DavyH

After Friday I had no doubt that we would would win the Cup comfortably, though the news that Kevin was missing made me think we'd lose today by about ten. Was hoping for a 1-5 to get us going and reach an overall margin quickly, but to have it sewn up after heat 8 was incredible. We blew Tigers away from the start and although they deserve credit for coming back from 12 down to a draw, I think it's fair to say we still had plenty in reserve if required. For Monarchs, Erik and Rob exceeded expectations but they were all superb early on. For Tigers, Aaron and Morris were the stars. Not many incidents - heat 13 though, when it was called back, I expected Lawson to be excluded as his helmet hit the tapes, but this isn't an offence now. So why did the ref not let the race continue as Monarchs were away on a 5-1. Heat 15 was a close call, Cookie drifted out coming off the inside of bend 4 as Morris straightened up from the outside - close call, but someone had to go. Plenty of good natured banter - when the kids "chase Roary the Tiger race" had a false start from about 20 bairns, the chorus of "are you Sarjeant in disguise" was apt. Nice to see the Monarchs team, Sam especially, making sure that Cody was included in the celebrations and making sure he was snapped with the cup. He looked slightly bemused, but he earned his plaudits and I sure all the Monarchs riders and fans appreciated his effort and points over the weekend. This was my first visit to Ashfield for years - what a difference, very impressive all round.

Firstly, well done to The Tigers fans who have taken this so well and came on to pass on their congratulations despite being so disappointed with their team. My apolgies for being a bit smug in my usual biased report from the Chatzone - Well that was slightly above average tonight! I said to ML on Tuesday that we would win with ease over two legs if we reproduced our second half form from last week. I was hoping for a 10-12 point win tonight and was confident of a narrow win on Sunday. A 21 point lead is incredible and only complacency can lose the Cup now. With this team, that will not happen. From heat 1 Monarchs were magnificent! Cookie didn't just get a max, he was miles ahead in every race, as I told him in the bar - he was ok - lol. Justin was beaten once by Aaron, great back up. Kevin was superb, bad gate in 15. Erik's night would have been great but for a fall in ht 14. Sam, like Justin, one losing race. Cody Garcia burst a gut for us in heat 11 especially, great guest. Rob did so well to pass both kittens in heat 2 to set the tone for the night. His only disapointing ride was heat 12 when Hynek passed him. For Tigers (or was it Bandits?) Lawson - Garcia and Brandford scored more - each!. Sarjeant picked up 4 from beating our reserves once each, is he losing too much by staying still at the tapes? Aaron was the only Tiger to turn up and got half the Tigers race wins. Kauko did well to beat Sam and will be happy to stay on the bike tonight, he's tasted the shale a few times at the Dale. Our good friend Mr Morris beat only Branford and Riss before ht 15, he will surely score more on Sunday. Palovaara was a big let down given his previous Dale form and Stichauer looked better than I expected. Good to meet up with Paulco and Elaine in the bar, cheers for the pint. So, onto Sunday - hopefully we go for it from heat 1 and avoid any worries. By the way,not a bad report after a night in hospitality hic!!

No, but as Max is out, there could well be a sun-off

Perhaps Aanio's riding in Finland the day after being too injured to ride at Armadale didn't help his ribs? That aside, with so many injuries, you have to allow Newcastle some leeway here, r/r sits better than a guest with me.

My thoughts on tonight - Well that was certainly a game of two halves! After a scrappy few heats with jump starts, 2 mins exclusions then a Bandits 4-2, 8-1 in heats 7/8 I thought my Bandits mate Wee Marty was finally going to see Bandits pushing us all the way. However, after a magical half time cuppa, the Real Monarchs scooshed the second half. Only Mellgren in heat 10 beat a Monarch!For Monarchs, Cook had his easiest max ever, Justin was strange with three poor rides and two good ones, necessary to keep the average down 007 only dropped one point, Sam still seemed to be suffering with his hand but only dropped a point. Now to the reserves!! These young guys were on a hiding to nothing all year, as every other team seemed to have a big hitter or two at 6/7. So when we got a 5-1 in heat 2, I thought, great, but you only beat poor reserves (one of whom beat Justin later!) However to then come out and beat Doolan, Hansen, Morris and Mellgren as well as the bandits reserves again was superb! Let tonight give Rob & Max the confidence as we do the treble!! For Bandits, guest Hansen had 2 good wins when he gated, Morris - no comment, Mellgren, couple of good races, Doolan, sorry to see him so poor, Garcia,beat Justin ht 8, decent effort on a new track, Phillips, just not near.As others have said, very strange with the bias to gates 3/4 tonight, not like the Dale where it is usually consistent. So now, bring on the Weegies, going to be close but after the second half tonight, I'm confident!! [Edited on 18-9-2015 by DavyH]

