EDINBURGH Scotwaste Monarchs director Mike Hunter today heaped praise on the Capital speedway outfit following their deserved 53-39 Premier League triumph at Scunthorpe Scorpions.
After Monarchs had swamped Scunthorpe 68-22 at Armadale on Friday, many believed the return clash at Normanby Road yesterday would be something of an academic exercise.
"Scunthorpe are not an easy touch," said Hunter. "They have already beaten lea
gue leaders Somerset and Workington.
This was a fantastic effort and the team deserves the greatest praise."
Fittingly it was Andrew Tully, who rode for Scunthorpe for two seasons, who returned to haunt his old teammates.
The Monarchs star, easily the best reserve rider in the country, racked up 14 points from his six rides, unluckily suffering a puncture in his final outing.
"Andrew was simply tremendous," added Hunter, "especially in heat 12 when he passed and repassed Magnus Karlsson."
Teammate Ryan Fisher was also smiling after scoring 13 from five rides which included three race wins.
Underlining that this was no cakewalk for in-from Monarchs, the scores were still tied, 27-27 after nine heats.
But then Monarchs cut loose. Fisher and Tully grabbed a 5-1 in the next race before William Lawson and Thomas Jonasson repeated the trick in heat 11.
And when Matthew Wethers, who took a tumble in heat six, and Lawson extracted a further 5-1 in heat 13, Monarchs led 45-33 and all three match points were safe.
Skipper Derek Sneddon who fell off in his first race, and Aaron Summers didn't score as heavily as they would have liked.
Scunthorpe: Karlsson 10, Hall 10, Wilkinson 8, Bekker 6, Moore 3, Richardson 1, McKinna 1.
Monarchs: Tully 14, Fisher 13, Lawson 9, Jonasson 7, Wethers 7, Summers 2, Sneddon 1.
The full article contains 300 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
