Rain caused the Cab Direct Championship match against Birmingham to be abandoned at Armadale with the Stellar Monarchs leading 16-8 and skipper Josh Pickering told fans that conditions were too difficult.
Pickering (pictured) added: “The track was fine before the rain started but I’ve been out for eight weeks and I don’t want to be out another eight weeks. I thank all the fans for coming out to watch but you want to see us race in better conditions.”
There had been three fallers in the opening heats, plus one or two cases of riders losing control, and when Alfie Bowtell spun off in heat 5 that heat had to be stopped as Bastian Borke was heading towards him having fallen and remounted earlier.
There were some encouraging signs for Monarchs in the races which were staged. Visiting No 2 easily won heat 1 but Lasse Fredriksen and Josh Pickering picked off the struggling Nick Morris, Josh having earlier been in difficulties on the opening turns.
Heat 2 was a most dramatic one and, sadly, for Joe Thompson he seems to have broken his collar bone after clipping Dayle Wood’s back wheel in the first running.
Wood had held second spot and remarkably repeated that in the rerun with a spirited ride, re-passing Sam Hagon after the visitor had briefly grabbed second. Meanwhile Fredriksen had sailed off in front.
Kye Thomson got his best start for weeks in heat 3 and he was joined at the front by partner Borke who raced inside new Brummie Troy Batchelor. The fast start was repeated by Kye in the abandoned heat 5.
Craig Cook touched the tapes on his comeback ride in heat 4, being replaced by Wood, but Lasse Fredriksen compensated with an excellent ride to beat ex-Monarchs star Justin Sedgmen. Heat 5 not rerun
Edinburgh Monarchs (16): Josh Pickering 1+1, Paco Castagna 0+0, Bastian Borke 2+1, Kye Thomson 3+0, Craig Cook 0+0, Dayle Wood 2+1, Lasse Fredriksen 8+0
Birmingham Brummies (8): Nick Morris 0+0, Alfie Bowtell 3+0, Troy Batchelor 1+0, Dan Thompson 0+0, Justin Sedgmen 2+0, Sam Hagon 2+1, Joe Thompson 0+0
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