Stoke Potters 43: Edinburgh Monarchs 47
Premier National Trophy
Loomer Road, Newcastle
Saturday 31st March 2001
Edinburgh made a late comeback with two 5-1 heat advantages in the last two heats to snatch an unlikely win over Stoke. Unlikely because Monarchs were without Robert Eriksson, Blair Scott and Ben Shields. Oliver Allen of Swindon came in for Eriksson while the 16-year-old Australian junior Rory Schlein replaces Scott and rider replacement operated for Shields.
To be fair, Stoke also had problems with Paul Pickering absent through injury and Jan Stæchmann because of illness. Garry Stead came in for Stæchmann while rider replacement operated for Pickering.
This all produced a tight match with the lead swapping back and forth and no team having more than a two point lead until Stoke made the breakthrough with a 5-1 in heat 11. Monarchs used a tactical substitution to cut the lead back to four points immediately. The lead remained at four until the dramatic finale. A 5-1 in heat 14 set up the last heat decider. Monarchs were on another 5-1 when Garry Stead came off taking out his partner Mark Burrows.
Minds were presumably cast back to last season when Edinburgh were on a 5-1 in a last heat decider at Loomer Road when David Walsh fell when well behind. Rather than awarding the race and giving Monarchs a 47-46 win a re-run was called and Stoke guest Paul Thorp took advantage to split the Monarchs pair and win the match 47-46. There was none of that this time and the heat was awarded to ensure an away win.
Gate position A was used with Stoke off 1 and 3 in heat one
Heat 1: Oliver Allen, Tony Atkin, Jon Armstrong, Rory Schlein [65.8]
Tony Atkin came in for Pickering as rider replacement. Oliver Allen secured a first heat victory ahead of the Stoke pairing.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Christian Henry, Dean Felton, Derek Sneddon, Neil Painter [67.2]
Christian Henry kept up his good form of last night to beat Dean Felton while Derek Sneddon took third place to edge Monarchs ahead.
(2-4) (5-7)
Heat 3: Tony Atkin, Jan Andersen, Mark Burrows, Rory Schlein [65.3]
Rory Schlein came in as rider replacement. Tony Atkin won from Jan Andersen as Stoke levelled the match.
(4-2) (9-9)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Garry Stead, Dean Felton, Derek Sneddon [64.8]
Stoke switched reserves to bring in Dean Felton. Peter Carr won from guest Garry Stead while Dean Felton nipped past Derek Sneddon keep the scores level.
(3-3) (12-12)
Heat 5: Oliver Allen, Mark Burrows, Tony Atkin, Rory Schlein [66.0]
Oliver Allen continued with his impressive form winning from Burrows and Atkin.
(3-3) (15-15)
Heat 6: Peter Carr, Mark Burrows, Christian Henry, Jon Armstrong [65.5]
Mark Burrows came in as rider replacement but could do nothing about Peter Carr who racked up Monarchs' fifth heat win out of six. Christian Henry did well to take third place to edge Monarchs ahead once more.
(2-4) (17-19)
Heat 7: Garry Stead, Oliver Allen, Jan Andersen, Neil Painter [65.6]
Monarchs used Oliver Allen as rider replacement for Eriksson. Stoke responded by bringing in Neil Painter to get one of his rides out of the way against the strong visiting partnership. Garry Stead broke the run of Edinburgh heat wins ahead of Allen and Andersen.
(3-3) (20-22)
Heat 8: Jon Armstrong, Christian Henry, Dean Felton, Derek Sneddon [67.9]
With Schlein having completed three heats, Christian Henry came in as a reserve change. Stoke switched reserves once more to bring in the stronger Dean Felton for Painter. This paid off with Armstrong beating Henry but Felton taking third to level things once more.
(4-2) (24-24)
Heat 9: Peter Carr, Mark Burrows, Tony Atkin, Derek Sneddon [65.5]
Derek Sneddon came in as a reserve change to give Christian Henry a rest. The scoreline was maintained with Carr picking up his third straight win over Burrows and Atkin.
(3-3) (27-27)
Heat 10: Garry Stead, Jan Andersen, Jon Armstrong, Christian Henry [66.5]
Christian Henry was in as rider replacement for Ben Shields. Garry Stead also came in as rider replacement for Pickering. Stead clocked up a second heat win over Andersen and Armstrong weighed in to take Stoke ahead for the first time in the meeting.
