NEWCASTLE Diamonds have a good record at The Lothian Arena against their arch rivals and wasted no time last night in reminding the home side how much the Tynesiders like their shale.
Edinburgh Monarchs’ number two, Kevin Wolbert, fell on the opening bend of heat one, but decided not to leave the track and was duly excluded by the referee from the re-run, won admirably by Newcastle’s guest, James Grieves.
Newcastle lost a man for a fall in the second with Richie Worrall sliding off on bend four leading to a second consecutive re-run, won well by Diamond Kyle Newman with namesake Kyle Howarth chasing hard in the shared heat.
Edinburgh levelled the match in heat three, won by Kalle Katajisto, who was joined up front by Andrew Tully who shot round Stuart Robson on the fourth bend to form a home maximum, the score now 9-9.
Grieves was out front in heat five and looking solid, but Tully hauled his line tight inside the leading Diamond and shot underneath him to take a shock and spectacular lead in the 3-3, as the contest remained tied, 15-all.
Claes Nedermark took the sixth with ease as did Robson in heat seven as the match stayed locked 21-21, but in the eighth, a race where Sneddon fell on the third lap, Howarth was already well ahead being followed home by his skipper Matthew Wethers to put the home side up by four at 26-22.
The last-chance saloon arrived with Robson put on a tactical in the penultimate race with his only brief to win with Worrall in second, but Katajisto made a dream start to win the heat restricting Robson’s powers to four points in a rare 4-4 which effectively ended Newcastle’s hopes.
Team manager George English said: “I think we were worth a lot more points than the 39 we got tonight.”
NEWCASTLE Diamonds travel to Cumbria tonight to tackle the Workington Comets in the league and will use another former Diamonds’ skipper, Jason Lyons of the Redcar Bears, to cover the injury absence of Mark Lemon. The match starts at 7pm at Derwent Park.
The Berwick Bandits are also back in action tonight at home to the Rye House Rockets, the team that beat them last Sunday at their own bone dry and dusty little track, meaning the Berwick septet are after revenge at Shielfield Park at 7pm.
LAST NIGHT’S SCORERS
Edinburgh Monarchs: Kevin Wolbert 6+1, Matthew Wethers (Captain) 6+2, Andrew Tully 10+1, Kalle Katajisto 9, Craig Cook 12, Tim Webster 2+2, Kyle Howarth 8+1
Newcastle Diamonds: James Grieves (guest) 9, Derek Sneddon 4+3, Jason King 0, Stuart Robson 13, Claes Nedermark 7, Kyle Newman 3, Richie Worrall 3+1
TONIGHT’S LINE UPS
Workington Comets: 1. James Wright, 2. Richard Lawson, 3. Tomas Topinka, 4. Rusty Harrison, 5. Peter Kildemand, 6. Gary Irving, 7. Kenny Ingalls
Newcastle Diamonds: 1. Jason Lyons (guest), 2. Derek Sneddon (Captain), 3. Jason King, 4. Stuart Robson, 5. Claes Nedermark, 6. Kyle Newman, 7. Richie Worrall
Berwick Bandits: 1. Sebastian Alden, 2. Alex Edberg, 3. Kozza Smith, 4. Josef Franc, 5. Lee Complin (Captain), 6. Mitch Davey, 7. Jade Mudgway
Rye House Rockets: 1. Jordan Frampton, 2. James Brundle, 3. Ritchie Hawkins, 4. Chris Neath (Captain), 5. Steve Boxall, 6. Luke Bowen, 7. Tyson Nelson
