Edinburgh Century Mortgages Monarchs 56: Sheffield Star Tigers 34
Premier League Cup
Lothian Arena, Armadale
Friday 20th August 1999
Edinburgh recovered from a shaky start to win by a surprisingly large margin of 22 points over Sheffield Tigers in the first leg of the Premier League Cup. Tigers opened with a big 5-1 but Monarchs hit back immediately to level in heat 2. Monarchs pulled out an early lead of 6 points and were held in check by tactical substitutions and some good rides by Wilson, Compton and Stead. With Monarchs only 6 points ahead after 10 heats they applied pressure and finished strongly with five straight heat advantages and finished with a flourish and three 5-1s after Sheffield had run out of tactical options.
This leaves the tie nicely balanced although both sides will probably fancy their chances of aggregate victory in the second leg at Owlerton.
The track was in its normal condition despite suggestions that it would be much deeper and wetter this week. Things took a bizarre twist when James Birkinshaw was named for both teams but ended up riding for neither side. Sheffield used Andrew Moore while Edinburgh welcomed back David McAllan after a long layoff.
Kevin Little lost the toss and Sheffield chose gate position B with Sheffield off 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Sean Wilson, Paul Lee, Blair Scott, James Grieves [57.8]
Sean Wilson blasted ahead from the gate and was challenged on the outside by rider replacement Blair Scott before Paul Lee came through. James Grieves was stuck at the back throughout after his engine lost compression.
(1-5) (1-5)
Heat 2: Blair Scott, David McAllan, Simon Cartwright, Andrew Moore [59.2]
Blair Scott gated ahead of Cartwright with McAllan third. Cartwright held position for a couple of laps with McAllan in pursuit. Cartwright wobbled alarmingly on the second bend and McAllan nearly passed him but on the final lap Cartwright did a repeat performance and McAllan slipped inside him on the back straight to level the scores.
(5-1) (6-6)
Heat 3: Kevin Little, André Compton, Simon Stead [58.7]
Kevin Little was ahead from the gate and was joined by Brady. Simon Stead and then André Compton both passed Brady. The heat was not over and Brady came back to pass Compton only to lose position and slip back before falling. Brady restarted but later retired.
(3-3) (9-9)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Blair Scott, Scott Smith, Simon Cartwright [59.2]
A very easy 5-1 from the home riders by an embarrassingly large margin.
(5-1) (14-10)
Heat 5: Sean Wilson, Kevin Little, Paul Lee [58.3]
Sean Wilson outgated Kevin Little to win his second race. Ross Brady retired once more as Sheffield cut the margin to two points.
(2-4) (16-14)
Heat 6: James Grieves, Blair Scott, Scott Smith, Andrew Moore [58.8]
Blair Scott came in as rider replacement and ensured another maximum. Grieves, on his second bike, and Scott gated and Smith nearly hit the fence and slowed up.
(5-1) (21-15)
Heat 7: Peter Carr, André Compton, Simon Stead, David McAllan [57.9]
Peter Carr won from the gate ahead of Compton but Stead kept McAllan at the back to tie the heat.
(3-3) (24-18)
Heat 8: Sean Wilson, Blair Scott, Ross Brady [59.1]
Edinburgh used Ross Brady as rider replacement and Sheffield brought in Sean Wilson as a tactical substitute for Cartwright. Wilson made a start but Paul Lee fell after a tangle on the second bend. Lee spotting Wilson leading cleared his bike sharpish rather than see if he could get back into a rerun.
(3-3) (27-21)
Heat 9: André Compton, Ross Brady, Kevin Little, Scott Smith [58.9]
What a race! André Compton came in as a tactical substitute for Moore. Brady and Little gated with Compton pressing hard. Compton swept past Little only for the home captain to come back. They seemed to change places a couple of times each lap just behind Brady. Then on the third lap, Compton managed to get past Brady to win.
(3-3) (30-24)
Heat 10: James Grieves, André Compton, Simon Stead, David McAllan [58.2]
David McAllan took the rider replacement outing. Grieves gated to win picking up good drive out wide with Stead keeping McAllan at the back.
(3-3) (33-27)
Heat 11: Peter Carr, Sean Wilson, David McAllan, [57.9]
This looked like a heat advantage for Sheffield after Wilson gated but first Paul Lee retired gifting third place to McAllan and then Peter Carr swept past Wilson on the home straight.
(4-2) (37-29)
Heat 12: Kevin Little, André Compton, Blair Scott, Andrew Moore [58.3]
Kevin Little won from André Compton with Andrew Moore pushing Blair Scott all the way.
(4-2) (41-31)
Heat 13: James Grieves, Peter Carr, Sean Wilson, Simon Stead [58.4]
Wilson made a good start but Grieves moved ahead on the outside while Peter Carr cut inside him on the second bend. Simon Stead, in as a tactical substitute for Smith trailed in last.
(5-1) (46-32)
Heat 14: Ross Brady, Blair Scott, Simon Stead, Simon Cartwright [59.6]
Monarchs put in Blair Scott as a reserve change for McAllan. Brady made the gate with Scott in close attendance leaving Stead and Cartwright stranded at the back
(5-1) (51-33)
Heat 15: James Grieves, Peter Carr, Sean Wilson, André Compton [58.2]
Sheffield won the toss for gate positions and took 1 and 3. Sean Wilson made another start but could do nothing as Carr and Grieves passed him on the inside and outside respectively for another easy maximum.
(5-1) (56-34)
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|||||
|
James Grieves |
0 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2* |
|
11+1 |
|
|
Stewart McDonald |
Rider replacement |
|
(4+2) |
|||||
|
Kevin Little |
3 |
2 |
1* |
3 |
|
|
9+1 |
|
|
Ross Brady |
R |
R |
1* |
2 |
3 |
|
6+1 |
|
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2* |
3 |
|
14+1 |
|
|
David McAllan |
2* |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
|
3+1 |
|
|
Blair Scott |
1 |
3 |
2* |
2* |
2 |
1 |
2* |
13+3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sheffield Tigers |
|
|
|
|||||
|
Sean Wilson |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
|
|
Paul Lee |
2* |
1 |
R |
R |
|
|
3+1 |
|
|
André Compton |
1* |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
10+1 |
|
Simon Stead |
2 |
1* |
1* |
0 |
1 |
|
5+2 |
|
|
Scott Smith |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
2 |
|
|
Andrew Moore |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
0 |
|
|
Simon Cartwright |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
James Grieves was back to his best after surprisingly finishing last in his first heat. Peter Carr ware rarely challenged although Wilson beat him out of the start three times. Kevin Little was also much improved from last week’s disasters.
Ross Brady made a poor start failing to finish his first two heats but recovered well especially to win heat 14. David McAllan made a very solid return after ten weeks out. But the star of the show was Blair Scott with a paid sixteen points.
Wilson started well with three straight wins but faded as the match went on. Compton was very good value coming from third to win heat 9. Stead was probably capable of more points than he scored. Paul Lee started very brightly but suffered a fall and a retirement in his last two rides. Sheffield were effectively a three man team for much of the meeting with Scott Smith, Simon Cartwright, and Andrew Moore ineffective.
Edinburgh have secure a big enough margin to make a fight of things at Sheffield.
Man of the match: Blair Scott
Most exciting rider: André Compton
Next meeting: v Glasgow, Premier League, Ashfield on Sunday 22nd August 1999
John Lowe