Stellar Monarchs provided the majority of race winners before going down 49-41 at Redcar Bears in the Cab Direct Championship and the team felt that the scoreline did not do justice to how close a match it was.
Paco Castagna (pictured) said: “I was disappointed because I felt we could have won. We just had a couple of last places too many. Both Kye and I had been suffering from flu and Kye was lacking energy.
“I think we are good enough at home to take the bonus point when Redcar come to us. When we all click, we will be very dangerous.”
Underlining that point, with three heats remaining there were two points in the match, but the home side produced in Heats 13 and 15 to clinch victory.
Monarchs’ top three were excellent, with three race wins each for Justin Sedgmen and Castagna, while Josh Pickering was one of the few riders in the meeting who was able to pick up any points from the back. He caught Danny King on the line in Heat 13 for second place but even he could not peg back Charles Wright and Danny King in the final race.
Redcar Bears (49): Charles Wright 12+1, Connor Bailey 7+1, Dan Gilkes 8+0, Jason Edwards 4+2, Danny King 10+1, Ben Trigger 2+0, Jake Mulford 6+3
Edinburgh Monarchs (41): Josh Pickering 10+1, Lasse Fredriksen 5+0, Kye Thomson 3+1, Paco Castagna 11+0, Justin Sedgmen 9+0, Dayle Wood 3+1, Connor Coles 0+0
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