Premier League
Brough Park, Newcastle
Wednesday 8th September 1999
Injury stricken Edinburgh lost out to Newcastle in another last heat decider at Brough Park. It was a match Edinburgh should have won easily having won eight out of fifteen heats but missed out at the bottom end. The damage was done in heat 2 when Brian Turner tangled with Jon Swales and fell aggravating his recent knee injury. He took no further part in the meeting apart from an abortive attempt to run in heat 5. With Monarchs already operating rider replacement this put too much pressure on a far from fit Blair Scott. Despite this, the Monarchs top four kept things tight and they were only two points down going into the final heat. Kevin Little fell and was excluded, gifting the match to Newcastle. Swales and Olsen secured a 5-1 to give the Diamonds a win by a rather flattering margin.
Monarchs were without Justin Elkins with suspected broken fingers and used rider replacement. Blair Scott returned in place of David McAllan. Newcastle had Jon Swales and Neil Painter in at reserve.
The weather was threatening and the match started at 7.30 without a parade.
Gate position B was used with Edinburgh off gates 1 and 3 in heat 1.
Heat 1: James Grieves, Robert Eriksson, Paul Gould, Brian Turner [66.0]
Eriksson gated and was joined by Gould on the back straight. James Grieves came through passing first Gould and then Eriksson to secure a fine win. Rider replacement Brian Turner trailed home last.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Blair Scott, Neil Painter, Jon Swales [69.3]
Blair Scott gated but Turner got himself hemmed in behind Jon Swales. He appeared to be impeded on the second bend and fell after clipping Swales’s wheel. Turner was rather unfortunate to be excluded. Blair Scott secured a rather laboured win in the rerun with Painter in close attendance. Jon Swales fell and remounted.
(3-3) (6-6)
Heat 3: Ross Brady, Kevin Little, Stuart Swales [67.3]
David Walsh fell just after the start and was excluded. Ross Brady and Kevin Little won the rerun from the gate.
(1-5) (7-11)
Heat 4: Jesper Olsen, Peter Carr, Neil Painter, Blair Scott [64.8]
Jesper Olsen beat Carr to secure the first home race win while reserve replacement Neil Painter beat the toiling Blair Scott to cut the margin back to two points.
(4-2) (11-13)
Heat 5: Stuart Swales, James Grieves, David Walsh [65.9]
Swales and Walsh gated but Grieves came from behind to split the pairing. Brian Turner came in as rider replacement but soon retired due to his injuries sustained in heat 2.
(4-2) (15-15)
Heat 6: Peter Carr, Robert Eriksson, Paul Gould, Blair Scott [65.2]
Carr passed Eriksson to win easily but Paul Gould took third ahead of reserve replacement Blair Scott in for Brian Turner.
(3-3) (18-18)
Heat 7: Jesper Olsen, Kevin Little, Ross Brady, Jon Swales [65.1]
Jesper Olsen took his second win ahead of Kevin Little and Ross Brady with reserve replacement Jon Swales pushing Brady hard.
(3-3) (21-21)
Heat 8: Ross Brady, Paul Gould, Jon Swales, Blair Scott [66.7]
Rider replacement Ross Brady made a great start to win ahead of Paul Gould but Blair Scott again trailed in last.
(3-3) (24-24)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Stuart Swales, David Walsh [65.5]
Carr had another easy win over Swales and the out-of-sorts Walsh. Edinburgh had gone with one rider with no replacement for the injured Turner.
(3-3) (27-27)
Heat 10: Kevin Little, Robert Eriksson, Paul Gould, Ross Brady [67.1]
Kevin Little had a win over Robert Eriksson on a Jesper Olsen bike. Gould took third ahead of Ross Brady.
(3-3) (30-30)
Heat 11: Jesper Olsen, James Grieves, Neil Painter, Blair Scott [65.6]
Newcastle edged ahead after Olsen beat Grieves and Painter held off rider replacement Blair Scott.
(4-2) (34-32)
Heat 12: David Walsh, Kevin Little, Jon Swales, Blair Scott [65.6]
David Walsh secured his first win after outgating Little but reserve replacement Blair Scott was last yet again as Newcastle stretched their lead.
(4-2) (38-34)
Heat 13: Peter Carr, Jesper Olsen, James Grieves, Robert Eriksson [65.7]
Tactical considerations suggested that a 2-4 defeat would suit Monarchs fine giving them an opportunity for a double tactical substitution in heat 14. However Carr and Grieves had not read the script and blasted ahead from the gate. Jesper Olsen came back and split the Monarchs pairing. Eriksson on Paul Gould’s bike ran in last.
(2-4) (40-38)
Heat 14: Stuart Swales, Blair Scott, Ross Brady, Jon Swales [67.4]
Stuart Swales gated and won the heat. Blair Scott made a start for once and took second with Ross Brady third. Jon Swales fell and remounted.
(3-3) (43-41)
Heat 15: Stuart Swales, Jesper Olsen, Peter Carr [66.8]
With neither Robert Eriksson nor David Walsh eligible for the final heat, Newcastle went with Stuart Swales and Jesper Olsen. Edinburgh preferred Kevin Little to Ross Brady as a partner for Carr. Newcastle won the toss and took gates 2 and 4. Stuart Swales made a good start off gate 4 while Little missed the start and fell on the third bend trying to get back on terms. Carr was beaten away by Swales and Jesper Olsen edged past him to secure a heat maximum.
(5-1) (48-42)
|
Newcastle Diamonds |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Robert Eriksson |
2 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
6 |
|
|
Paul Gould |
1* |
1* |
2 |
2* |
|
|
|
5+3 |
|
|
David Walsh |
X |
1 |
1* |
3 |
|
5+1 |
|||
|
Stuart Swales |
1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
|
12 |
|
Jesper Olsen |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2* |
|
|
|
13+1 |
|
Neil Painter |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
|||||
|
Jon Swales |
1* |
0 |
1* |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
3+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
8 |
|
|
Justin Elkins |
Rider replacement |
|
|
(3) |
|||||
|
Kevin Little |
2* |
2 |
3 |
2 |
X |
|
|
|
9+1 |
|
Ross Brady |
3 |
1* |
3 |
0 |
1* |
|
|
|
8+2 |
|
Peter Carr |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
12 |
|
Brian Turner |
0 |
X |
R |
N |
|
|
|
0 |
|
|
Blair Scott |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
|
5 |
Peter Carr was near his best although he just missed out to Olsen in his first ride and trailed in the last heat decider. Kevin Little was back to form and had his best away match in weeks. Grieves did little wrong with some great rides from the back.
Ross Brady had a good meeting apart from running last in heat 10. Brian Turner failed to score after his heat 2 injury while Blair Scott looked far from his best (and far from fit) and only looked convincing when finishing second in his seventh ride. The rider replacement facility for Justin Elkins only yielded three points all from Ross Brady in heat 8.
Jesper Olsen looked impressive but neither Eriksson nor Walsh got going for Newcastle. Eriksson complained of loss of compression on his bike and used borrowed equipment for his last two rides. Stuart Swales was excellent and Gould was steady. However the match-winners were reserves Jon Swales and Neil Painter who took advantage of Edinburgh’s difficulties to pick up crucial points and kept Newcastle in contention.
Edinburgh did well to keep the match alive given their problems at reserve and could still have won but found Stuart Swales and Jesper Olsen tough to beat in the last heat decider.
Man of the match: Stuart Swales
Most exciting rider: James Grieves
Next meeting: v Newport, Premier National Trophy Final, Armadale on Friday 10th September 1999
John Lowe