average of just under 9 heats per match. Is this a record?

Match Report by Merlin