(4-2) (31-29)
Heat 11: Garry Stead, Dean Felton, Oliver Allen, Christian Henry [66.0]
Garry Stead did it again and was backed up by Dean Felton for a surprise 5-1 after he passed Allen. Christian Henry in as a reserve change for Schlein ran in last. Stoke were beginning the put the pressure on!
(5-1) (36-30)
Heat 12: Peter Carr, Mark Burrows, Jan Andersen, Neil Painter [65.4]
Jan Andersen took his rider replacement outing and was joined by Peter Carr in as a tactical substitute for Christian Henry. This failed to produce a maximum with Burrows splitting the Monarchs pair. But the margin was cut back to four points.
(2-4) (38-34)
Heat 13: Garry Stead, Peter Carr, Oliver Allen, Jon Armstrong [65.0]
Jon Armstrong took the rider replacement slot. Garry Stead beat Carr for the first time but Allen took third to maintain the scoreline.
(3-3) (41-37)
Heat 14: Jan Andersen, Christian Henry, Tony Atkin, Dean Felton [66.8]
Christian Henry came in as a reserve change for Sneddon. Jan Andersen made his only start of the night to win. Christian Henry did not make the best of starts but came back to blast around the outside of Dean Felton on bends three and four of the first lap to join his teammate. The resultant 5-1 levelled the scores.
(1-5) (42-42)
Heat 15: Peter Carr, Jan Andersen, Mark Burrows [Awarded]
Carr and Andersen lined up against Stead and Burrows with Stoke choosing gates 2 and 4. Garry Stead went from gate four from where he had inflicted the only defeat on Peter Carr in heat 13. Carr made the start from gate 1 and moved out to block Stead with Andersen last. Jan managed to pass Burrows. A mistake by Stead allowed Andersen through to second. Both Stead and Burrows were right behind Andersen. Then Stead appeared to pick up drive and lost things with his bike somehow missing Andersen although Burrows did go to ground. As the incident happened on the third lap, the referee awarded the race maximum to Edinburgh with Stead excluded
(1-5) (43-47)
|
Stoke Potters |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Paul Pickering |
Rider replacement |
|
|
(7) |
||||
|
Jon Armstrong |
1* |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
5+1 |
|
Mark Burrows |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
|
10 |
|
Tony Atkin |
2 |
3 |
1* |
1* |
1 |
|
|
8+2 |
|
Garry Stead |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
X |
14 |
|
|
Dean Felton |
2 |
1* |
1 |
2* |
0 |
|
|
6+2 |
|
Neil Painter |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
0 |
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Oliver Allen |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1* |
|
|
10+1 |
|
Rory Schlein |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
|
Ben Shields |
Rider replacement |
|
|
(3) |
||||
|
Jan Andersen |
2 |
1* |
2 |
1 |
3 |
2* |
|
11+2 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
17 |
|
Christian Henry |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2* |
|
8+1 |
|
Derek Sneddon |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
Oliver Allen may have seemed a strange choice to replace Robert Eriksson. However under the new guest rules , Monarchs only had up to 8.47 points to play with. This corresponded to Robert's away average for last season. In addition with Workington, Glasgow, Berwick and Sheffield in action the number of riders available was limited. They can be few doubts about the choice in retrospect with a double figure score for the Swindon youngster.
Peter Carr continues to deliver with 17 points out of a possible 18. Jan Andersen has often been tagged as a rider who can only score if he gates. A tally of 11 paid 13 from six rides after making only one start shows his worth. Christian Henry produced another assured and aggressive display of riding. This made his target of a seven point average look attainable.
Derek Sneddon was arguably worth more than his single point. Reserve changes by both team managers often left Derek with harder rides than as programmed. Inexperience cost Derek points on more than one occasion off the last bend. Rory Schlein, understandably, was left behind somewhat from the gate but was on the pace thereafter. He also has a nice smooth riding style. Rider replacement for Ben Shields produced only three points from the four rides.
Stoke can have no misgivings over the choice of Garry Stead as guest. Up to his last heat exclusion he dropped only one point (to Peter Carr). The Stoke middle order of Burrows, Atkin, Armstrong and Felton all picked up points but the team missed the cutting edge that Pickering might have provided although rider replacement came up with seven points for his four programmed rides.
Man of the match: Peter Carr
John Lowe (with thanks to Neil H, Mike Hunter, and Peter Leckie)