Edinburgh Century Mortgages Monarchs 53: Exeter Falcons 36
Young Shield
Lothian Arena, Armadale
Friday 8th October 1999
Edinburgh crashed out of the Young Shield despite a spirited attempt to overcome a 28-point lead. Edinburgh surged ahead in the early heats taking full advantage of the inside gates after a rare win of the toss. Exeter came back with a run of tied heats and a 5-1 in heat 8 using a tactical substitute. This left Exeter close to an aggregate victory and Michael Coles saw the visitors home.
Exeter seemed the team who wanted to win most and showed greater resolve than in recent visits to Armadale. They fully deserved to go through to have a crack at local rivals Newport in the Semi-Final.
Edinburgh had Aiden Collins in at number 6 in place of Brian Turner but Ross Brady did ride despite his arm injury sustained in the away leg. Exeter were at full strength.
The track was very wet and greasy after heavy rain during the day.
Gate position A was in used with Edinburgh off 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: James Grieves, Lee Dicken, Justin Elkins [60.1]
James Grieves swept ahead from the gates but both Gordon and Elkins soon hit ignition problems. Gordon retired while Elkins kept going to take third.
(4-2) (4-2)
Heat 2: Aiden Collins, Blair Scott, Wayne Barrett, Gary Lobb [63.4]
Lobb and Barrett gated but both made mistakes on the treacherous surface. Collins showed great assurance in capitalizing on these errors riding a steady inside line to take the lead and was later joined by Scott for a maximum.
(5-1) (9-3)
Heat 3: Michael Coles, Kevin Little, Ross Brady [61.1]
Coles stopped he rot for Exeter with a win from the back over Little and Brady. Harris retired early on.
(3-3) (12-6)
Heat 4: Blair Scott, Peter Carr [Awarded]
Blair Scott gated and was shadowed by Peter Carr for the first lap. Carr made a slip coming into the fourth bend but recovered. Simmons and Lobb laid-down rather prematurely and the race continued. Simmons retired and pushed to the centre green while Lobb restarted only to fall on the first bend. This caused the race to be stopped and awarded with Lobb excluded.
(5-0) (17-6)
Heat 5: Graeme Gordon, Ross Brady, Kevin Little [60.6]
Dicken and Gordon made the start from the inside gates ahead of Little and Brady. Dicken soon fell leaving Brady to give chase to Gordon. While Brady did appear to be struggling with his arm, he never gave up. Passing on this surface was difficult unless a mistake was made and Gordon made no mistake.
(3-3) (20-9)
Heat 6: James Grieves, Mark Simmons, Wayne Barrett [60.4]
While Grieves had few problems collecting his second win, Elkins again suffered a misfire after making a fair start. He struggled around for a couple of laps before retiring as Grieves came around to lap him.
(3-3) (23-12)
Heat 7: Peter Carr, Michael Coles, Chris Harris, Aiden Collins [59.8]
Peter Carr surged to his second win but Exeter shared the heat with Collins stuck at the back.
(3-3) (26-15)
Heat 8: Graeme Gordon, Lee Dicken, Blair Scott [60.5]
Things looked ominous for Monarchs as Elkins’s bike was backfiring loudly and Exeter brough in Gordon as a tactical substitute for Lobb. Gordon gated from Scott with Dicken third as Elkins retired. Blair Scott made no impression on Gordon and slipped allowing Dicken through for second.
(1-5) (27-20)
Heat 9: Michael Coles, Kevin Little, Ross Brady, Mark Simmons [61.1]
(3-3) (30-23)
Heat 10: James Grieves, Michael Coles, Blair Scott, Chris Harris [60.5]
Blair Scott came in as a reserve replacement for Elkins. Michael Coles made the start ahead of Grieves and Scott. Grieves’s chase looked a lost cause but he kept going and reeled Coles in and passed him on the last lap. This left Monarchs needing five straight maximums to take the tie.
(4-2) (34-25)
Heat 11: Peter Carr, Graeme Gordon, Lee Dicken, Aiden Collins [60.5]
Peter Carr retained his paid maximum but with Gordon and Dicken filling the minor places, Exeter virtually booked their passage to the Semi-Final.
(3-3) (37-28)
Heat 12: Michael Coles, Kevin Little, Wayne Barrett, Blair Scott [61.6]
Coles had few problems in winning from Little. Blair Scott tried a surge around the third bend to get past Little and have a crack at Coles but fell. He restarted but this gifted another point to Exeter.
(2-4) (39-32)
Heat 13: Peter Carr, James Grieves, Mark Simmons, Graeme Gordon [61.1]
Carr and Grieves gated for an easy maximum that came rather too late for Monarchs.
(5-1) (44-33)
Heat 14: Blair Scott, Chris Harris, Aiden Collins, Gary Lobb [63.7]
Blair Scott came in as reserve replacement for Ross Brady. Blair produced a good pass on Chris Harris to win while a determined Aiden Collins took third place.
(4-2) (48-35)
Heat 15: James Grieves, Peter Carr, Michael Coles, Graeme Gordon [61.1]
Michael Coles made the start but Grieves and Carr swept on either side of him around the third bend.
(5-1) (53-36)
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
15 |
|
Justin Elkins |
1 |
R |
R |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Kevin Little |
2 |
1* |
2 |
2 |
|
|
|
7+1 |
|
Ross Brady |
1* |
2 |
1* |
|
|
|
|
4+2 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
2* |
3 |
2* |
2* |
|
|
12+3 |
|
Aiden Collins |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
Blair Scott |
2* |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
10+1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exeter Falcons |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Graeme Gordon |
R |
3 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
8 |
|
Lee Dicken |
2 |
R |
2* |
1* |
5+2 |
|||
|
Michael Coles |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
|
14 |
|
Chris Harris |
R |
1* |
0 |
2 |
|
|
|
3+1 |
|
Mark Simmons |
F |
2 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
|
3 |
|
Wayne Barrett |
1 |
1* |
1 |
|
|
|
|
3+1 |
|
Gary Lobb |
0 |
X |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
James Grieves, with possibly his best performance of the season, and Peter Carr both scored maximums. Kevin Little was rather subdued but did scored steadily. He was unlucky to encounter Coles in three heats.
Blair Scott was never at his best despite another very big score. He was rather fortunate with two paid wins due to mistakes by the visitors. After three indifferent rides he produced a gem to win heat 14. Aiden Collins did well on his second appearance for Monarchs.
It was at second string that Monarchs lost the tie. Justin Elkins only scored one gift point and Ross Brady was clearly struggling and failed to win a race although he never gave up trying. He was replaced by Blair Scott in heat 14.
Michael Coles was the driving force for Exeter and received backing from Graeme Gordon and Lee Dicken. Chris Harris and Wayne Barrett both contributed vital points although in the case of Barrett they were all gifted. Simmons never came to terms with the track and produced a typical Armadale performance.
Man of the match: James Grieves.
Most exciting rider: James Grieves.
Next meeting: Armadale Junior Championship, Friday 15th October 1999
John Lowe