Mitch magic gives Edinburgh Monarchs the edge in cup semi
Mitch Cluff dragged himself out of his sick bed to help the Edinburgh Monarchs secure a slender lead in the first leg of their BSN Series semi-finals clash with the Poole Pirates.
The Australian reserve was feeling the effects of a flu bug but produced a rider-of-the-match performance, scoring eight including a colossal heat 14 victory as the hosts edged out the Pirates 46-44 at Armadale on Friday night.
The Monarchs never found themselves in front for the entirety of the meeting until Cluff's heat 14 triumph set up a match-winning 5-1 from Justin Sedgmen and Kye Thomson in the final race of the evening.
"I woke up on Thursday with bad flu and I don't know what it was, I couldn't breathe out of my nose," Cluff, 26, explained. "I had a sore throat, and I actually didn't really want to ride. I was hoping it would be rained off so I could come back and ride at 100 per cent. But I got on with the job and I knew once I put the kevlars on you've got to go for it.
"It was a good meeting, I had one bad race I guess, but we've all got that in us.
"Anything can happen. We could do to them what they did to us, it's speedway. We have a week off now so we need to make sure our bikes are 100 per cent, go to Poole with a great attitude, and see what we can do."
The second leg is next Wednesday, June 10, at Poole's Wimborne Road in Dorset.