Premier League
County Ground, Exeter
Monday 5th July 1999
Edinburgh lost to Exeter in the Premier League match but did enough to collect the match bonus point. While the relative strength of the teams suggested that Edinburgh could have a chance of ending Exeter’s long winning home run, events in the meeting made that unlikely. In heat 5, James Grieves was leading when Chris Harris lost control and ‘speared him after bouncing off the fence. Grieves took no further part in the meeting. Amazingly the referee invited all four back and Exeter took a 5-1 to give a lead of 8 points and that was that.
Edinburgh still missing Kevin Little and David McAllan and replaced them with Scott Smith and Jon Swales. Exeter had two absent heat leaders Mark Simmons and Peter Jeffery. They used Seemond Stephens as a guest for Simmons and used rider replacement for Jeffery. The weather was warm and muggy.
The track had the look of a ploughed field but after pre-match grading it seemed to ride quite well. The fall involving Grieves and Harris didn’t appear to have anything to do with the track.
Gate position B was in used with Edinburgh off 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Chris Harris, Graeme, James Grieves, Stewart McDonald [68.9]
Chris Harris came in as rider replacement and won from Gordon with Grieves and McDonald trailing.
(5-1) (5-1)
Heat 2: Blair Scott, Gary Lobb, Wayne Barratt, Jon Swales [70.2]
Blair Scott swept around the outside from gate 4 to take the lead by the exit from the second bend for an impressive win.
(3-3) (8-4)
Heat 3: Michael Coles, Ross Brady, Chris Harris [67.8]
Scott Smith suffered an engine failure on the line. Ross Brady made a poor start but swept past Chris Harris to take second behind Coles.
(4-2) (12-6)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Seemond Stephens, Blair Scott, Gary Lobb [68.9]
Peter Carr took this one after seeing off a challenge from Seemond Stephens and Blair Scott got the better of Gary Lobb to reduce the lead to four points.
(2-4) (14-10)
Heat 5: Michael Coles, Chris Harris, Blair Scott, Stewart McDonald [67.9]
James Grieves appeared to have the measure of the track and was leading into the second bend when Harris lost control and knocked him off from behind. James was hit by a runaway bike and was fund to have a cracked rib, possible sustained at Newport plus back, shoulder, and arm injuries. Harris had a wrecked bike but seemed OK otherwise. To add insult to injury, Harris was invited back into the re-run and took second place behind Coles ahead of reserve replacement Blair Scott and Stewart McDonald.
(5-1) (19-11)
Heat 6: Graeme Gordon, Peter Carr, Gary Lobb, Jon Swales [68.5]
Gordon won this from Carr with rider replacement Gary Lobb third.
(4-2) (23-13)
Heat 7: Seemond Stephens, Scott Smith, Ross Brady, Wayne Barratt [68.9]
Seemond Stephens justified his surprise selection as guest with a great win over a rather sluggish Scott Smith. Ross Brady recovered from another poor start to pass Barratt and take third place.
(3-3) (26-16)
Heat 8: Ross Brady, Graeme Gordon, Gary Lobb, Blair Scott [66.9]
Ross Brady came in as a tactical substitute for Stewart McDonald. He outgated Gordon for a big win in the fastest time of the evening. Unfortunately, Blair Scott came through last.
(3-3) (29-19)
Heat 9: Michael Coles, Peter Carr, Jon Swales [67.8]
(3-3) (32-22)
Heat 10: Ross Brady, Graeme Gordon, Scott Smith, Seemond Stephens [66.7]
Seemond Stephens came in as rider replacement. Ross Brady had a really impressive ride to win in a faster time than in heat 8. Gordon was second and Smith third.
(2-4) (34-26)
Heat 11: Seemond Stephens, Peter Carr, Wayne Barratt, Stewart McDonald [68.5]
Stephens had another good ride to beat Peter Carr, in as a tactical substitute for Grieves, while McDonald was toiling in last place.
(4-2) (38-28)
Heat 12: Michael Coles, Scott Smith, Blair Scott, Gary Lobb [67.8]
Blair Scott came in as a reserve replacement for Swales and backed up Smith for a shared heat behind Coles.
(3-3) (41-31)
Heat 13: Seemond Stephens, Graeme Gordon, Scott Smith, Peter Carr [68.1]
Exeter used Graeme Gordon as rider replacement. Stephens clocked up his third win of the match with Gordon second.
(5-1) (46-32)
Heat 14: Ross Brady, Wayne Barratt, Chris Harris, Blair Scott [68.0]
Ross Brady swept to another win but Barratt and Harris took the minor placings.
(3-3) (49-35)
Heat 15: Graeme Gordon, Ross Brady, Michael Coles, Blair Scott [68.2]
Ross Brady inflicted the first defeat on Coles but narrowly failed to overtake Gordon in a race for the line.
(4-2) (53-37)
|
Peter Jeffery |
Rider replacement |
(6+1) |
||||||
|
Graeme Gordon |
2* |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2* |
3 |
|
14+2 |
|
Michael Coles |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
13 |
|
Chris Harris |
3 |
1 |
2* |
R |
1* |
|
|
7+2 |
|
Seemond Stephens |
2 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
11 |
|
Wayne Barrette |
1* |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
|
4+1 |
|
Gary Lobb |
2 |
0 |
1 |
1* |
0 |
|
|
4+1 |
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
1 |
N |
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Stewart McDonald |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
|
Scott Smith |
R |
2 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
6 |
|
Ross Brady |
2 |
1* |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
|
14+1 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
9 |
|
Jon Swales |
0 |
0 |
1* |
|
|
|
|
1+1 |
|
Blair Scott |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1* |
0 |
0 |
6+1 |
Only Ross Brady and Blair Scott did justice to themselves. Brady on his first visit to the County Ground was truly sensational and clocked the two fastest times on the meeting as well as beating every Exeter rider. Peter Carr was not happy on a track that doesn’t really suit his inside line style. James Grieves had a poor ride in heat 1 but seemed to be getting going when he was injured. Scott Smith was not particularly effective as a guest.
The rest of the team are best forgotten. Jon Swales was obviously going to be underpowered on an upright bike while Stewart McDonald has long had ‘problems’ with the County Ground. Two years ago for Glasgow, he scored a maximum at Newport on the Sunday and zero at Exeter on the Monday.
Michael Coles, Graeme Gordon and the surprise packet Seemond Stephens were the best of the Exeter side with support coming from all other members of the team.
Man of the match: Ross Brady.
Most exciting rider: Ross Brady.
Next meeting: v Newcastle, Premier National Trophy, Armadale on Friday 9th July 1999
John Lowe