Newcastle Diamonds 55: Edinburgh Monarchs 35
Premier League Cup
Brough Park, Newcastle
Monday 21st May 2001
Newcastle brushed aside Monarchs at Brough Park to go through to the second round of the Premier League Cup by a margin of 94 points to 86. Monarchs current team structure means that they are heavily dependent on all three heat leaders scoring well. With Robert Eriksson a little off colour and Jan Andersen absent, the 13 point score from Peter Carr was insufficient to keep Monarchs in contention.
Newcastle took an early grip on the tie and built-up an eight-point lead after four heats. This was up to ten points by heat six. Monarchs held on for a while aided by a heat eight tactical substitution. In heat 10 an advantage from Bjarne Pedersen and Rob Grant levelled the aggregate scores. Newcastle banged in a 5-1 in heat 11 to take the lead and while Monarchs cut this back in heat 12 another maximum in heat 13 virtually sealed the win. Kevin Little confirmed this with a win from the back in heat 14.
Newcastle had too much firepower for what was effectively a four-man Monarchs side. Had Edinburgh had a bigger lead to defend then things might have been different. Monarchs' problem was lack of heat wins with only one win for Robert Eriksson and two for Peter Carr.
Newcastle were at full strength with the return of Bjarne Pedersen from Danish Championship duty. Monarchs were without Jan Andersen and Mark Burrows of Stoke was brought in as guest.
Gate position A was used with Edinburgh off 2 and 4 in heat one
Heat 1: Bjarne Pedersen, Robert Eriksson, Rob Grant, Blair Scott [64.9]
Eriksson made the start but was passed by Pedersen on the inside of bend two on the second lap. Blair Scott ran in last as the lead was cut by two points.
(4-2) (4-2)
Heat 2: Richard Juul, Christian Henry, James Birkinshaw, Derek Sneddon [66.4]
Richard Juul had a rare win ahead of Christian Henry and James Birkinshaw.
(4-2) (8-4)
Heat 3: Kevin Little, André Compton, Dalle Andersen, Mark Burrows [65.2]
Mark Burrows was all over the place on the first bend and was left way behind with Little and Compton well in control of the heat.
(5-1) (13-5)
Heat 4: Jesper Olsen, Peter Carr, Christian Henry [65.3]
Monarchs made a reserve change with Christian Henry replacing Derek Sneddon. Jesper Olsen gated and held off Peter Carr but did come under pressure when he ran wide on turn four of the second lap. James Birkinshaw retired with engine failure.
(3-3) (16-8)
Heat 5: Kevin Little, Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott, André Compton [65.3]
This heat produced a second win for Little this time from the back after passing first Scott and then Eriksson. Compton was stuck at the rear with an engine appearing to be down on power.
(3-3) (19-11)
Heat 6: Bjarne Pedersen, Peter Carr, Robert Grant, Derek Sneddon [65.2]
Derek Sneddon came in for Christian Henry. Peter Carr made the start but ran wide on the fourth bend allowing Pedersen through. Carr tried to come back and nearly made it with an inside dive off the last bend. This took Newcastle to within two points of Monarchs on the aggregate score.
(4-2) (23-13)
Heat 7: Jesper Olsen, Dalle Andersson, Mark Burrows, Richard Juul [65.4]
Jesper Olsen had an easy win ahead of Dalle Andersson and Mark Burrows.
(3-3) (26-16)
Heat 8: Peter Carr, Rob Grant, James Birkinshaw [65.5]
Peter Carr came in as a tactical substitute for Sneddon and made the start. Rob Grant swept past Blair Scott and had a go at Peter Carr on the outside but was forced wide and had to settle for second place. Blair Scott fell while third gifting a point to Birkinshaw.
(3-3) (29-19)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Kevin Little, André Compton, Derek Sneddon [64.7]
Monarchs switched reserves once more with Sneddon coming in to clear his third ride. Peter Carr and Sneddon gated. Compton passed Sneddon on the inside when the Monarchs' youngster slid off.
