MATCH REPORT: Monarchs shine on

Birmingham Monarchs Cycle Speedway continued their winning run in the Midland League first division, with another victory yesterday evening, this time over the Wednesfield Dragons.

Both teams had riders missing – the Dragons had Connor Dyke and Jordan Holdcroft out, whilst Birmingham had both Captain Chris Timms and Scott Millward out due to work.

Level after 2 heats a Carl Winwood led 6-4 in the 3rd broke the deadlock. Heat 5 saw another 6-4 to the Monarchs, this time thru Paul Timms and Ewan Hancox. Meanwhile Heats 4, 6 and 7 were shared to keep things nicely poised. Heat 8 saw the Dragons gain a slice of luck as Mark Winwood had a chain come off and bent chain ring in the process, Bob Prince picking up the crumbs and taking a 3rd giving the Dragons a 6-3 advantage to get themselves right back into the match at 40-39. The response was swift tho for the Monarchs – Timms and Groves partnering up for a maximum in heat 9.

The 2nd half saw the Monarchs start to assert some authority in the match and limiting the visitors to only 2 heat advantages to ensure there was no fight back. Heat 11 saw a home 6-4 before another chain problem this time for Ewan Hancox who attempted to scoot round to pick up his point for 2 laps but was lapped before the chequered flag, giving the Dragons a 4-5 advantage. At that stage the Dragons might have had believed there was still hope with the scores at 62-56.

Again the response from the Birmingham side to a dropped point was swift – a maximum from Carl Winwood and Nathan Groves taking back control, and a ten point lead 69-59. With heats running out the 6-4 in Heat 16 was a little too late for the Dragons, but it was a good mature ride from young Haydn Rowley. Again the answer to a fightback is a good hard kick and that’s just what the Monarchs provided – 2 maximums to add insult to injury and gave the final scoreline a somewhat emphatic feel.

The Dragons at least can take some heart from the performance without their star rider as Haydn gave excellent support to Mark Griffiths. For the Monarchs Marcus Wadhams was pure class with a paid maximum, whilst for once it was younger brother Carl Winwood who stole some headlines with an excellent paid 18 scoreline.

MIDLAND LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
BIRMINGHAM MONARCHS 98 – Marcus Wadhams 19+1(5), Ewan Hancox 5(5), Mark Winwood 15(5), Bob Prince 15+1(5), Nathan Groves 14+2(5), Carl Winwood 16+2(5), Phil Widdas 2(2), Paul Timms 12+1(4).
WEDNESFIELD DRAGONS 79 – Haydn Rowley 15+1(5), Courtney Aris 4(3), Karl Parfitt 9(5), Mark Griffiths 16+1(5), Glyn Rowley 8(4), Harrie Everis 11+1(5), Alex Aris 5+1(4), Mick Aris 11+1(5).