Newport Wasps 53:
Edinburgh Century Mortgages Monarchs 37Premier League Cup: Second Round First Leg
Queensway Meadow, Newport
Sunday 4th July 1999
Monarchs recovered from a series of disasters to restrict the Newport lead to a relatively manageable sixteen points. This gives Edinburgh at least a fighting chance of progress although it is going to be tough.
The track dried out quickly in the hot afternoon sun and had a single racing line. The track was watered twice during the meeting and became tricky on the fourth bend. Monarchs riders suffered three falls in this place, all when in scoring positions. This contributed to the lead that would have probably been only eight points otherwise. The racing proved pretty tedious with very little passing.
Edinburgh had Paul Pickering as guest in place of Kevin Little and Jon Swales continued at reserve for David McAllan. Newport used Phil Morris as guest at number 3.
Newport won the toss and opted for gate position A off 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Craig Watson, James Grieves, Andrew Appleton, Stewart McDonald [60.5]
Craig Watson won from the gate ahead of Grieves and Appleton with McDonald way off the pace.
(4-2) (4-2)
Heat 2: Chris Neath, Bobby Eldridge, Blair Scott, Jon Swales [62.6]
Chris Neath and Bobby Eldridge swept ahead for a big win over Blair Scott with Jon Swales back on his upright bike struggling for pace.
(5-1) (9-3)
Heat 3: Paul Pickering, Phil Morris, Scott Pegler [61.7]
This looked like a Monarchs 5-1 with Pickering and Brady away first. Phil Morris challenged Brady in his characteristic style and appeared to push Brady into the fourth bend fence after getting inside him.
(3-3) (12-6)
Heat 4: Frank Smart, Peter Carr, Chris Neath, Blair Scott [61.2]
Frank Smart and Chris Neath produced another home advantage.
(4-2) (16-8)
Heat 5: James Grieves, Phil Morris, Scott Pegler, Stewart McDonald [61.8]
James Grieves produced his first win of the night but McDonald was again way behind.
(3-3) (19-11)
Heat 6: Craig Watson, Peter Carr, Andrew Appleton, Jon Swales [61.2]
Yet another home 4-2 courtesy of Watson and Appleton, stretched the lead to ten points.
(4-2) (23-13)
Heat 7: Frank Smart, Ross Brady, Bobby Eldridge [61.5]
Pickering gated from Smart with Brady holding third place. Frank Smart succeeded in pushing his way inside Pickering who then tried to come back on the outside and lost it on the fourth bend.
(4-2) (27-15)
Heat 8: James Grieves, Andrew Appleton, Bobby Eldridge [Awarded]
With the lead now 12 points, desperate measures were called for. Edinburgh threw in Paul Pickering and James Grieves as tactical substitutes. Newport responded by withdrawing Chris Neath and put in Eldridge to use on of his three rides. Grieves and Pickering lead from the start but always looked a bit to close for comfort. Then disaster struck on the last bend where Pickering came down for the second heat running and worse still wrecked his bike and brought down Grieves. The heat was awarded to Grieves but he sustained a cracked rib amongst other injuries.
(3-3) (30-18)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Phil Morris, Scott Pegler, Jon Swales [61.3]
Peter Carr won his first heat from Morris but Jon Swales was last and the lead was still 12 points.
(3-3) (33-21)
Heat 10: Craig Watson, Paul Pickering, Ross Brady, Andrew Appleton [62.0]
Paul Pickering went out on Stewart McDonald’s bike and managed to get it to go far better than Stewart had managed but could do little about Watson. Ross Brady got the decision on the line for third.
(3-3) (36-24)
Heat 11: James Grieves, Frank Smart, Chris Neath, Stewart McDonald [62.0]
Newport brought in Chris Neath for Eldridge. Although Grieves was now coming to terms with the track and beat Frank Smart, McDonald was again way behind.
(3-3) (39-27)
Heat 12: Phil Morris, Peter Carr, Paul Pickering, Chris Neath [62.5]
Carr came in as a tactical substitute for Swales to join Pickering against he weakest of the Newport pairings but still couldn’t get a heat advantage. Morris gated and held off Carr to win.
(3-3) (42-30)
Heat 13: Craig Watson, Frank Smart, James Grieves, Peter Carr [61.4]
James Grieves gated and held on for two or three laps until Craig Watson pushed through on the inside. As Grieves tried to come back Frank Smart also passed.
(5-1) (47-31)
Heat 14: Ross Brady, Scott Pegler, Chris Neath, Blair Scott [62.9]
Monarchs were now up against it with all tactical substitutes blown and 16 points adrift with the prospects of more to come. Ross Brady came up with a great win although with Blair Scott at the back the lead remained intact
(3-3) (50-34)
Heat 15: James Grieves, Craig Watson, Frank Smart, Peter Carr [62.2]
In the repeat of heat 13, Grieves again gated but made no mistake this time.
(3-3) (53-37)
|
Newport Wasps |
|
|
|
||||
|
Craig Watson |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
14 |
|
|
Andrew Appleton |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
|
Phil Morris |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
9 |
|
Scot Pegler |
1* |
1* |
1* |
2 |
5+3 |
||
|
Frank Smart |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2* |
1* |
|
11+2 |
|
Bobby Eldridge |
2* |
1 |
1* |
1* |
|
|
5+3 |
|
Chris Neath |
3 |
1 |
1* |
0 |
|
|
5+1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
3 |
15 |
|
Stewart McDonald |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
0 |
|
|
Paul Pickering |
3 |
F |
X |
2 |
1* |
|
6+1 |
|
Ross Brady |
F |
2 |
1* |
3 |
|
|
6+1 |
|
Peter Carr |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
9 |
|
Jon Swales |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
0 |
|
Blair Scott |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
1 |
||
James Grieves produced an heroic display coming back after a bad fall when brought down by teammate Paul Pickering, to claim another two wins and keep Monarchs in contention. Peter Carr was slow out of the gate and was unable to pass on the Newport track. Pickering was rather unlucky to fall twice and ended with a disappointing score.
Ross Brady had a fair meeting but was not gating as well as usual. Stewart McDonald was miles off the pace and concerned about his engine being down on power. Blair Scott was not competitive with any of the Newport lower order and neither was Jon Swales back on his own upright bike.
Craig Watson and Frank Smart were excellent for the home side and both missed out on maximums due to James Grieves. Phil Morris did well enough for a seven-point guest. He produced a critical ride in heat 12 to beat Carr and Pickering. The Newport second strings and reserves easily deposed of McDonald, Scott and Swales although they were unable to get the better of the Monarchs top four.
Man of the match: James Grieves
Next meeting: v Exeter, Premier League, County Ground on Monday 5th July 1999
John Lowe