Scott turns back the years despite defeat
Peterborough racer enjoys return to Armadale
The Edinburgh Staggs Bar Monarchs defeated Peterborough 48- 42 in a highly entertaining contest at Armadale Stadium on Friday night.
Despite the defeat, quite a bit of the credit for the incredible night’s racing has to be given to Peterborough’s Scott Nicholls, who displayed all his smalltrack skills in a wonderful display.
It may have been 20 years since his last Armadale appearances, but he had no difficulty using the track to his advantage.
Despite defeat, Nicholls admitted he had an enjoyable night, saying: “It won’t be another 20 years until l I come back.
“It took me a race or so just to settle myself in but it’s a technical little track and these are the tracks I like.
“I’m pleased with my performance and I’m pleased we managed to pull a point out of it which perhaps wasn’t expected.”
The highlight was probably heat 13 when he passed Monarchs’ highquality duo of Ricky Wells and Erik Riss. Erik, below his own usual high standards, lost to Nicholls four times in spite of generally getting the better of him from the starts, and it was left to Mark Riss and Wells to lower the brilliant visitor’s colours.
Wells was in great form once again and should not be overshadowed by the excitement of Nicholls’ display, because the Monarchs’ number one did finish with a 2-1 advantage over Nicholls in their encounters.
Mark Riss rode well, though he fell after leading Nicholls in one heat.
Perhaps the happiest man in the home camp though should be Joel Andersson, the Swede having easily his most convincing evening with paid seven points, including a heat win set up by a first corner outside sweep.
He said: “I feel I had better starts. I felt more confident on the bike and I’m really happy we managed to win.”
Josh Pickering had his usual night of poor gating and exciting attempts to make amends from the back, the highlight being heat two when he came from last to join Matt Williamson for an important 5-1.
Williamson, though, didn’t capitalise on that and did little thereafter, while it was another disappointing night for Max Ruml who has at the moment lost his sparkle. Monarchs: Ricky Wells 13+1, Joel Andersson 6+1, Mark Riss 8, Max Ruml 2, Erik Riss 9, Matt Williamson 4, Josh Pickering 6+4.
Panthers: Scott Nicholls 17+1, Carl Wilkinson 4+1, Nike Lunna 11, Michael Palm-Toft 4+1, Ulrich Ostergaard 0, Tom Bacon 1, Simon Lambert 5+1.