Stoke Potters 39: Edininburgh Century Mortgages Monarchs 52
Premier League
Loomer Road, Stoke
Saturday 3rd July 1999
Edinburgh opened their Southern Tour with a convincing win over a Stoke side still desperately short of power at the top end. From the outset when James Grieves outgated Paul Pickering and René Aas stopped when third, there was never any doubt about the result. The match was livened up by a dramatic golden double tactical substitution in heat 8 that might have turned the match on another day, but not this one.
The track looked to be in excellent order and the whole way in which the stadium and the meeting was run reflects well on the current Stoke promotion who celebrated one year in charge of affairs at Loomer Road.
Edinburgh had Frank Smart as guest in place of Kevin Little and Jon Swales continued at reserve for David McAllan.
Edinburgh won the toss and opted for gate position B with 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: James Grieves, Paul Pickering, Stewart McDonald [63.0]
James Grieves outgate Pickering and won in the fastest time of the season. René Aas initially held third place but stopped on the first lap coming out of the third bend.
(2-4) (2-4)
Heat 2: Tony Atkin, Blair Scott, Jon Swales [64.9]
Atkin made a superb start ahead of Swales but Broadhurst slid into the second bend fence and was excluded. Atkin repeated his start in the rerun to win.
(3-3) (5-7)
Heat 3: Frank Smart, Mark Burrows, Ross Brady [63.4]
Frank Smart gated ahead of Burrows but Ross Brady lifted and was last away. Ross managed to get past Jon Armstrong who later retired
(2-4) (7-11)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Blair Scott, Wayne Broadhurst, Joachim Kugelmann [65.6]
Carr blasted away with Blair Scott in close attendance. Blair then made a mistake allowing Broadhurst through but recovered to retake second place on the first lap. Kugelmann was stuck at the back after missing the start.
(1-5) (8-16)
Heat 5: James Grieves, Mark Burrows, Jon Armstrong, Stewart McDonald [63.4]
James Grieves gated to win from Mark Burrows and Jon Armstrong.
(3-3) (11-19)
Heat 6: Paul Pickering, Peter Carr, René Aas [61.6]
Pickering made a blistering start to beat Peter Carr and to slice nearly two seconds off his seasons’ lap record prior to this match. Jon Swales on David McAllan’s bike suffered an engine failure on the line.
(4-2) (15-21)
Heat 7: Ross Brady, Frank Smart, Tony Atkin [64.0]
Brady and Smart gated and while Kugelmann put in a spirited challenge to Smart over the first lap before dropping back and then retiring.
(1-5) (16-26)
Heat 8: Mark Burrows, Stewart McDonald, Paul Pickering, Blair Scott [63.6]
Stoke went for a double tactical substitution with Burrows in for Broadhurst and Paul Pickering in for Aas as a golden double. McDonald and Scott were first away but Mark Burrows found extra grip on the second bend to surge ahead and dictate the pace of the heat. Pickering was really flying and caught and passed Scott and was all over McDonald by the end of the first lap. It seemed inevitable that Pickering the ultimate golden double specialist would pass to record an 8-1. McDonald hung on tenaciously, not only blocking Pickering but also putting enough pressure on Burrows and forcing him to pull away. On the last bend Pickering edged inside McDonald and seemed to be on course for second place and a 7-1 but McDonald picked up drive out wide to edge the decision on the line.
(5-2) (21-28)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Jon Armstrong, Jon Swales, Mark Burrows [63.6]
Jon Swales came out on Blair Scott’s bike this time. Peter Carr gated from Armstrong with Burrows stopping and then restarting and spluttering around to eventually finish. This persistence appeared to have been rewarded when Jon Swales was disqualified for losing his dirt deflector. This ‘disqualification’ was reversed (three heats later!) after ‘clarification’ of the rules.
(2-4) (23-32)
Heat 10: Frank Smart, Paul Pickering, Ross Brady, René Aas [62.9]
Frank Smart gated for an excellent win over Pickering. Ross Brady missed the start but passed René Aas on the fourth bend to take third.
(2-4) (25-36)
Heat 11: James Grieves, Joachim Kugelmann, Tony Atkin, Stewart McDonald [64.2]
Grieves kept his maximum with a win over Kugelmann and Atkin.
(3-3) (28-39)
Heat 12: Frank Smart, Jon Armstrong, Blair Scott, Wayne Broadhurst [64.6]
Paul Fry made the gate and headed McDonald and Little. McDonald led the change and eventually rounded Fry coming out of the second bend. Little then chased and managed to pip Fry on the line. Unfortunately, most of the spectators will have missed out on this as the fog thickened and visibility was reduced.
(2-4) (30-43)
Heat 13: Peter Carr, James Grieves, Paul Pickering, Joachim Kugelmann [62.8]
Carr and Grieves had a big win over Pickering and Kugelmann.
(1-5) (31-48)
Heat 14: Tony Atkin, Mark Burrows, Ross Brady, Blair Scott [63.1]
Tony Atkin and Mark Burrows surged ahead on the second bend after Brady and Scott appeared to be quicker out of the gate.
(5-1) (36-49)
Heat 15: Mark Burrows, Frank Smart, James Grieves [Awarded]
Another home 5-1 seemed to be on the cards after Burrows and Pickering gated. This would have given the scoreline a false degree of respectability. However, Pickering lost his steel shoe and fell under pressure causing the heat to be stopped and awarded.
(3-3) (39-52)
|
Stoke Potters |
|
|
|
||||
|
Paul Pickering |
2 |
3 |
1+ |
2 |
1 |
F |
10 |
|
René Aas |
R |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Jon Armstrong |
R |
1* |
2 |
2 |
|
|
5+1 |
|
Mark Burrows |
2 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
2* |
3 |
12+1 |
|
Joachim Kugelmann |
0 |
R |
2 |
0 |
|
|
2 |
|
Tony Atkin |
3 |
1 |
1* |
3 |
|
8+1 |
|
|
Wayne Broadhurst |
X |
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2* |
1 |
|
12+2 |
|
Stewart McDonald |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
3 |
|
Frank Smart |
3 |
2* |
3 |
3 |
2 |
|
13+1 |
|
Ross Brady |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
6 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
11 |
|
|
Jon Swales |
1* |
R |
1 |
|
|
|
2+1 |
|
Blair Scott |
2 |
2* |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
5+1 |
James Grieves produced another immaculate performance only missing out on a paid maximum after being beaten in the last heat. Pickering had to produce a record time to deny Peter Carr a maximum. Frank Smart put in a great display as guest.
Ross Brady was always competitive despite making only one start. Stewart McDonald had a poor meeting apart from producing a great ride to keep out Pickering in heat 8. Blair Scott was always in the thick of things. Jon Swales using borrowed equipment was unlikely to score more than gift points.
For Stoke, Pickering had a rare off-day but still managed double figures. Mark Burrows top scored for the Potters despite engine troubles in heat 9. He was always great entertainment. What a hero!
Jon Armstrong found the number 3 race jacket weighing heavily on him but was far from disgraced. Kugelmann will obviously need some time to adjust to British conditions and also will need to sharpen up his gating.
René Aas was never in contention and picked up only a gift point. There was a similar story for Wayne Broadhurst. Tony Atkin looked really good at reserve with two heat wins.
Man of the match: James Grieves
Most exciting rider: Mark Burrows
Next meeting: v Newport, Premier League Cup, Queensway Meadow on Sunday 4th July 1999
John Lowe