There was no happy ending for the Stellar Devils as they went down 36-53 to the table-topping Leicester Lion Cubs in their final National Development League match of the season.
Any hopes that the Leicester boys were saving themselves for important matches later this weekend were soon dashed, and congratulations to them on a strong showing.
Defeat consigns the Armadale side to bottom place in the National Development League and team manager Alan Budzynski said: “I’m extremely disappointed because the boys were very confident they could have done something.
“Our heat leaders had little backing from the second strings, but the Leicester boys were much quicker from the tapes.
“Lee Complin was his normal exciting self, never giving up, and I’d specially mention Owen Booth who got a couple of points on his first ever National Development League appearance.”
The track was slippery early on and there were early fallers, Tom Spencer in Heat 1 and both Danny Phillips and Connor Coles in Heat 3. At that stage it seemed as though it might be a long night, but things settled down and there was some enjoyable racing.
Leicester went ahead in Heat 2 with a 5-1 from the exciting Vinnie Foord and Mickie Simpson, and they never looked like relinquishing control. Five of the last seven heats were shared but the damage was done by then.
The evening also featured the Monarchs’ Academy Championship over five heats and this was enjoyable with some hard and determined racing by five the youngsters who have been learning to ride during the past year.
Instructor David McAllan handed out the trophies to the 1-2-3 which was Lewis Hague (1), Liam Morris (2) and Rocco Webb (3) but the most common phrase heard around the stadium tonight? “Let’s hope this is not the last time”.
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