Workington Comets 51:
Edinburgh Monarchs 39Premier National Trophy
Derwent Park, Workington
Monday 1st May 2000
Monarchs had to dig deep at Derwent Park to contain the League favourites. Edinburgh suffered an early blow when Ross Brady, who was clearly struggling with his broken toes, had to pull out after aggravating that injury. Monarchs slipped twelve points behind after only six heats but used tactical substitutes to keep the Comets' lead.
While Edinburgh's chances of progress in the Premier National Trophy now appear slim, they can be reasonably happy with the scoreline given the absence of Ross Brady, who picked up a bagful of points at Derwent Park last year. Hopefully Monarchs will have sorted out their problems at number 6 and got Ross Brady fit and back to form by the Premier League meeting at Derwent Park.
Edinburgh were unchanged. Workington again operated rider replacement for the injured Barry Campbell and saw Carl Stonehewer in his last Premier League outing prior to his first Grand Prix.
The weather was sunny and the track became rather dusty reducing the chances to pass.
Monarch's Captain Peter Carr lost the toss once again. Gate position B operated after Carl Stonehewer went for 2 and 4 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Robert Eriksson, Carl Stonehewer, Geoff Powell, Blair Scott [67.4]
This certainly wasn't in the script as Eriksson outgated Stonehewer and held on for a win without any problems. Rider replacement Geoff Powell beat Blair Scott for third place to tie the heat.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Lee Smethills, Geoff Powell, Christian Henry [69.6]
Lee Smethills and Geoff Powell gated while Christian Henry fell on the second bend causing Brian Turner to lay down. Both restarted but Turner retired when he came round to the start line.
(5-1) (8-4)
Heat 3: Mick Powell, Peter Karlsson, Kevin Little, Ross Brady [67.7]
Mick Powell and Peter Karlsson made rapid starts leaving Kevin Little and Ross Brady standing. Brady tailed off and limped out of the meeting.
(5-1) (13-5)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Brent Werner, Christian Henry, Lee Smethills [67.4]
Peter Carr and Christian Henry made the start. Christian withstood a powerful back straight surge from Werner but when it seemed he might hang n he made a real mess of the fourth bend going far too wide and allowing Werner through. Christian recovered to stay in third place and secure a first heat advantage for Edinburgh.
(2-4) (15-9)
Heat 5: Mick Powell, Peter Karlsson, Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott [67.9]
Mick Powell and Peter Karlsson used the inside gates to beat Eriksson to the first bend and secure another maximum.
(5-1) (20-10)
Heat 6: Carl Stonehewer, Peter Carr, Geoff Powell, Christian Henry [66.9]
Brian Turner seemed to be having difficulty on the start line and eventually taped. He was replaced by Christian Henry. Carr and Henry seemed to be first away but Stonehewer took the shortest rout to the first bend appearing to knock Henry out of the way and just headed Carr off at the first bend. An unsatisfactory start could easily have been called as Henry was knocked out of his stride allowing rider replacement Geoff Powell to take third place.
(4-2) (24-12)
Heat 7: Brent Werner, Kevin Little, Brian Turner [68.0]
Brian Turner replaced Ross Brady. Kevin Little edged it from the start but Werner from gate 1 had the inside line and got his nose in front by the second bend to win. Geoff Powell fell and retired on the second bend when chasing Little gifting a tied heat to Monarchs.
(3-3) (27-15)
Heat 8: Robert Eriksson, Peter Karlsson, Blair Scott, Lee Smethills [68.2]
Robert Eriksson was introduced in place of Christian Henry as a tactical substitute. This nearly paid off big time when Blair Scott and Eriksson gated. Blair tried to hold on but rider replacement Peter Karlsson had to much speed and came through to split the Monarchs' pair.
(2-4) (29-19)
Heat 9: Mick Powell, Peter Carr, Peter Karlsson, Brian Turner [68.1]
Mick Powell was first away and withstood several inside line surges by Carr.
(4-2) (33-21)
Heat 10: Lee Smethills, Carl Stonehewer, Kevin Little, Christian Henry [70.0]
Rider replacement Lee Smethills gated from Kevin Little and Christian Henry in as a reserve change for Brady. Stonehewer swept around the outside to pass Little and team-rode Smethills home in slowest time of the meeting.
