Leicester Monarchs v Scotia Allsorts

Sunday 7th April 2002

Midland and North League A and B. 1.00 p.m. Slater Street, Leicester.  

Another sunny day in the Midlands, and first to feel the heat on track were the B team. Leicester are always strong in B Combo’ matches and always turn out a steady stream of young talent. Rob Jones was paired at 1 with new lad, Dean Grant, who won heat 6. Old Hand, Ralph Doubty was paired with the ever improving, Jenna Whitehead . While the strong Harrison / Sensicall pairing, rode unbeaten in the match. Chic Mackie was 2nd, to Rob Jones in heat 1, finished his 3rd and last race with a win. But the "B" Allsorts star was Ian "Caveman" McKinlay. Paid 2nd, 3rd and, two paid wins. His last race the pick of the bunch. Yeah okay, it was the two sisters, but have you seen them race. Archie McPherson, in for Mikey, pulled away at the start, but Cavie was last. He passed the younger Whitehead, but he didn’t shake her, until she fell diving inside him. He Chased after Jenna, and passed her on the 3rd and 4th bend on lap 3, and held on. It made the score a little more respectable. Having been in the wars, at Birmingham, Mikey Hewitson on the pre match parade, was announced as, "The King of Crash". But he didn’t live up to his billing. After last years 9 +2 from 4, Leicester track debut , he finished with a creditable 6 from 3. Still on about previous performances, Gary Anderson is beginning to show what is expected of him this year. Colin is also starting to come good after his year off through injury. How can we forget, Andy "Flour" McDougall. Young Andy is riding these tracks for the first time, and gets better as each meeting goes on.

Allsorts B:-
Ian McKinlay 2’,2,3’,3’, 10+3. Gary Anderson 3,4,2’, 9+1. Colin Scholan 2,1,2’,3’, 8+2.
Chic Mackie 3,1,4, 8. Ewan Tulloch, 4, 2, 6. Mikey Hewitson 1,2,3, 6.
N. McPherson 1,4, 5. Andy McDougall 1,1,3, 5.

Monarchs B:-
T Sensicall 16(4). R Dougbty 11(4). D Grant 10(4)
J Harrison 9+3 (3). R Jones 7+1 (3). J Whitehead 6+1 (4).
L Whitehead 2 (2). T Dilkes 2, (2).
 

Result B :- Leicester 63 v Scotia 57.
 

Next to feel the heat on track were, ,the Monarchs. The new improved Allsorts, (Sounds like a soap powder commercial.) Like the Stoke match at home, for the first few heats, we led the more experienced side. Up by 3 after 3, then 1 until heat 6, when the home side 2 up. Scotia held in there as both teams went in level at the interval. We were still in there after 13 races, only 5 down, but big guns, Newey and Waring scored a 7-3 for the Monarchs. Heat 15 was drawn but is worth a mention. Johnny and Jackie at their best. Kevin Burns was well away, but Jackie off gate 3 took Rob Jones to the outside, Johnny came through the inside line, as Jackie left the Leicester man behind to join him for the four laps. Then home side took heat advantages in the last 3. Wee Al was flying again, only dropping two points. He came in for some close attentions from the home men at the starts. Unbeaten in his first two, off gate 2 in his third. Kevin Burns was out for a start line infringement at gate 1. Up go the tapes, Craig Marchant put him on the grass before the first bend. Re-run, all 4. Same move, race continues, Why ? Heat 18, Mark Whitehead, gave Wee Al an even closer look of the freshly cut grass, he was out though. Big Al couldn’t keep Kevin Burns back off gate 4, as the home man made for his partner, but the move failed. The Glaswegian was off. And so was Kevin Burns, off the track coming out the fourth, Big Al took him to the fence, to show him the grass, the other side of the fence. Big Al out, "Match Race". Wee Al off 1, Anglo off 4. "Get Newse’s bike ready." was Wee Al’s shout from the startline. Does Wee Al know what’s going to happen ? he certainly does. Now he gets a taste of the first bend shale. But the bike and rider are okay. Kevin Burns makes the restart, Wee Al chases, and that’s how they finished..

Allsorts A:-
Alan Mackie 4,4,3,4,3, 18. Johnny Murphy 2,3,4,1,3, 13. Craig Newsome 3’,2,3,2,3, 13.
Jackie Pinkerton 1,3,3,2’,2, 11 +1. Alan Smith 4,2’,2’,1,Ex, 9+2. Neil McPherson 2‘,1,2,1,1, 7+1.
Ewan Tulloch 1,2‘,1,2,1, 7+1. Gary Anderson 1, 1.

