SGB Championship: Edinburgh Monarchs 49, Sheffield Tigers 44
Edinburgh: Sam Masters 10, Mark Riss 7, Erik Riss 8, rider replacement for Josh Pickering, Ricky Wells 11, Max Clegg 11, Mitchell Davey 2
Sheffield: Aaron Summers (guest) 12, Todd Kurtz 3, Lasse Bjerre 8, James Sarjeant (guest) 2, Kyle Howarth 13, Robert Branford 5, Ryan MacDonald (guest) 1
Red-hot reserve Max Clegg turned on the power again to help Edinburgh Monarchs claim a nervy home victory in the SGB Championship against title rivals Sheffield Steelers.
In-form Clegg won one of his seven races and his score of 11 was matched by Ricky Wells.
Sam Masters, Monarchs’ skipper, was next best with ten points but Glasgow Tigers captain Aaron Summers claimed 12 points for the visitors as a guest.
Their top scorer was Kyle Howarth with 13 in a tight contest with Monarchs only securing their victory in the final two heats after Tigers closed to within a point.
Edinburgh started well and led 26-16 after seven races but Tigers then upped a gear.
Summers, guesting for the visitors, claimed six points in Heat 11 on a tactical ride to narrow the gap to seven points at 38-31.
And Lasse Bjerre and Robert Branford, a former Edinburgh rider, claimed a 5-1 in re-run Heat 12 to bring the score even closer at 39-36.
It got worse for the home side as Kyle Howarth won the next race with Summers third to close the gap to a point at 41-40.
But Mark Riss and Clegg came home first and second in the penultimate race for a 5-1 and a 46-41 scoreline to ease home nerves.
And Masters and Wells teamed up to take second and third in the final heat to earn a 3-3 draw and a 49-44 result.
Experienced news, business, arts, sport and travel journalist. Food critic and managing editor of a well-established food and travel website. Also a magazine editor of publications with circulations of up to 200,000 and managing director of a long-established PR/marketing company with a string of blue-chip clients in its CV. Former communications lecturer at a Scottish university and social media specialist for a string of successful and busy SMEs.
