It was another frustrating day for Stellar Monarchs Academy as they went down 48-41 at Kent, but the Armadale men did grab an aggregate bonus point.
Manager Scott Wilson said: “Ultimately, it’s a disappointing day as the target in the camp was to win the match. We made things difficult for ourselves again with some falls and a retirement when in scoring positions and, ultimately, it was too much to overcome.
“Hopefully, we can be as close to our full team as possible for the final home match in a couple of weeks and give those fans that have supported us this season a win to round off the year.”
Wilson’s men started brightly and with Max Clegg and Jacob Hook (pictured) always among the points the Academy had a four-point lead after five races with Clegg and Hook already with 11 to their name.
Heat six would be the start of the downfall as both Dayle Wood and Jason Garrad hit the deck and were excluded meaning a 5-0 for the hosts and they had a lead they would then never surrender.
The dropping of points continued as the home men took advantage and stretched their lead, Garrad’s bike would give up while in second in heat 9 with Hook coming down while in the same position a race later.
Clegg was always in the thick of it and he was involved in the two race-of-the-day contenders. In heat 13, despite a poor gate, he went in search of home pairing Nathan Ablitt and Ben Morley, passing and re-passing Morley before just missing out on snatching the win away on the line.
Clegg would save his best till last as he came out on top of another excellent battle with Morley in the last race.
For the home men there were double-digit returns for Morley, Ablitt, Tom Woolley and perhaps most impressively Ashton Vale at reserve who recorded his first ever race wins at this level.
So, two matches remaining now for the Monarchs Academy with a home match on September 22 against Mildenhall rounding off the year.
Kent Royals (48): Ben Morley 12+0, Jack Kingston 0+0, James Laker 1+1, Tom Woolley 11+0, Nathan Ablitt 10+0, Ashton Vale 10+1, Connor King 4+1
Edinburgh Monarchs Academy (41): Max Clegg 16+0, Jason Garrad 3+2, Jacob Hook 10+0, Dayle Wood 5+0, Adam Roynon 0+0, Mark Parker 0+0, Mickie Simpson 7+1
In the Cab Direct Championshgip, Glasgow Tigers edged Redcar Bears 39-33 with Tom Brennan top scoring for the visitors with ten and Danny King also scoring ten for Bears. The meeting was abandoned after heat 12 but the result stands and Glasgow win the aggregate bonus point.
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