Edinburgh Monarchs v Workington Comets

Workington were expected to push Monarchs hard at Armadale, but it didn?t turn out that way.

It was cold again, it was wet again, but the Monarchs? team didn?t let any of that bother them. It did appear that with the obvious exception of Daniel Nermark, some of the Comets did.

The first two heats were both awarded, and both had an element of controversy.

In the first race Ryan Fisher was chasing hard on leader Daniel Nermark when for the second week he clipped the fourth bend fence and fell. Seconds later, Nermark blew an engine entering lap three, while Scott Smith came from a long way back and rammed right into Fisher?s machine up against the fence.

For a start, the current rule insists that all riders should have completed two laps before a race can be awarded. Stupid though this may be, it is the rule.

Ignoring that, Nermark wasn?t under power at the stoppage and should have been excluded. Fisher was rightly excluded and the race was a Comets? 4-2.

The home reserves as usual took the lead in heat 2. John Branney fell and took quite a while leaving the track, so that Andrew Tully was entering the third bend as Branney was pushing off, yards away.

Tully fell, probably because of the conditions rather than Branney, but this time Monarchs were awarded a 5-1 (again, Branney hadn?t done two laps).

Ho hum. Stonehewer made the gate in heat 3 but Lawson brilliantly cut past him down the back straight on lap two. Derek Sneddon passed Charles Wright and Stoney, possibly filled in, pulled out of the race.

A fine first turn by Matthew Wethers gave him a win over Nieminen in heat 4 and in spite of heat 1, Monarchs were now eight points up.

Presumably Nermark had switched machines for heat 5 but it didn?t stop him beating Fisher and Lawson.

Even though Nermark had just recorded 58.6 with the Monarchs? pair chasing close behind, it was decided to re-grade the track and take the top layer off. This caused a lengthy delay though the trackstaff did the job well.

Fears that we could now be seeing a gaters? paradise eventually proved unfounded, but Nieminen won heat 6 fairly easily from Fisher and Sneddon. At this point it seemed the fast gating visiting heat leaders might be starting to take control.

Andrew Tully put a stop to that though when he flew round the outside of Stonehewer to win heat 7 in what was the fastest time of the night.

Monarchs were now 10 up but heat 8 didn?t suit a Comets? TR, so we took a 5-1 from Sneddon and Summers with some ease. The writing was on the wall for the visitors.

Heat 9 was a great race. Nieminen forced his way ahead of Wethers down the back straight but the Monarchs? man came back superbly round the outside of the pits corner, going ahead into the second lap.

William Lawson, riding brilliantly, cut into Nieminen?s advantage and switched under him on the pits corner to complete a brilliant 5-1.

Next up was Ryan Fisher, chasing and catching Carl Stonehewer, and with the score at 40-26 Monarchs were home and dry.

Predictably the TR had been held back for Nermark, who firmly dealt with Wethers round the first corner to take 6 points. By now though Monarchs only needed finishers to win the match.

Lawson chased Stonehewer all the way in heat 12, cutting under him on the last corner and coming close at the finish. The referee gave William the verdict but this was clearly a mistake.

Nermark took heat 13 with Wethers second, and Fisher making a complete fankle of the heat, trying too hard to recover from a poor first corner.

There was never much doubt that Monarchs would hold the upper hand in heat 14, and there was no mistake from Lawson and Tully who took Monarchs? fifth 5-1 of the night.

Nermark duly completed his maximum in the final heat, taking William wide enough on the opening lap to make life awkward for him. William fought back to pass Stonehewer and in the end it had been Monarchs v Nermark.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Andrew Tully.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Workington Comets

It?s been a long time since the Monarchs have beaten Workington. You have to go back to the Premier Trophy match on 13 May 2005 to find our last success against them at the Dale. It?s about time we changed that statistic!

Survivors from that match, for the Monarchs, are William Lawson and, for the Comets, Carl Stonehewer and Kauko Nieminen. Daniel Nermark has changed sides. He top scored for us that night with 12+2 (5) while the Comets? top scorer was (I bet you?d never guess this one) Kevin Little with 14+2 (7)!

The Comets? top three this year ? Daniel Nermark, Carl Stonehewer and Kauko Nieminen - are about as good as you?ll find anywhere in the Premier League and that?s where the key to this match will lie. If they dominate proceedings as they all have individually in the past then it will be a real struggle to fashion a win.

The middle and lower ends of the team look more vulnerable and yet last year Charles Wright scored 10+1 (6) and John Branney 3+1 (5) at the Dale so they won?t be coming here just to make up the numbers! Branney will again be at reserve for the Comets partnered this time by the highly rated youngster, Joe Haines, who guested for us at Birmingham last year.

The one rider in the Comets? side who has never shown any form at Armadale is Scott Smith who was signed following Craig Branney?s pre-season injuries riding on ice.

While Workington are a side to be reckoned with, so are we! The Comets have also scored home and away wins at Berwick and a great deal looks like resting on this weekend?s home and away matches and how the two teams fare at Glasgow assuming Glasgow, too, aren?t in the hunt for the one qualifying spot from the Premier Trophy sections. A lot will become much clearer this weekend because Glasgow are at Berwick on Saturday night then take on Workington at Ashfield on Sunday where the Comets will be completing a three matches in three days schedule.

Success for the Monarchs is going to depend on the whole team producing the sort of form they have been showing so far this season. The Comets will be a different proposition from Glasgow and Berwick but we can look to the excellent start Ryan Fisher has made to his Edinburgh career and the superb form of William Lawson in particular. There really isn?t a weak link in the side although we have to be patient as Thomas Jonasson goes through the learning process. If Thomas is absent through his back injury the team, at present, isn?t really weakened because rider replacement allows for anyone in the side to take an R/R ride.

If Berwick can score 44 against the Comets at home then surely, with all due respect to the Bandits, the Monarchs can do a good bit better than that. Our top pairing of Fisher and Sneddon looks better than Workington?s of Nermark and Smith. The middle pairing of Jonasson/rider replacement and Lawson may well have the advantage over Workington?s Stonehewer and Wright with William Lawson in such dazzling form but it will depend on which Carl Stonehewer turns up. The third pairing looks fairly evenly balanced. Matthew Wethers on top form, however, can certainly match Nieminen while Andrew Tully and Aaron Summers will be disappointed if they don?t outscore their Comets? counterparts.

What looks to be guaranteed is a close hard fought match at both tracks with the outcome at both matches coming down to which side ?throws away? the least points.