The injury hit Monarchs squad went to Ashfield for the return in the Scottish Masters Challenge. Not only did Monarchs easily win overall with their 16 point first leg advantage but came near to snatching an unlikely win.
Glasgow fielded an over strength team once more with the approval of the Edinburgh promotion while Edinburgh were without Peter Carr (with two 15-point maximums at Ashfield this year) and high scoring reserve Dalle Andersson. Adrian Rymel and Rory Schlein stepped in.
Theere was a bewildering set of changes in the race format from that used in the first leg and that included in the programme. This presumably came because the Glasgow were again unwilling to ride in a second half individual event. The meeting was belatedly shifted from a 13-heat event to a 15-heat format with two nominated heats included. This gave the home side an extra two heats to overcome Monarchs first leg advantage.
Also changed was the minimum number of rides, from two at Armadale to three. With reserves only programmed for three rides this restricted Monarchs to only two tactical substitutions and offered no real scope for reserve changes. By contrast Glasgow made three tactical substitution on Friday (they could have used four) and also made numerous reserve changes. In the crucial heat 13 where Glasgow went ahead, Monarchs had no option but to draft in Rory Schlein for his third ride rather than stay with Blair Scott or bring in the much faster Ben Shields.
When all this 'jiggery pokery' failed to produce a Glasgow overall win, they resorted to the tactic of ignoring the overall scoreline completely and giving Monarchs no credit for a 91-77 overall win and concentrated on Glasgow's narrow home leg win.
Glasgow dominated the early heats with Ben Shields Monarchs only race winner. After two tied heatts, Glasgow banged in in a 5-1 in heat 3 and later two 4-2 advantages to lead by 8 points after six heats. Monarchs used Robert Eriksson as a tactical substitute in heat 8 and reduced the lead to six points. In heat 9 Jan Andersen came out as a tactical substitute to join Adrian Rymel and took a 5-1 after James Grieves was excluded. Tigers hit straight back with a 4-2 to lead 32-28 after 10 heats. After a tied heat 11, the Andersen/Rymel pairing produced anoth 5-1 to level the scores. A 4-2 heat advantage to either side in heats 13 and 14 setup a traditional Ashfield derby last heat decider with the scores level. Robert Eriksson and Jan Andersen seemed to have the edge but Emiliano Sanchez swept past to complete a 15 point maximum and on the last bend Les Collins found a way past Eriksson to edge a win.
There was a strong impression that full strength Edinburgh side would have swept Glasgow aside regardless of the rule 'tampering'.
Adrian Rymel proved an excellent choice for guest. He was headed by Sanchez and Collins in his first two rides but was unbeaten by a Glasgow rider in three subsequent rides. Jan Andersen recovered from a dreadful first ride to post a very good score. Robert Eriksson failed to produce the form that made him very difficult to beat at Ashfield for Newcastle in 1999 and fo Edinburgh in 2000.
Ben Shields was the pick of the Edinburgh bottom end. He won heat two in a time that no-one came within a second of in subsequent heats. Christian Henry did little wrong but missed out on heat eight due to a tactical substitute. Blair Scott showed no improvement on recent form. Rory Schlein was alays on the pace but was not getting out of the starts.
Emiliano Sanchez was the top home rider and wasn't seriously threatened on the way to a maximum. Les Collins and second strings Henning Bager and Aidan Collins weighed in with support. James Grieves seemed rather to concerned with personal vendettas to add many to his score after opening with two wins. He fell on the second bend of heat 9 after missing the gate and going for a gap that was not there. He later got himself wound up after an incident with Eriksson at the start of heat 13 and did not appear for the nominated heats.
While the scoreline is similar to the usual for Glasgow v Edinburgh matches, it was unusual in that Edinburgh riders only won five heats as opposed to the usual ten. The absence of Peter Carr goes a long way to explain this. It does continue the long run of one to two point Glasgow wins at Ashfield. Monarchs have earlier lost 44-46 and 44-45. They will be hoping for a better result in August in the Premier League.