Monarchs A:-
Mark Newey 17 (5). Kevin Burns 16 (5). Jim Waring 14+1 (5).
Mark Whitehead 13+1 (5). Nicky Whitehead 11+2 (5). Craig Marchant 11+1 (5).
James Harrison 8+1 (3). Rob Jones 5+1 (3).

Result A:- Leicester 95 v Scotia 79

Report by Alan Hewitson

Hull v Leicester

May 2002

As expected Leicester crashed to a heavy defeat on their first ever visit to Hull on Saturday. The Monarchs could only track one rider over 14 and were never in the match, however, to their credit Hull gave their 2 young reserves a couple of rides each later in the match which made the final score more respectable than it might have been.

For future matches Leicester can now use returning Craig Whitehead in place of James Harrison, who is unavailable due to work commitments.

Hull 88, Leicester 60

Hull:
Andy Moody 16, Dave Musgrave 14+2, Ben Moody 10, Darren Spencer 14+1,
Andy Schofield 14+2, Andy Angel 16+1, Tom Harrison 2, Matt Beharrel 2

Leicester:
Rob Jones 16, Lucy Whitehead 9, Tom Sensicall 13,
Russ Kenyon 5, Matt Brough 9+1, Jenna Whitehead 9

Report by Tim Jarvis

Leicester 65 v Sheffield 84 (M&N2)

June 2002

Without captain Tom Sensicall and heat leader Gavin Watts Leicester were forced to track 5 juniors and give veteran team manager Tim Jarvis 3 rides, not surprisingly a compact Sheffield team never looked in any danger.
The Monarchs kept within 7 points until the interval and heat wins for Tim Jarvis, Craig Whitehead and Rob Jones ensured a close scoreline entering the final stages, however two 3-7 reverses in heats 13 and 14 gave Sheffield a win they fully deserved.

Leicester Scorers:
R Jones 18+1, L Whitehead 9, C Whitehead 16+1, T Jarvis 7+1,
D Brant 8, M Brough 5, C Jarvis 1, J Whitehead 1.
Sheffield Scorers:
J Birks 14, A Blackburn 10+4, M Cain 14+1, A Birks 11+2,
R Hudson 11+1, R Bowler 15+3, A Stretton 3+1, M Gamble 6.

Junior Comp.
With 13 riders to fill 12 places Matt Brough and Carl Jarvis shared their rides 2 apiece and finshed runners up to Jono Birks who was never seriously challenged:
Top scores:
Jono Birks 16, Carl Jarvis (8) & Matt Brough (7) 15,
Jenna Whitehead 13, Lucy Whitehead 12, Richard Whiteley 12.

Report by Tim Jarvis

Leicester v Gt.Blakenham

July 2002

Leicester 77 (M Newey 15)
Gt Blakenham 97 (M Skinner 18+1, P Howells 15+1)
Leicester didn't help themselves with a total of 3 falls for Craig Marchant plus 2 exclusions for Kev Burns and 2 snapped chains, but GB were well worthy of victory. Mick Skinner, as ever, was full value and received good support all the way.

Combination
Leicester 82 (C Whitehaed 15, N Venson 14)
Great Blakenham 54 (D Pike 12, L Pike 12)
Unlucky for GB that Norman Venson chose this fixture to make a comeback, his injured ankle holding out well (if not the rest of his body!) A good team performance again from the Monarchs mixture of experience and youth against a very competetive GB team who's final score didn't do justice to their efforts.

Report by Tim Jarvis

Leicester v Sheffield

2nd July 2002

A heavy defeat as expected but nevertheless a enjoyable match with plenty of close races. The scores were level at heat 4 but 3 maximum reverses put the result beyond question.

Sheffield 83 (S Gamble 16, A Stretton 15+1)
Leicester 66 (C Whitehead 15+1, S Whitehead, T Sensicall 12)

Report by Tim Jarvis

Leicester v Hull

14th July 2002

Not the hammering Leicester were expecting with the outcome going down to the wire. Hull did't have a weak link but the Leicester youngsters battled on, 14 year old Tom Sensicall in particular battling hard against his older opponents.

