Arena Essex Hammers 45: Edinburgh Century Mortgages Monarchs 48
Premier League
Purfleet Raceway
Saturday 8th May 1999
Edinburgh Monarchs gained a deserved win over a determined Arena Essex side at Purfleet The key heat was number 8 in which Monarchs gained an 8-1 after a double tactical substitution of Peter Carr and James Grieves from the back start line. This overturned a six point home advantage and gave Monarchs a one-point lead. While the lead changed hands a couple of times after that, the visitors always seemed to have the edge although it went to the wire with a heat 15 win by Peter Carr settled things.
Monarchs had a full strength team with Ross Brady in his new position of number 4. Arena Essex used Wayne Carter as guest to cover the injured Troy Pratt but welcomed Matt Read back after injury.
Leigh Lanham gained some consolation for Arena Essex with a successful defence of the Silver Helmet against James Grieves.
Heat 1: James Grieves, Leigh Lanham, Matt Read, Blair Scott [61.5]
James Grieves had a good win from the tapes but Blair Scott failed to barge Matt Read out of third place.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Gary Corbett, Stewart McDonald, John Wainwright, David McAllan [64.4]
An amazing heat! John Wainwright led after a good start but fell leaving Stewart McDonald who fell himself to present David McAllan. Incredibly McAllan was next to fall leaving Gary Corbett as an unlikely winner. All three falling riders restarted and Wainwright just beat McAllan to the line to secure a two point home advantage.
(4-2) (7-5)
Ross Brady led most of the way shepherded through by Little. Pressure from Carter finally told on the last bend as Ross drifted wide letting Kevin to win with Carter taking second.
(2-4) (9-9)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Colin White, John Wainwright, Stewart McDonald [61.9]
A good win by Peter Carr but Stewart McDonald had an untidy ride on Barum tyres. This persuaded him to change back to Dunlops.
(3-3) (12-12)
Heat 5: James Grieves, Wayne Carter, Roger Lobb, Blair Scott [62.5]
Another impressive win for James Grieves as Roger Lobb produced a battling ride to beat Blair Scott and keep the scores level.
(3-3) (15-15)
Heat 6: Leigh Lanham, Peter Carr, Matt Read, David McAllan [60.4]
Arena edged ahead in the re-run of this heat after Read and McAllan fell at the first attempt.
(4-2) (19-17)
Heat 7: Gary Corbett, Colin White, Ross Brady [62.5]
Kevin Little had an engine failure at the start as Gary Corbett won his second race and was backed up by Colin White for a maximum. This put Arena 6 points up and opened up the possibility of a golden double in heat 8.
(5-1) (24-18)
Heat 8: James Grieves, Peter Carr, John Wainwright, Matt Read [64.2]
Peter Carr came in as a tactical substitute for McDonald while James Grieves came in for Scott as a ‘golden double’ tactical substitute. The plan worked to perfection Carr gated and slowed things down as Grieves passed both Wainwright and Read to give Edinburgh a one-point lead.
(1-8) (25-26)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Wayne Carter, Stewart McDonald, Roger Lobb [61.7]
Peter Carr won with Stewart McDonald, replacing McAllan, looking much better taking third to stretch the Monarchs advantage.
(2-4) (27-30)
Heat 10: Leigh Lanham, Kevin Little, Matt Read, Ross Brady [61.7]
Lanham and Read pegged back the margin by two points.
(4-2) (31-32)
Heat 11: James Grieves, Colin White, Blair Scott, Gary Corbett [62.7]
Grieves and Scott repaid the compliment to restore a three point margin.
(2-4) (33-36)
Heat 12: Wayne Carter, Kevin Little, John Wainwright, David McAllan [62.8]
Kevin Little made a horrible start but swept through the field to lead. He then lost control on the first bend of the last lap allowing Carter through to win. John Wainwright locked up and caused McAllan to fall. David was upset not be to awarded a point.
(4-2) (37-38)
Heat 13: Colin White, James Grieves, Leigh Lanham [Awarded]
The hitherto unbeaten James Grieves gated but Colin White swept past from the first bend. Peter Carr was slow out of gate 4 and attempted an extravagant cutback that just failed. By the end of the first lap, Lanham had joined White in front. Lanham then hit the fence allowing Grieves through but causing Carr to fall. Peter Carr was aggrieved that he was excluded and Arena awarded a 4-2 heat advantage.
(4-2) (41-40)
Heat 14: Stewart McDonald, Ross Brady, John Wainwright, Gary Corbett [63.2]
This was a critical heat with Arena now ahead and White and Lanham expected for the final heat. Stewart McDonald and Ross Brady made fast starts to register a 5-1 and give Monarchs a cushion for the last heat decider.
(1-5) (42-45)
Heat 15: Peter Carr, Colin White, Leigh Lanham, James Grieves [60.2]
Monarchs needed to avoid a home 5-1 to win. Peter Carr argued that if he was given the inside gate 2 he would win the race This happened and he recorded the fastest time of the night. James was right behind Lanham but wasn’t going to take any risks with Carr ahead.
(3-3) (45-48)
|
Arena Essex Hammers |
|
|
|
||||
|
Leigh Lanham |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1* |
|
10+1 |
|
Matt Read |
1 |
1 |
0 |
X |
|
|
2 |
|
Wayne Carter |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
||
|
Roger Lobb |
0 |
1* |
0 |
|
|
|
1+1 |
|
Colin White |
2 |
2* |
2 |
3 |
2 |
11+1 |
|
|
Gary Corbett |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
6 |
|
John Wainwright |
1 |
1* |
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
5+1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
3 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
17 |
|
Blair Scott |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
1 |
|
|
Kevin Little |
3 |
E |
2 |
2 |
|
7 |
|
|
Ross Brady |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2* |
|
|
4+1 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
2 |
2* |
3 |
F |
3 |
13+1 |
|
David McAllan |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
|
|
Stewart McDonald |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
|
|
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leigh Lanham defended his Silver Helmet title against James Grieves. James made an attempt to get round from the outside gate but just failed leaving Lanham to pull away and win in a time of 60.8 seconds.
Good performances by Grieves and Carr laid the foundations for the win with good backup from Little, McDonald and Brady.
Colin White and Leigh Lanham demonstrated their ability on the Arena track and were well served by guest Wayne Carter. All of the home riders apart from Roger Lobb got amongst the points. They did enough to show that once Troy Pratt has returned from injury they will be a formidable home side.
Next meeting: v Swindon, Premier League, Armadale on Friday 15th May 1999
John Lowe