Edinburgh Monarchs 53: Newcastle Diamonds 36
Premier League
Lothian Arena, Armadale
Friday 8th June 2001
Edinburgh produced their biggest Premier League win over Newcastle in an entertaining match that was notable for some controversial refereeing decisions and a bad heat 11 crash that ended the meeting for Dalle Andersson and cost Jan Andersen a trip to hospital.
The match was close in the opening heats until Jan Andersen and Ben Shields were gifted a 5-0 in heat four and Peter Carr and Blair Scott both came from the back to take a heat five maximum. A further 5-1 from Dalle Andersson and Jan Andersen in heat seven put Monarchs well in control. Newcastle's last throw of the dice failed in heat eight with a double tactical substitution of Kevin Little and André Compton only producing a tied heat. Little won but 'golden double' Compton was penalized for moving and was moved even further back. This enabled Christian Henry and Dalle Andersson to keep André at the back.
From then on it was damage limitation for Newcastle as Monarchs piled on the misery despite Robert Eriksson having one of his least productive Armadale meetings.
The meeting was notable for some excellent passing by Peter Carr, Dalle Andersson, Blair Scott, Christian Henry, Ben Shields for Monarchs. Kevin Little and André Compton also produced some neat passes.
Newcastle used Gary Flint to replace the injured James Birkinshaw. Edinburgh tracked a full strength side with Ben Shields back in the team at reserve in place of Derek Sneddon.
Back to usual as gate position B was in used with Edinburgh off 2 and 4 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Bjarne Pedersen, Robert Eriksson, Christian Henry [57.6]
Bjarne Pedersen made the gate from the inside trap and despite trying everything on the inside line as well as the outside line, Eriksson couldn't find a way past. Rob Grant fell on the fourth bend and retired.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Dalle Andersson, Richard Juul, Ben Shields, Gary Flint [58.5]
Andersson made a great start but Juul headed Shields into the second bend and Ben could not get past.
(4-2) (7-5)
Heat 3: André Compton, Peter Carr, Kevin Little, Blair Scott [57.9]
Compton made a very fast start leaving Carr struggling. Peter probable could have passed André but he had to catch him first and given the speed that André was moving it proved to be beyond him. Kevin Little slipped past Blair Scott on the first lap to level the scores.
(2-4) (9-9)
Heat 4: Jan Andersen, Ben Shields [58.9
Jan Andersen made a great start leaving Jesper Olsen trailing. Jesper tried a bit too hard on the second bend and fell. Ben Shields had to lay down and the heat was stopped and Olsen excluded. In the rerun Gary Flint fell and retired leaving Andersen and Shields to ride in formation to a 5-0 advantage.
(5-0) (14-9)
Heat 5: Peter Carr, Blair Scott, Bjarne Pedersen [58.1]
Bjarne Pedersen made the gate ahead of Carr and Scott. Rob Grant got into trouble on the back straight and retired. Carr chased Pedersen before executing a superb inside pass to lead. Blair Scott then took on the challenge and after several failed attempts swept past on the outside.
(5-1) (19-10)
Heat 6: Jesper Olsen, Robert Eriksson, Christian Henry, Richard Juul [58.8]
Jesper Olsen was first away. Robert Eriksson looked set for an outside pass off the second but Olsen moved to block him causing Eriksson to shut off. Juul was ahead of Henry throughout the heat until Christian stormed past just before the line.
(3-3) (22-13)
Heat 7: Dalle Andersen, Jan Andersen, André Compton, Kevin Little [59.1]
Jan Andersen gated ahead of Compton and Little. Dalle Andersson surged between the Diamonds pairing to join Jan up front. They then team-rode to keep Compton at bay.
(5-1) (27-14)
Heat 8: Kevin Little, Christian Henry, Dalle Andersson, André Compton [58.1]
Desperate times called for desperate measures as Newcastle played their 'joker'. Kevin Little replaced Flint as a tactical substitute while André Compton came in for Grant as a golden double. Monarchs had already anticipated this type of move by bringing in Dalle Andersson as a reserve change for Shields. Compton was penalized for moving at the start and was pushed back still further. Kevin Little made the start and tried to slow things down but had Christian Henry and Dalle Andersson all over him he had him work cut out to stay ahead. Compton took the best part of three laps to get anywhere near the Monarchs pair and was unable to pass.
(3-3) (30-17)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Richard Juul, Blair Scott [58.7]
Jesper Olsen gated on Peter Carr but fell on the fourth bend under pressure from Carr. The race was stopped and Olsen excluded once more. The Edinburgh pair made the gate in the re-run but Juul swept around the outside from gate four to take second place.
(4-2) (34-19)
Heat 10: Kevin Little, André Compton, Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott [58.1]
Eriksson missed the start once more as Little sped from the tapes. Worse was to come as Compton passed Eriksson to give Newcastle only their second heat advantage.