Leading scorers:
Leicester 72 (R Jones 18+1, C Whitehead 15+2, T Sensicall 14+1),
Hull 76 (A Schofield 15, C Cook 14)

The challenge that followed was full of interesting racing, Hulls Ben Moody and Andy Angel in particular featuring in some exciting racing against Leicesters Matt Brough and Carl Jarvis.
The Monarchs could only manage 2 race winners but packed the minor places to good effect and the 60-60 drawn match was a fair result

Report by Tim Jarvis

Scotia Allsorts 74 v Leicester Monarchs 101

4th August 2002

1.00 p.m. Redbraes Park, Edinburgh.

North and Midlands League Match

Allsorts:-Alan Smith 4,2',4,3,4, 17+1 Johnny Murphy 3,4,2,4,3, 16 Alan Mackie 2',3,1,3',1, 10+2
2 Jackie Pinkerton 1,3,2,1,2', 9+1 Craig Newsome 3,3,1,n/f,Ex, 7 Calum Slight 1,1,1,2,2, 7
Neil McPherson 1,1,2,1,Res, 5 Craig McKenzie 1,Res,2, 3
Monarchs:-Mark Newey 20 (5) Norman Venson 16+3 (5) Craig Marchant 16 (5)
Lee Benson 15+2 (5) Mark Whitehead 14+4 (5) Rob Jones 8 (4)
Craig Whitehead 6+1 (5) Ralph Doughty 6 (2)
Referee:- Chic Mackie.

North and Midlands Combination Match

Scotia Allsorts 49 v Leicester 66

Allsorts:-Chic Mackie 9+3 (4) Craig McKenzie 9+1 (4) Andy McDougal 7 (3) Mikey Hewitson 7 (4)
Ian McKinlay 6+1 (3) Gary Anderson 5+1 (3) Calum Slight 3 (1) Neil McPherson 3 (2)
Monarchs:-Rob Machin 16 (4) Wes Westor 15+1 (4) Martin Waghorn 12 (4) Joe Twiss 9+1 (3)
Nick Twiss 8 (4) Ryan Wyatt 3 (2) Mitch Wheelton 3 (2) Chris Pearce 1 (1)

Scores by Ewan Tulloch

Mixed fortunes greet the Monarchs

20 August 2002

The Leicester Monarchs First team struggled to find form while their Combination team brought the points home

1st Team Report : Horspath 93 - Leicester 78

The Leicester Monarchs who are struggling to find their best form this season in the British Premier League competition found themselves on the wrong end of a 93 points to 78 score-line at Horspath on 18 August 2002.

The Oxfordshire club, who are unbeaten at home and currently top of the league table, were in no mood to hand over the match points to Leicester who earlier this season had knocked Horspath out of the cup.

On this occasion, Horspath won the early races and pulled ahead to lead by 16 points, only for the Monarchs to reduce the margin to nine points during their best spell in the second half of the match.

Mark Newey won three of his five races and the team pairing of Craig Marchant and Jim Waring achieved Leicester’s only maximum score of the meeting in heat 12.

Leicester Scorers: Nicky Whitehead 4, Mark Newey 14+1, Jim Waring 14+1, Craig Marchant 14+1, Kevin Burns 14, Lee Benton 10+2, James Harrison 4 and Ralph Doughty 4.

2nd Team Report : Horspath 59 - Leicester 65

The combination team came back to Slater Street with both of the match points after beating Horspath by 65 points to 59 in a British Premier Combination League fixture and have now won ten of their last 11 league matches.

The result was in the balance as the Horspath riders put up a strong challenge with very little to pick between the two teams as the lead switched sides several times during the match.

The turning point came in the penultimate race when Carl Jarvis dived inside his opponent on the last corner of the final lap to join team partner Gavin Watts at the front, which ensured that Leicester could not be caught.

Leicester earned their victory through an all round team performance and was well served by Craig Whitehead and Tom Sensicall who between them collected maximum points in three of their races.

The Monarchs captain, Rob Jones won one race and in another created the space on the first bend to allow his team partner Lucy Whitehead through and Matt Brough consolidated Leicester’s position with a third place in the final race of the day.

Leicester Scorers: Rob Jones 12+1, Lucy Whitehead 8, Craig Whitehead 11+3, Tom Sensicall 13, Gavin Watts 12, Carl Jarvis 5 and Matt Brough 4+1.

The Monarchs are back in action at Slater Street on Sunday 1 September, when they entertain Sandwell in a Division 2 Midland-North League fixture at 12 noon followed by a British Premier League match against Poole at 3pm.

Report by Alan Jones