Speedway: Monarchs win but rider rages at official

Published on Friday 22 July 2011 11:02

EDINBURGH MONARCHS comfortably grounded Rye House Rockets 55-37 in last night's Premier League speedway fixture at Armadale, but reserve star Tim Webster was left fuming after being disqualified twice for falling off. He claimed some of referee Dave Dowling's decisions were "unacceptable".

Webster scored three points and was happy with his gating, but said: "I felt good to get my starts sorted out, perhaps I can get past the first corner without the referee disqualifying me, obviously his eyes were shut when I came down."

Webster was particularly aggrieved to receive his marching orders in heat eleven after he received an accidental nudge from team-mate Craig Cook on the second bend, which caused him to tumble off. "It was pathetic. I don't know how the referee missed it, he obviously wasn't watching and must have thought an inexperienced rider like me would fall off by myself. When you get a nudge it's hard to keep your bike upright and keep it going. I don't think Craig expected me to be in the position I was. Perhaps next time he'll take a little look."

Webster added: "Some of the refereeing decisions were unacceptable. Kyle Howarth got disqualified in the fourth race despite the fact that he had his leg taken away by Steve Boxall going into the third bend. The decisions were terrible I don't know what the referee was doing."

Rye House had been expected to take Monarchs to the wire and certainly stuck with them during early on and were only six points in arrears after eight races. However Monarchs, whose scoring was rock solid, took a real grip on proceedings and three maximum 5-1 advantages in the second brought the Rockets back to earth.

Some sterling work by Andrew Tully and Kalle Katajisto saw them both unbeaten after four rides, but the pair blew their maximum hopes in the heat 15 top scorers race when Rockets skipper Chris Neath showed them a clean pair of heels to take the chequered flag in style.

Neath paid tribute to Monarchs efforts afterwards, saying: "Credit where it's due, Monarchs rode really well and didn't have a weak line in their side. It was very tough for us because Monarchs were electric out of the starts and were by far the better side."

Neath was Rockets top scorer with 11 points and added: "The first turn and the first lap are always tricky for me so I tend to make life hard for myself. But I love coming to Armadale and I'll be gutted when it goes, I hope they build a new circuit quite like it."

Cook was unhappy with his first two outings but the Cumbrian based rider atoned later on with a devastating pass to overhaul Jordan Frampton in heat 11.Cook, who picked up nine points from his four starts, and is currently top of Monarchs averages, said: "I was having trouble with my clutches in the first part of the meeting and jumped on the bike I used last week against Plymouth and I did OK I suppose."

Alluding to his win against Frampton, Cook added: "That was awesome, I knew Jordan didn't have the speed because he wasn't pulling away from me, so I just upped the power and got past him, I knew I was faster than him. But overall it was a good team performance, We all pulled together and I'm really happy we took all three points."

For Howarth, the meeting proved to be something of a nightmare. The teenager trailed in last in his opening ride, was harshly disqualified in his next after that brush with Boxall and then fell off in his third ride before eventually securing his only points of the meeting in his last outing in heat 12 - not the ideal preparation for his tilt at the British Under-19 Championship at Rye House tonight. He said: "It certainly wasn't one of my best meetings for Monarchs, but everybody has bad matches at some time or another and this was mine."

Rye House gave Frampton and Neath tactical rides in a bid to stem Monarchs points flow but both men were unable to gain full advantage from their opportunity.

Monarchs: Katajisto 12, Tully 12, Wethers 9, Cook 9, Wolbert 9, Webster 3, Howarth 1.

Rye House: Neath 11, Nelson 8, Boxall 7, Frampton 6, Bowen 4, Brundle 1, Hawkins 0.