(5-1) (38-22)
Heat 11: Robert Eriksson, Brent Werner, Blair Scott, Geoff Powell [68.4]
Robert Eriksson and Blair Scott gated but Brent Werner came through to pass Blair.
(2-4) (40-26)
Heat 12: Peter Carr, Mick Powell, Kevin Little, Lee Smethills [68.2]
Peter Carr came in as a tactical substitute for Brian Turner. Mick Powell gated once more but Peter Carr eventually forced his was past to win in very impressive style. Little took third for a second successive Monarchs heat advantage.
(2-4) (42-30)
Heat 13: Peter Carr, Brent Werner, Robert Eriksson, Carl Stonehewer [68.8]
Eriksson outgated Stonehewer once more with Carr at the back. Carr soon passed Werner and set of after Stonehewer. Eriksson was having difficulty holding off Stonehewer and drifted too wide trying to back an outside pass on the home straight. Stonehewer took advantage and cut inside to pass going into the first bend. Eriksson got the wrong line going into the second bend and nearly lost it before recovering after Carr and Werner had swept past. The smirks on the faces of the Comets' supporters were soon wiped off when Stonehewer suffered an engine failure going into the last bend and coasted home last.
(2-4) (44-34)
Heat 14: Peter Karlsson, Blair Scott, Geoff Powell, Kevin Little [69.8]
Blair Scott and Kevin Little both came in as tactical substitutes for Henry and Brady. Blair Scott led from Peter Karlsson with Kevin Little looking very uncomfortable on a Ross Brady bike ahead of Geoff Powell. The order remained until the last bend when it seemed that Monarchs were due to collect a fourth successive heat advantage. However, Karlsson surged past Scott off the last bend and Little seemed to slow down as Powell took third.
(4-2) (48-36)
Heat 15: Mick Powell, Peter Carr, Robert Eriksson, Brent Werner [68.2]
Mick Powell made the start ahead of Eriksson and Carr with Werner trailing. Eriksson allowed Carr past to have a crack at Powell but the Monarchs' captain was unable to get past this time.
(3-3) (51-39)
|
Workington Comets |
|
|
|
|
||||
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Carl Stonehewer |
2 |
3 |
2* |
0 |
|
|
7+1 |
|
|
Barry Campbell |
Rider replacement |
|
|
|
(7+1) |
|||
|
Mick Powell |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
14 |
|
Peter Karlsson |
2* |
2* |
2 |
1 |
3 |
|
|
10+2 |
|
Brent Werner |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
9 |
|
Geoff Powell |
1* |
2* |
1 |
F |
0 |
1 |
|
5+2 |
|
Lee Smethills |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
6 |
|
Craig Branney |
Did not race |
|
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Robert Eriksson |
3 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
1* |
|
12+1 |
|
Blair Scott |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
4 |
|
Kevin Little |
1 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
5 |
|
|
Ross Brady |
0 |
N |
N |
|
|
|
|
0 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
|
15 |
|
Brian Turner |
R |
T |
1* |
0 |
|
|
|
1+1 |
|
Christian Henry |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
||
Peter Carr produced a real captain's performance with three heat wins and three second places. Robert Eriksson showed what a good rider he is on big slick tracks. Unfortunately there wasn't enough support from the rest of the team to make a fight of things. Ross Brady, who in different circumstances might have provided that support, withdrew from the meeting. This left Monarchs rather exposed. Kevin Little and Blair Scott both battled hard but found the Comets top four rather too strong for them. Christian Henry made some mistakes but was always competitive and did record a win over Smethills. Brian Turner scored his first point in four meetings after Geoff Powell fell.
Mick Powell looked unstoppable until beaten from the back by Carr in heat 12. This followed a run of home maximums. Stonehewer failed to make the final heat possibly wanting to get on his way to Sweden. Brent Werner was flattered by his score and looked set to finish last in heat 13 until the misfortunes for Eriksson and Stonehewer. Rider replacement delivered a good points haul allowing the impressive Karlsson to go out in the critical heat 8. Lee Smethills and Geoff Powell continued their remarkable record of heat 2 maximums.
Man of the match: Mick Powell
Most exciting rider: Peter Carr
Next home meeting: v Glasgow, Premier National, Armadale on Friday 5th May 2000
John Lowe