Just for Tsunami, I was going to say this was an "against the odds" win for the Monarchs - but I won't! Chatzone rambings were - Well Monarchs eventually grabbed a decent lead against the patched -up Diamonds who's only luck for most of the night was bad. After 7 heats we were only 8 points ahead until four 5-1's extended the gap. Diamonds responded by reducing the deficit by 2 in the last four races when they finally got some luck. However more importantly, I'm sure we all hope that Matthew isn't too bad and that he recovers quickly, always looks bad when a rider comes down on the straight, speedy recovery. For Monarchs, Immodium Cook started like a jet plane, I think he may have been distracted by the red lights of the ambulance in ht 6 or he was adjusting his nappy? Poor Craig! I thought it should have been all four back in ht 13 but the ref disagreed! Justin was immaculate until missing the gate in heat 15. ditto for Kevin! Sam's still struggling with his hand but posted a great return, especially winning the ht 13 re-run. Eric took two races to get going before being unbeaten, albeit with lucky 2nd in ht 9 when Lindgren fell chasing 007. Max and Rob had good nights, both picking up paid wins with Max's being very impressive in ht 11 beating Stevie. For Newcastle, very difficult with a patched up 6 man team, Carr in for a heat leader then losing Matthew in his first race. But they certainly never gave up. Stevie tried hard before some reward in ht 15, Rosen looked tidy enough picking up good points against our lower three, Lindgren had a great win over Sam and a good ht 15, Nielson scored well from reserve but was a bit up and down. Finally, well done to Liam Carr, more impressive every time I see him- he deserved more points than the one he got in heat 5 beating Riss, he was nearly ahead of Sam off bend 2 in ht 11. So a 22 point lead, should be plenty for the return, hopefully Newcastle are near full strength for it.

Normally when I get on a plane to see speedway, I end up at a GP in Poland so it was a change of scene to land at Stansted followed by a coach journey to Ipswich. Great hotel Pentahotel) just a few minutes walk from the station. We then strolled into the town centre, very pleasant with a nice mix of old and new buildings. We then headed in the direction of Foxhall but somehow fell into three nice old pubs on the way where we had to have a few pints of real ale for sustenance Taxi then to the speedway for my first Ipswich visit. Very impressive layout with plenty of terracing and seated areas served with good food and a bar. It's obvious that the Stock car owners have invested a few £££s in the stadium The meeting itself was a bit low key, first 10 races took no time at all before we had an interval. The track seemed a bit bumpy as the night wore on. For Ipswich, Danny King and Covatti were very good with Tungate and Morris chipping in too. For Monarchs, we certainly missed Cookie, Sam and Kevin were best with mas deserving more. Both teams could point to bad luck with a fall and bike trouble on both sides, but Monarchs did enough to have the tie won by heat 12. Thanks to James for a lift back to the hotel, we met up with Mike Hunter at his hotel for a last pint. Up in time to have a cracking bacon roll and coffee at the Station Hotel before two trains and a coach back to Stansted It was great to meet up with Crazy Sue and James again, The Scotsman and John's Ippo mate James. Got to say that the trip was made very enjoyable by the friendliness of the Ipswich people both in the bars and in the speedway. I will return!

I'll be there too hoping the Monarchs can hang on to their lead!

and SCB

Strange thread this without three pages of comments from our friends in the west Anyway, here's my totally biased summary as posted on the Monarchs Chatzone! Well it was easy doing the updates with two full teams ( for the first time in 11 months!) with only the Rebels reserve changes to cope with. This turned out to be a far easier win than I expected. For the Rebels, Kurtz, Jensen, Worrall, Grajczonic and Starke all had a good win or two but I suspect only Jensen will be fully satisfied with his night's work. I saw Starke beating everyone at Somerset v Newcastle back in June and although he top scored he was beaten by our reserves three times, what a great ride to beat Kevin though! Wright was poor, he is usually capable of at least one fast start and a win, Greenwood was barely on the pace. For the Monarchs, Cookie was ok , welll brilliant really! in the two races when he missed the gate he ended up winning by miles. Justin was only beaten once, Kevin got double figures, Erik had a healthy 4+3, Sam had a great second ride and settled back in well. Now the reserves - they've had some criticism but we have to remember when this team was built that to accomodate the top 5 we had to go with two 3 pointers. It's been frustrating at times when they don't get the points return their NL riding sugests they are capable of but tonight Rob did well to beat Starke twice while Max rode probably his best Monarchs race in heat 7 to beat Worrall and Wright to ensure the TR was wasted. Annoying to see Max obstructed in heat 11 when Brady Kurtz piroutted in front of him and Max lost ground in avoiding him. Happens so often that a rider does this and the rider avoiding him loses ground, blatant obstruction but no penalty - maybe it would be better to exclude the rider casing the problem after the race, no need for a re-run. It's not right that a rider has to fall/lay down before the culprit is excluded. So looking more and more that Monarchs and THEM will finish as the top two - roll on a Scottish decider! Good to see my old mate Paulco from the Glasgow Rebels supportes club tonight!

Except that we did, nearly 7.45 when heat 1 started.

