Speedway – Wells claims 15 points but Monarchs skid to defeat

SGB Championship: Redcar Bears 52, Edinburgh Monarchs 41
Redcar: Ben Barker 11, Ellis Perks 7, Jason Garrity 7, Jonas B Andersen 10, Charles Wright 7, Tobias Busch 7, Danny Ayres 3
Edinburgh: Ty Proctor (guest) 7, Mark Riss 5, Ricky Wells 15, Josh Pickering 2, Eric Riss 8, Max Clegg 1, Mitchell Davey 3

Ricky Wells powered to 15 points but Edinburgh Monarchs suffered a blow to their play-off hopes when they skidded to a 52-41 defeat at Redcar Bears.

The win closes the gap between Redcar, who beat Glasgow Tigers last week, and Edinburgh to two points as Bears now have 52 points from 29 matches. Edinburgh have 54 points from 28 fixtures.

Redcar were 15-3 ahead after three heats and 23-13 ahead after six races but Ricky Wells picked up double points when he won Heat Seven on a tactical ride with Josh Pickering third for a 7-2 scoreline.

That closed the gap to 25-20 but Bears held their nerve and finished of Monarchs with a 4-2 in Heat 13 followed by a devastating 5-1 thanks to Jonas B Andersen and Tobias Busch in the next heat.

Wells won the final race with Eric Riss third for a 4-2 but the visitors went down 52-41.