Edinburgh Monarchs 46: Glasgow Tigers 43
Premier National Trophy
Lothian Arena, Armadale
Sunday 29th April 2001
Edinburgh scored a none-too-convincing win over Glasgow at Armadale in the rearranged fixture. It went to a last heat decider. This has been the way of things in recent Glasgow-Edinburgh encounters no matter which venue.
Edinburgh were gifted a lead in heat one by a Les Collins engine failure but promptly gave it back after Derek Sneddon was excluded in heat 2. Things were tied until Glasgow took a deserved lead in heat 7. Up to that point, the Glasgow riders seemed sharper out of the gate.
Glasgow could have extended this lead in heat 8 but Aidan Collins fell and was excluded. Stuart Swales won the re-run to keep Glasgow ahead. Monarchs then did level things in heat 9 with a 4-2 heat advantage. They then took a 5-1 and a 4-2 in the next two heats to move six points ahead.
Glasgow then used James Grieves as a tactical substitute to keep the lead to six going into heat 13. This turned rather farcical after both Robert Eriksson and Les Collins were excluded. Glasgow clearly did not want to win heat 13 because this would prevent them using tactical substitutes in heat 14 and Grieves offered no challenge to Jan Andersen. That left Monarchs seven points up, so Glasgow brought in Sanchez as a tactical substitute to lead his partner to a 5-1. That reduced the leeway to three points but Peter Carr won heat 15 to secure the match.
Despite the closeness of the match and the fact that there were one or two good heats, the meeting was not one of the better Scottish derbies of recent years. There were a lot of points thrown away through unforced errors and engine failures.
Both teams were at full strength with Glasgow changing their race order from the original staging date of Friday. New averages mean that Emiliano Sanchez moves to heat leader at the expense of Stuart Swales. Aidan Collins' move out of the reserve position has been delayed for the moment as Stuart Swales is still on his 2000 average and will have to wait until 1st June to get a new one.
Gate position A was in used with Edinburgh off 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Robert Eriksson, Stuart Swales, Blair Scott [59.5]
Robert Eriksson gated ahead of Les Collins and Blair Scott. Then Stuart Swales made an inside surge to cut past Scott on the third bend. Blair tried to come back and seemed set to retake third place off the fourth bend when Les Collins stopped suddenly with engine problems. This blocked Blair Scott's line and allowed Swales to establish himself in second place behind Eriksson.
(4-2) (4-2)
Heat 2: Aidan Collins, Christian Henry, Scott Courtney [59.9]
Scott Courtney got a 'flyer' and lead but the referee was not happy and ruled an 'unsatisfactory start' with all four back. At the second attempt, Courtney ploughed into the tapes. He came back in on a 15-metre handicap that also cost Aidan Collins gate position. At the third attempt, Collins seemed to have edged ahead of Henry when Sneddon blasted around the outside off the second bend to lead. Sneddon led for a couple of laps until he spun on the second bend. Collins and Henry both evaded the static Sneddon but Courtney was forced to lay-down. At the fourth attempt Collins outgated Henry to level the scores.
(2-4) (6-6)
Heat 3: Peter Carr, Emiliano Sanchez, Mark Courtney, René Aas [58.3]
Peter Carr had no difficulty winning the heat. René Aas made a reasonable start but was overwhelmed by the very strong Glasgow pairing.
(3-3) (9-9)
Heat 4: James Grieves, Jan Andersen, Derek Sneddon, Scott Courtney [59.1]
James Grieves made a great start to head Jan Andersen. Derek Sneddon had few problems in passing Scott Courtney to take third.
(3-3) (12-12)
Heat 5: Peter Carr, Les Collins, Stuart Swales, René Aas [57.7]
Peter Carr brushed aside the opposition despite being last out of the gate after he cut back and surged ahead. René Aas again found the Glasgow pair too strong.
(3-3) (15-15)
Heat 6: James Grieves, Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott, Aidan Collins [58.9]
Grieves outgated Eriksson and held on without problems. Blair Scott was third but was pressed by Aidan Collins. The duel lasted right through to the flag with Collins appearing to have passed on a couple of occasions only for Blair to come back.
(3-3) (18-18)
Heat 7: Emiliano Sanchez, Jan Andersen, Mark Courtney, Christian Henry [58.8]
Jan Andersen missed the gate again as Sanchez surged to a race win. Mark Courtney headed Christian Henry as Glasgow took the lead.
(2-4) (20-22)
Heat 8: Stuart Swales, Blair Scott, Derek Sneddon [59.7]
Glasgow brought in Aidan Collins for Scott Courtney as a reserve change. Swales and Collins made the start and seemed set in increase the Glasgow lead but Blair Scott challenged. Collins went into the first bend fence as Scott cut inside him. The referee correctly excluded Collins and the heat was re-run. Stuart Swales made another start and won the heat.