My Chatzone ramblings tonight... After last week's farce I was looking forward to some decent speedway before my 6 weeks in France especially with the Fish involved, sadly the M6 put paid to that! It's harsh to criticise Plymouth given their travel problems but only Jack Holder put up any resistance with Simota getting a couple of 2nd's too. Fair play to the ref for delaying the start and allowing extra time for Risager and Ryan to get on track within seconds of arriving but neither were ready to race in truth. For Monarchs, Erik was once again the star with a paid 18 maximum, clutch was working tonight! Nick Morris had to work hard in a couple of races but proved to be a good guest. Theo looked poor in his first two races before finishing strongly. Justin scored well despite a loss to Simota then a last in heat 15, Cook was rubbish, only a paid max and equalled the track record He looked after Erik well in heat 4. Max had an up and down night with a win, paid win, 2 min exclusion and a fall! Credit to Scott Wilson for keeping us entertained with the interviews with so many riders from the Armadale era on our 500th meeting. Here's to the next 500!night....

I thought they were the same thing?

Exactly George, 3 bears were going too slow to fall off but the other 10 riders had no real problems on a slippy track. I mean what kind of weather do they expect at Armadale in June? Sunshine??

Safety comes first? It never stopped Worrall, Morley, Graversen and the Monarchs team giving it a go. No fallers on the night either.

My thoughts on tonights wildly exciting meeting from the Chatzone - Hard to be happy after beating Stevie Worrall 65-28. I know Redcar are looking to make changes, no wonder after tonight, they were absolutely dire. 5 riders scoring 13 points between them! Thankfully Stevie Worrall managed to win three races, Ben Morley was worth watching and Jan Graverson did ok against our bottom three. Bjerre was apalling, posing under an umbrella from three spots of rain whilst whinging to the ref no doubt, very unprofessional performance from a so- called captain. Yes the track was a bit slippy but the slower times after heat 8 were mainly due to the rider in front being under no pressure. Konapka was poor and I'm afraid Roynon never tried - I can never question his courage coming back from so many bad injuries but if tonight is typical then it's time to retire. For speedway's sake, I hope they strengthen soon - I feel sorry for their handful of fans who made the trip. For the Monarchs they'll never get an easier night, only surprise was no maximums. Riss was the top man building on his confidence from Ashfield.

been very light showers all day, nowt more than 10 minutes, hopefully gets no worse

So.... what was the score on Sunday again?

Sam was probably telling them both to behave or he'd give them a good kicking!

Clearly Lawson to blame George lol great photos!

Well done to the Mighty Monarchs, a great result after Friday's performance. The Smugness wasn't away for long . Well done to the Tigers fans on here for the congratulations, maybe the tone will change later after a few shandies lol

My sad thoughts tonight It was hard work doing the updates tonight, upsetting ML nearly every race. To criticise the Monarchs would take away from a great Man City Tigers performance, we are weak in three positions and very strong in four - tonight we didn't cmpensate for our weaknesses. Glad to see Paulco in the bar to say well done, he may just be having a shandy or two now! For Monarchs, the need to improve displayed last week v Ippo was highlighted tonight, on a dry gaters track, w have to gate. Too soon for any panic measures, just arrange any future derbies when Coventry are riding! We scraped by last week v Ippo but were outgated tonight, sick to be second but after all their problems in the last three years, you can't deny your neighbours their victory.

Yep I meant maybe keep your strongest r/r for heat 14 and if you have went 10 behind early on you can always use the t/r.

Or keep r/r at four to be strong in 14 having went 10 down and got a 1-8? Who knows apart from Mr hindsight?

My thoughts from the Monarchs Chatzone - Great meeting tonight, Monarchs pushed all the way by a very good 5 man Ipswich side. Alarming that we went 1-5 down after heat 1 but soon turned that into a 6 point lead by heat 6. Ippo always looked threatening but with only four heat wins and two heat advantages, the Monarchs kept all points at home. Sam is not used to dropping points especially at home but 8 from 4 after a busy week will do. Robert toiled at #2 failing to beat an Ippo rider, tough slot for him. Kevin was nearly top man losing only once to Danny King but his partner Justin surpassed that with a superb paid maximum. Cookie looked out of sorts in heat 7 but tried hard to catch Roller Tungate in heat 13. Erik did well, winning heat 2 followed by four 3rd places, that will do fine. Max had a tough night too beating the hapless Hawkins who despite turning up, never turned up! Ippo had four heat winners and a great replacement for Neilson (hope he's fine!), but lost as they could only win a heat each. I saw Covatti at Somerset last week and he looked impressive, even more so tonight. King scored less than I expected after a good heat 1, Manzares supported well as did Tungate with Bates also doing well. Heat 10 with Masters and Tungate, I was on turn 1 at the time but I saw Sam going past Rohan on the back straight and was very fast into bend 3 on the inside, they were probably too close for Rohan to switch to the inside and pass. Tough call for the Grand Monarch! Heat 11 seemed a bit tactical, a Monarchs 4-2 would allow a t/r, Cookie was miles ahead of King - Manzares was slow enough for Clegg to pass before Clegg slipped off slowly to ensure a 3-3. All tactical? Who am I to say? Well done to Monarchs on a great win and praise to Ippo for pushing us so hard on the night. The cup matches will be well worth seeing!!