FORMER Peterborough star Claus Vissing was the hero for his current club Edinburgh as the Monarchs took victory in Sunday’s Premier League Fours at the Showground.
One point covered Edinburgh, Ipswich and Somerset going into the final race of a marathon meeting, the Monarchs having actually been four points off the lead at the halfway stage.
Reserve Jozsef Tabaka had snatched second place late on in an exciting Heat 10 and then Craig Cook won the penultimate race, which took place after a lengthy delay following an horrific crash involving David Bellego and Rohan Tungate.
Cook’s win, as he overhauled Ipswich reserve Cameron Heeps for the three points, put the Monarchs into the decider one point clear of the Witches and the Rebels, and Vissing made no mistake from the inside to secure victory for the Scottish side.
An enthralling event, run in blisteringly hot conditions, suffered some delays along the way but also threw up some memorable racing with all eight clubs fully competitive throughout.
Both semi-finals went down to their last race before the two qualifiers from each were determined, with Workington left to rue a first ride crash which saw Kyle Howarth ruled out of the meeting with an arm injury, whilst Newcastle’s hopes were ultimately dashed by Richie Worrall’s engine failure whilst he led Heat 6.
Holders Berwick (15) and Ipswich (12) moved into the Final at the expense of Workington (11) and Scunthorpe (10) from Group A, whilst in Group B it was Somerset (14) and Edinburgh (13) who got the better of Newcastle (11) and Leicester (10).
The Final proved to be a tense encounter where fortunes changed constantly, with Ipswich making the early running as Tungate’s Heat 3 win backed up by second place for Ben Barker in Heat 4 put them two points clear.
But in the space of two races, the position had turned in Somerset’s favour as wins for Alex Davies and Josh Grajczonek, with Heat 6 the race of the day as Grajczonek came from last to first, suddenly gave the Rebels a two-point advantage.
Ipswich and Somerset then traded the lead across the next three heats with Berwick joining in thanks to Bellego and Kozza Smith – and with three heats to go, all four clubs were separated by just one point, with Berwick and Ipswich just ahead.
Somerset’s Nick Morris won Heat 10 to regain the advantage for the Rebels, but the meeting was then heavily delayed as Bellego crashed at the start of the second lap of Heat 11 when Cook moved strongly through on the inside, with leader Tungate an innocent victim as he was also brought down.
Both riders received extensive attention and county ambulances were required, although reports on both are now encouraging as they appear to have, remarkably, avoided serious injury.
The referee’s decision was to disqualify Bellego which opened up the Monarchs’ chances again – with Cook’s win in the re-run putting them ahead for the first time, and Vissing then applied the finishing touch to the delight of an impressive travelling support from Armadale.
EDINBURGH 21: Claus Vissing 8, Craig Cook 6, Derek Sneddon 3, Theo Pijper 2, Jozsef Tabaka (res) 2. IPSWICH 18: Leigh Lanham 6, Rohan Tungate 4, Ben Barker 3, Morten Risager 3, Cameron Heeps (res) 2. SOMERSET 17: Nick Morris 6, Josh Grajczonek 5, Alex Davies 4, Kyle Newman 2, Brendan Johnson (res) dnr. BERWICK 16: Kozza Smith 7, David Bellego (res) 6, Matthew Wethers 2, Ricky Ashworth 1, Robin Aspegren dnr.