(3-3) (32-22)
Heat 10: Bjarne Pedersen, Mark Burrows, Rob Grant [65.3]
Pedersen and Grant made the gate this time. Andersson and Burrows passed Grant. Monarchs' new Swede then moved up to challenge Pedersen but fell off on the last bend. This gifted a heat advantage to the Diamonds to level the scores.
(4-2) (36-24)
Heat 11: Jesper Olsen, Richard Juul, Robert Eriksson, Christian Henry [66.1]
Christian Henry replaced Blair Scott. Robert Eriksson got into trouble on the back straight and reared. He was unable to challenge Richard Juul for second place. This put Newcastle four points up.
(5-1) (41-25)
Heat 12: Robert Eriksson, André Compton, Dalle Andersson, Richard Juul [66.0]
There was a double tactical substitution with Eriksson and Andersson replacing Burrows and Henry. Monarchs Swedes gated with Eriksson starting to look himself for the first time with an easy win. Andersson was caught on the line by André Compton riding a Kevin Little bike. Monarchs had trimmed the deficit to a couple of points.
(2-4) (43-29)
Heat 13: Jesper Olsen, Bjarne Pedersen, Peter Carr, Robert Eriksson [65.3]
Monarchs lost out in the battle of the big guns with Carr unable to pass Pedersen who in turn was well behind Olsen.
(5-1) (48-30)
Heat 14: Kevin Little, Mark Burrows, Dalle Andersson, Richard Juul [66.1]
Monarchs needed a heat advantage to keep the tie alive and brought in Mark Burrows as a tactical substitute to replace Henry. Burrows gated and led for a while until Kevin Little passed off the last bend of the third lap and clinched the tie.
(3-3) (51-33)
Heat 15: Jesper Olsen, Peter Carr, Kevin Little [65.5]
This was effectively a 'dead' heat with Olsen and Little holding the lead until Carr showed some steel to battle past Little on the line.
(5-1) (55-35)
|
Newcastle Diamonds |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Bjarne Pedersen |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2* |
|
|
|
11+1 |
|
Rob Grant |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
|
|
4+2 |
|
André Compton |
2* |
0 |
1* |
2 |
|
|
|
5+2 |
|
Kevin Little |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
12 |
|
Jesper Olsen |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
15 |
|
Richard Juul |
3 |
0 |
2* |
F |
0 |
|
|
5+1 |
|
James Birkinshaw |
1 |
E |
1* |
|
|
|
|
2+1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Robert Eriksson |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
E |
|
8 |
|
Blair Scott |
0 |
1* |
F |
|
|
|
|
1+1 |
|
Mark Burrows |
0 |
1* |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
5+1 |
|
|
Dalle Andersson |
1 |
2 |
F |
1 |
1 * |
|
|
5+1 |
|
Peter Carr |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
|
13 |
|
Christian Henry |
2 |
1* |
0 |
|
|
|
|
3+1 |
|
Derek Sneddon |
0 |
0 |
R |
|
|
|
|
0 |
Only Peter Carr came near to challenging the top Newcastle riders but even he couldn't do anything about Jesper Olsen and Bjarne Pedersen. Robert Eriksson was way below his best Brough Park form and won only heat 12 when he came in as a tactical substitute.
Mark Burrows was unable to repeat his heroics from Stoke's recent win at Brough Park but battled hard. Dalle Andersson was a major plus for Monarchs with some solid scoring despite a heat 10 fall when challenging Bjarne Pedersen for the lead. The remainder of the Monarchs side made little impact.
The enigmatic Jesper Olsen was in blistering form with a five ride full maximum. Bjarne Pedersen produced a four-ride paid maximum while Kevin Little was only beaten by Peter Carr in his five rides. André Compton was struggling for speed and borrowed Kevin Little's bike for his last ride. Rob Grant scored in every ride and even the under pressure Richard Juul scored some points.
Man of the match: Jesper Olsen
John Lowe (with thanks to Mike Hunter and Vaughan Jones for heat comments)