Another tough weekend for the Workington Comets saw them vacate the MAXiCab Knockout Cup with a 69-110 aggregate victory to the Edinburgh Monarchs.
Edinburgh now progress to the quarter-finals against Glasgow.
The damage was done on Friday as Edinburgh slammed the Comets to a 65-24 loss at Armadale in the first leg of their KO Cup tie.
The Monarchs racing to eight 5-1s and 5-0 in a one-sided encounter with their middle-order pairing of Jonatan Grahn and Kye Thomson both scoring paid maximums.
Thomsen scored 16+2 from six rides while Grahn had five paid wins in his total of 13+5 – and powerhouse reserve Victor Palovaara racked up 20 from seven outings.
Palovaara’s only dropped point came at the hands of Troy Batchelor in Heat 1, with the Comets captain scoring nine points and adding a further win in Heat 13.
Jacob Hook also had a very encouraging evening for the Comets scoring eight hard earned points from reserve.
Saturday, saw a bit of a fightback from the Comets but some back luck with Antti Vuolas’ chain while on a heat advantage ensured that the match ended in a 45-45 draw.
Skipper Troy Batchelor top scored for the Comets scoring 13 points, only conceding two points in a heat one 5-1 to Edinburgh.
Vinnie Foord (7) and Jacob Hook (5+2) also provided a great return from reserve and proved another great shinning light on a disappointing weekend for the GT Tyres Comets.
Leon Flint (7+2) stood in for Tate Zischke, who was at Glasgow for the FIM SGP2 qualifier, and did an admirable job eventually securing the draw for Comets with a 5-1 in heat 15 with skipper Batchelor to ensure a share of the spoils on the day.
Comets team boss James Denham said after yesterday’s draw: “It was disappointing to not come away with the win, it would’ve been a bit of pride restored, but Antti’s chain going was bad luck – we seemed to be on a heat advantage but it sadly impeded Jacob Hook’s heat as well.
“It was so close, but we are not there yet. Vinnie and Jacob were well on the pace today, they did their job and tried hard all night and I’m really happy with our reserves and also the skipper, Troy, he was fantastic and he knows he can do it and we saw that.
“We have got a few points to play with once the new greensheet averages come out and all the riders were told today before the meeting that we as a promotion don’t want to be put in a position where me, Andrew and Steve have to make changes, but if needs must we will.
“They have had a wake up call and a warning and I think we seen a bit of a reaction.
“We may have to sit down and see if anything comes up and figure out if this is the team that we definitely have a chance of getting in the play-offs with, because that is out ultimate aim at the end of the day.”
“Now we just need to put this behind us and fully focus ahead to how we start our league campaign against Poole next month.”
