New-look Edinburgh Monarchs leave Redcar Bears nursing sore heads

Monarchs new signing Richie Worrall gets the bumps from his team-mates. Pic: Ron MacNeill

Edinburgh Monarchs’ revamped speedway squad showed no mercy towards bottom-of-the-table club Redcar Bears in their Championship Division clash at Armadale Stadium last night.

Monarchs muzzled the Bears convincingly, and that is putting it mildly, 69-21 to seal a quick league double having already toppled the Bears 57-33 away from home a fortnight ago.

This defeat keeps the Teessiders propping up the table.

Monarchs now climb up to joint sixth place with Workington Comets on 17 points just two positions outside the play-off qualification threshold with enough fixtures left for Monarchs to still achieve their goal.

And the home side got off to just the start they wanted with a big 5-1 from Victor Palovaara and Ricky Wells in the opening heat.

The second race saw Max Clegg in the Monarchs reserve role and the Brighouse racer, after some early travails, earned a second place behind partner Joel Andersson and this second 5-1 put Monarchs 10-2 in front after just two races.

Many eyes were trained on Monarchs’ new signing Richie Worrall who has assumed the third heat leader role. And the former Glasgow Tigers star got off to a cracking start with a fine win over Bears ace Jonas B Andersen, and with Josh Pickering following Worrall home this third 5-1 in a row saw Monarchs stretch their lead to 15-3. Too easy already.

Redcar were wilting under the heat Monarchs were producing and a fourth 5-1 advantage followed in as many races when captain Erik Riss and Andersson easily defeated Thomas Jorgensen and Jordan Stewart, Could the Bears respond?

This was becoming embarrassing now as Worrall picked up his second victory of the night in the fifth heat, and again Pickering followed his team-mate over the line, for a fifth straight 5-1 and the meeting was already looking over as a meaningful contest with Monarchs leading 25-5.

The Bears thankfully stopped the 5-1 deluge in heat six but still lost the race 4-2. Wells took the chequered flag with ease and Palovaara picked up third spot, Monarchs moving further in front 29-7.

Bears star Thomas Jorgensen was the hero for the visitors as he managed to split the Monarchs pairing.

Another 4-2 for Monarchs followed in the seventh race, Riss claiming his second win of the night, and Clegg picking up third place so Monarchs led 33-9 and a whitewash loomed.

Normal 5-1 service was resumed in heat eight as Palovaara and Andersson did the honours for Monarchs who were now scoring points for fun. But for the home fans it was not exactly enthralling entertainment.

The ninth race followed the same pattern with Pickering and Worrall claiming the 5-1 this time. Monarchs breached the 40-point mark and poor Redcar were like proverbial Bears with sore heads.

Heat ten saw Palovaara and Wells combine for yet another 5-1 and Monarchs had already claimed the match points to lead 48-12. The Monarchs management’s wage bill for this performance doesn’t bear thinking about!

Bears brought out Jorgensen as a tactical substitute in heat 11 but it was no more than a token gesture. Nonetheless Jorgensen earned his side a share of the spoils, the first 3-3 of the meeting, but they still lagged behind 51-15.

Pickering and Andersson grabbed a 4-2 in the 12th race for Monarchs to pile on the agony for the visitors, who surely never envisaged this scale of humiliation.

And yet another 5-1 followed for Monarchs, Riss and Wells combining for the advantage. They led 60-18!

In the penultimate heat 14 race Worrall and Clegg raced away for a 4-2 verdict for Monarchs.

And Monarchs finished with a 5-1 from Riss and Wells in the last race. Riss completed a 15-point maximum and received his celebratory bumps from his team-mates at the end.

Riss said: “It was a great team effort, we got stuck in and the end result was amazing. We can only beat what is in front of us, it just great to be among the points.”

Wells commented: “The track was superb, really grippy which is how I like it, and it was an all-round team display. A bit one-sided perhaps but that’s the way it goes sometimes.”

New boy Worrall said: “It was an amazing result for the whole team. I enjoyed myself and rode quite well, but you had to feel sorry for Redcar.”

Monarchs: Riss 15, Wells 12, Worrall 11, Pickering 10, Palovaara 10, Andersson 8, Clegg 4.

Redcar:- Andersen 6, Jorgensen 6, Barker 5, Berge 2, Stewart 2, Busch 0, M Andersen 0.