(3-3) (23-25)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, James Grieves, René Aas, Scott Courtney [58.4]
James Grieves gated yet again as Carr brushed him aside with contemptuous ease on the 3rd/4th bend. René Aas had no difficult picking up his first point ahead of Scott Courtney in as a reserve change for Aidan Collins.
(4-2) (27-27)
Heat 10: Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott, Emiliano Sanchez, Mark Courtney [59.1]
Robert Eriksson and Blair Scott flew from tapes and took a comfortable 5-1 ahead of Sanchez and Courtney.
(5-1) (32-28)
Heat 11: Jan Andersen, Les Collins, Christian Henry, Stuart Swales [58.7]
Jan Andersen led Stuart Swales and Christian Henry but Les Collins swept around the outside with enough momentum to take him into the lead by the third bend. Christian Henry then passed Stuart Swales. Jan Andersen came back strongly and pulled off a rare pass on Les Collins.
(4-2) (36-30)
Heat 12: Peter Carr, James Grieves, Emiliano Sanchez, Christian Henry [58.1]
Monarchs' six point lead enabled Glasgow to introduce James Grieves as a tactical substitute for Aidan Collins. While Peter Carr predictably won the heat from the back, Grieves and Sanchez combined to tie the heat.
(3-3) (39-33)
Heat 13: Jan Andersen, James Grieves [59.1]
James Grieves gated ahead of Collins but Andersen surged into second place. Robert Eriksson looked to be struggling at the back and slowed down appearing to retire. Les Collins then hit the fourth bend fence while chasing Andersen. Eriksson seeing this tried to get going to make it into the re-run. However he was deemed to be not under power when the race was stopped and the re-run went ahead with only two riders. In the heat that neither side wanted to win Andersen was out front with Grieves in close attendance. Grieves made no attempt to pass.
(3-2) (42-35)
Heat 14: Emiliano Sanchez, Mark Courtney, Christian Henry, René Aas [58.4]
The reason why Glasgow wanted to lose heat 13 became apparent as they replaced Scott Courtney with tactical substitute Emiliano Sanchez. This reunited Glasgow's strong middle pairing and they had no problems in seeing off Henry and Aas to bring Glasgow back into contention.
(1-5) (43-40)
Heat 15: Peter Carr, James Grieves, Emiliano Sanchez, Robert Eriksson [58.2]
Glasgow won the toss and took gates 1 and 3. Carr led from Grieves with Eriksson third. While Carr easily won the heat the tiring Eriksson was making no progress against Grieves. He went rather too wide on the second bend allowing Sanchez to come through on the inside.
(3-3) (46-43)
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
||||
|
Robert Eriksson |
3 |
2 |
3 |
X |
0 |
|
8 |
|
Blair Scott |
1 |
1* |
2 |
2* |
|
|
6+2 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
15 |
|
René Aas |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
1 |
|
Jan Andersen |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
10 |
|
|
Christian Henry |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
4 |
|
Derek Sneddon |
X |
1* |
1* |
|
|
|
2+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Glasgow Tigers |
|
|
|
||||
|
Les Collins |
E |
2 |
2 |
X |
|
|
4 |
|
Stuart Swales |
2 |
1* |
3 |
0 |
|
|
6+1 |
|
Emiliano Sanchez |
2 |
3 |
1 |
1* |
3 |
1* |
11+2 |
|
Mark Courtney |
1* |
1 |
0 |
2* |
4+2 |
||
|
James Grieves |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
14 |
|
Aidan Collins |
3 |
0 |
X |
|
|
3 |
|
|
Scott Courtney |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
Monarchs' reliance on Peter Carr has seldom been better illustrated. He produced as convincing a maximum as you are ever likely to see. He was able to win from the gate or from the back against any opponent. Robert Eriksson has admitted that he has probably come back soon after his injury but the failure of guests to deliver the points probably forced his hand. He is obviously not scoring to his full potential but is probably getting there.
Jan Andersen has gone through a bad spell after his injury. After a poor match at Workington, he showed that he was capable of winning heats with a double figure score. Blair Scott also struggled early on but was going well just as he was running out of rides. René Aas had a debut to forget. He was up against some of the strongest second strings he is likely to face at Armadale.
Nether Christian Henry or Derek Sneddon was at their best and all bar one of their points were scored at the expense of Scott Courtney or fellow team members.
.
While the result was virtually identical to that in the earlier Spring Trophy challenge, the individual scores on the Glasgow side were very different. Then Les Collins and Mark Courtney scored 13 points each and Aidan Collins weighed in with 7 paid 9. This time the trio scored only 11 points between them.
The three disasters from the previous match, James Grieves (4+1), Emiliano Sanchez (1+1), and Stuart Swales (1+1), all came good with a combined score of 31 points. The seventh member of the Glasgow team, Scott Courtney, fared no better in terms of points but looked very much more competitive than of late.
One of these days all the Glasgow riders may get it together in one match and will produce a win, maybe? Monarchs winning streak at Armadale now stretches back three years and ten matches.
Man of the match: Peter Carr
John Lowe