Sam Masters '˜gutted' to miss out on Aussie crown

Sam Masters today said he was 'gutted' at losing out on the Australian speedway Championship for the second season running.

Edinburgh Monarchs captain Sam Masters. Picture: Ron MacNeill

The Edinburgh Monarchs captain was pipped to the title by a single point in the fourth and deciding round at Mildura by teenager Brady Kurtz, who was excluded in the A-Final for breaking the tapes, but Masters failed to capitalise on Brady’s misfortune.

Masters needed to finish first to lift the crown or second place to force a run-off. But a poor third place behind ex-Monarchs stars Justin Sedgmen and Max Fricke handed the glory to Kurtz.

Masters admitted: “It was pretty hard to take, I was lost for words to be honest. I have come so far in the series and to have lost out by one point, I’m gutted.”

Masters did concede that his machinery wasn’t quite up to scratch. “I did not feel particularly quick on the night and the bikes just wouldn’t work, no matter what the boys did in the pits, and they gave their all.

“But fair play to Brady, he got the job done.

“Finishing second is still a fair achievement in what has been a pretty tough and gruelling series. The result is still hard to take but at least I have made the qualifiers again for the Grand Prix and that is a positive I must take from it all.”