(1-5) (35-24)
Heat 11: Dalle Andersson, Jan Andersen, Jesper Olsen [59.3]
Newcastle made a somewhat dubious tactical change with Grant being replaced for a second time by tactical substitute Jesper Olsen. They may as well not have bothered as Dalle Andersson swept ahead of Pedersen with Jan Andersen easily holding Olsen as the back. Then Pedersen passed the wide-riding Andersson on the back straight. Dalle came back and tried to pass on the outside off the last bend. He clipped the fence as his bike slewed across the track and took out Jan Andersen. The referee judged that Pedersen had taken Andersson into the fence. The Newcastle supporters didn't agree! The race was awarded to Dalle with Jan second and Olsen third. In a bizarre twist a time was awarded to Andersson despite the fact that his bike crossed the line without him aboard. There was a long delay while Jan received treatment and was taken away in the ambulance.
(5-1) (40-25)
Heat 12: Peter Carr, André Compton, Rob Grant, Ben Shields [57.8]
Rob Grant came in as a tactical substitute to clear his third ride. Peter Carr had no problems winning from Compton but Grant had the drop on Shields and despite looking rather wobbly held third place.
(3-3) (43-28)
Heat 13: Robert Eriksson, Bjarne Pedersen, Ben Shields, Jesper Olsen [57.9]
Ben Shields came in to replace the injured Jan Andersen. Eriksson made his only start of the night and won by a fair margin. Ben Shields missed the start and it seemed that he was set for a second successive non-scoring ride. Ben had other ideas and finally passed Olsen off the last bend.
(4-2) (47-30)
Heat 14: Kevin Little, Blair Scott, Ben Shields, Gary Flint [58.7]
Ben Shields came in for his third successive ride to replace the injured Dalle Andersson. Kevin Little was really flying by now and gated to win this third straight win. Blair and Ben took the minor points ahead of Gary Flint.
(3-3) (50-33)
Heat 15: Peter Carr, André Compton, Kevin Little, Robert Eriksson [57.6]
Newcastle took gate position in the final heat. Carr was away and was never going to be caught. Eriksson was stuck at the back and failed to score.
(3-3) (53-36)
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Robert Eriksson |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
8 |
|
Christian Henry |
1* |
1* |
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
4+2 |
|
Peter Carr |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
14 |
|
Blair Scott |
0 |
2* |
1 |
2 |
|
|
5+1 |
|
|
Jan Andersen |
3 |
2* |
2* |
|
|
|
|
7+2 |
|
Dalle Andersson |
3 |
3 |
1* |
3 |
|
|
|
10+1 |
|
Ben Shields |
1 |
2* |
0 |
1 |
1* |
|
|
5+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Newcastle Diamonds |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Bjarne Pedersen |
3 |
1 |
X |
2 |
|
|
|
6 |
|
Rob Grant |
F |
R |
1* |
|
|
|
1+1 |
|
|
André Compton |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2* |
2 |
2 |
|
10+1 |
|
Kevin Little |
1 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
|
11+1 |
|
Jesper Olsen |
X |
3 |
X |
1 |
0 |
|
|
4 |
|
Richard Juul |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
|
Gary Flint |
0 |
F |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
Robert Eriksson will often miss one start per match, sometimes two, but it is very rare for him to miss four! Against riders of the calibre of Jesper Olsen Bjarne Pedersen and André Compton it is always going to be difficult to come back. Robert who had his first match of the season in Sweden last Tuesday seemed to be getting back to his best form. Peter Carr dropped his first Armadale point on the track when he was beaten by André Compton in heat 3 but otherwise he was as dominant as ever.
Jan Andersen had a three-ride paid maximum before retiring from the meeting after being knocked off in heat 11. Jan rode particularly well to keep André Compton and Kevin Little out of things in heat 7. Christian Henry had a decent match with a great last gasp pass of Richard Juul in heat 6. Blair Scott also showed a welcome return to form. His outside pass of Bjarne Pedersen was one of the highlights of the meeting.
The star of the show was Dalle Andersson who won three heats before pulling out. His score of paid 11 would have been certainly been higher had he taken his scheduled heat 14 ride. Ben Shields make a confident return to the team. Many of his points were gifted or at the expense of Gary Flint but he did look the part and his pass of Jesper Olsen in heat 13 was breathtaking.
With Jesper Olsen having a poor meeting and Bjarne Pedersen not making his usual big score it was down to the Newcastle middle pairing of Kevin Little and André Compton to rescue their team from a complete hammering. Kevin Little had a great meeting and was only beaten by Peter Carr apart from his last place in heat 7. There was little contribution from the bottom end of the team although Richard Juul looked as if he might have done given more rides.
Man of the match: Dalle Andersson
Most exciting rider: Blair Scott
John Lowe