Edinburgh vs Berwick 13/04/2007

Edinburgh Monarchs 47	13 April 2007 Premier Trophy Armadale
Berwick Bandits 25
abandoned after heat 12 due to fog
Edinburgh 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 T B 1. Ronnie Correy (c) 3 3 1 7 2. Henrik Møller 1 1 3 3 8 3. William Lawson 3 2 3 1 9 4. Daniele Tessari 2' 0 0 2 1 5. Matthew Wethers 1' 3 3 7 1 6 Derek Sneddon 3 1 1 5 7. Andrew Tully 2' 2 2' 3 9 2 Berwick 1. Michal Makovsky 0 3 2 5 2. Andreas Bergstrom 2 1 1 0 4 3. Jacek Rempala 0 2 2 nf 4 4. Michael Coles 1 0 0 1 5. Stan Burza 3 2 2 7 6 Benji Compton 1 0 0 1' 2 4 1 7. John Branney 0 0 0 0
Heat 01 Correy, Bergstrom, Møller, Makovsky Heat 02 Sneddon, Tully, Compton, Branney Heat 03 Lawson, Tessari, Coles, Rempala Heat 04 Burza, Tully, Wethers, Branney Heat 05 Makovsky, Lawson, Bergstrom, Tessari Heat 06 Correy, Burza, Møller, Compton Heat 07 Wethers, Rempala, Sneddon, Coles Heat 08 Møller, Tully, Bergstrom^, Branney Heat 09 Lawson, Burza, Compton, Tessari Heat 10 Møller, Rempala, Correy, Coles Heat 11 Wethers, Makovsky, Sneddon, Bergstrom Heat 12 Tully, Compton, Lawson, Rempala (NF)
report from The Scotsman DESPITE the thick coastal fog which enveloped Armadale, Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs saw their way clear to trounce Berwick Bandits 47-25 in their Premier Trophy speedway clash last night. Visibility became so poor that referee Craig Ackroyd abandoned the meeting after heat 12 but the result stands and Monarchs also picked up the aggregate bonus point having easily overturned a 14-point deficit incurred at Shielfield Park a fortnight ago. Bandits gaffer Peter Waite, while not making an issue of it, felt the match should have been halted a lot earlier. "You could barely see the crowd, you couldn't even see a rider five yards in front of you," he said. "I wasn't happy to carry on. It's a long season and riders' safety has to be considered. Luckily no one was injured." Waite did concede - and this may well have influenced his view on whether proceedings should have continued - that his side proved no match for Monarchs, who have been far from convincing themselves round the Lothian Arena. "No excuses, we simply weren't in it," he said. "We never ride Armadale very well unfortunately. We started to make the gate after our lads had completed one ride each. But things had already got away from us by then. That's speedway, you just have to move on to the next meeting. And this is what we will do." Monarchs joint top scorer - along with William Lawson - on nine points was reserve Andrew Tully, who countered Waite's claim that the abandonment decision should have been taken in the first half. "When I came out for my ride in heat eight, conditions were okay. I could still see fine," Tully said. "But perhaps we should have dispensed with the pre-match parade and just got into the racing straight away and we might have completed the full 15 heats. "Certainly by heat 12 it had become very hard to see. I was partnering William and we both crossed the line after three laps. We weren't sure if we had done the full four laps. William stopped and I did another half a lap and noticed he had halted and Berwick's Jacek Rempala also stopped. "I shot off again and luckily took the chequered flag. Thankfully I had made a good gate anyway and didn't have to look for anyone." Lawson, who had to settle for a third place point, commented: "I thought I saw the chequered flag come out and I stopped, but it was the yellow flag indicating there was one lap left!" Having hauled in eight points at Redcar 24 hours earlier, Tully is proving to be something of a nugget at the tail-end and is exceeding expectations. "You could say that," he said, "But riding at No. 7 I'm racing against fellow reserves most of the time. I did beat some of Berwick's second string riders, and this has been my aim this season." The 19-year-old will remain at reserve for another month, and added: "This is handy for me as it will gain me more experience. And if I do move into the main team a some point, I'll take it as it comes." The fog couldn't disguise the fact that Monarchs were heading for a big win anyway had the match reached its natural conclusion. Tully believes Monarchs are slowly starting to get themselves into gear after a stuttering start to the season. "The track was the best it's been of late. It had a nice bit of dirt on the outside making it possible to pass opponents for the likes of us who can't gate - like myself! It has been tough for the team at home because the circuit has been slick due to the weather. And because we cannot gate, we can't build a strong home advantage. But I thought we all coped well." Another bright spot amid the literal gloom for Monarchs was the return to form of Aussie Matthew Wethers who netted seven points including wins over Rempala and Bandits captain Michal Makovsky. Wethers, in the doldrums of late, said: "My problems have been mechanical of late. The only thing I used from the Redcar fixture on Thursday was my clutch. Hopefully this is the start of better things for me." Monarchs: Tully 9, Lawson 9, Moller 8, Correy 7, Wethers 7, Sneddon 5, Tessari 2. Berwick: Makovsky 7, Burza 7, Rempala 4 Compton 4, Bergstrom 2, Coles 1, Branney 0.