Title Partner
Reading?s recent form has been good, but another strong Monarchs? performance saw us safely through to the Premier Trophy Final.
Defending a 22-point lead, the only wobbles came early on. The first heat went badly, an easy 5-1 for Mark Lemon and Chris Mills over William Lawson and Thomas Jonasson, and after Andrew Tully had taken a speedy win in heat 2, Racers added two points to their advantage in heat 3.
It was won by their top man Ulrich Ostergaard, and Tomas Suchanek caught and passed Derek Sneddon during the heat.
It looked like we were in for a tough night, but Ryan Fisher showed his team mates the way by flying round the field on the opening bends to win heat 4.
This was Aaron Summers? second ride and he was obviously suffering from his prang the day before. It was no bad thing to have got two of his rides out of the way early on.
Heat 5 was even more encouraging. William made the start and led all the way from the Danish powerhouse Ostergaard. Although Thomas didn?t score he had a much better ride, pressing Suchanek hard all the way.
Lemon and Mills made the gate again in heat 6 but this time they couldn?t complete the job, as Fisher produced a magnificent wide sweep on the pits bend, rounding both home riders and coming out of the turn well clear.
Andrew Tully also got past Lemon and moved in to challenge Mills, but Andrew lifted allowing Lemon back through. Andrew fell at the next corner trying to recover position.
That was three race winners in a row, and heat 7 improved our position dramatically. Derek and Matthew hit the front and held off Madsen fairly easily. The margin on the night was now just two points.
There was no stopping Thomas in heat 8 as he raced away to win by a huge margin. Andrew beat Nicki Glanz and we were level.
After five heat winners in a row, we lost out in heat 9 as Ostergaard took the first point off Ryan, while Andrew finished at the back after falling at the first attempt to run the heat.
Heat 10 was a great effort by Derek Sneddon. Matthew lifted from the start as Derek went ahead, and in spite of a great deal of pressure from Mills and Lemon he held on for all four laps. Matthew got close but couldn?t pick up a point.
Heat 11 looked very promising for us. Thomas again rode a very quick race to win by a long way, but William missed the start and couldn?t improve his position.
After two wins, Derek had the cheek to lead Ostergaard in heat 12, but he was passed this time. Glanz beat Tully and we were four down now (though definitely through on aggregate).
We wanted something on the night though, and levelled the scores with a maximum heat 13 advantage from Ryan and William.
Heat 14 was Aaron?s third ride, and Suchanek beat Wethers to give the Racers a 2-point lead into the last race.
We needed a 5-1 from heat 15 to win, and into the first corner our riders looked well placed. However Ostergaard forced into second, and with a brilliant move on the pits corner he used the wide line to swoop to the front.
So Racers won by 2 points, but our mission was more than well achieved.
The Monarchs head off on Monday to Reading hoping to complete the task of qualifying for the Final of the Premier Trophy against Birmingham. They take with them a useful 22 point lead.
Had the team been offered a 22 point lead before the first leg got under way they would have grabbed it with both hands but there was a slight feeling of disappointment after that match that the winning margin should have been a good bit more.
In normal circumstances a 22 point lead should be big enough to defend successfully so it will be very disappointing if that turns out not to be the case. To put it another way if Edinburgh lose by more than 22 points then they will not deserve to be in the final.
The last time the Monarchs rode at Smallmead was on 11 July 2005 when they won by 46-47 in a last heat decider after being 12 points ahead at the end of heat 6. There is one Edinburgh survivor from that match - William Lawson who rode at reserve and had two race wins and three last places. The others have all moved on: Brent Werner (a guest for Theo Pijper) to Somerset, Kristian Lund to Obscurity, Cameron Woodward to Eastbourne, Daniel Nermark to Workington, Rusty Harrison to King?s Lynn and Robert Ksiezak to Glasgow (some riders get around a bit don?t they?). Perhaps not surprisingly, since they?ve had a spell in the Elite League, there are no Reading survivors.
They may have lost heavily at Armadale but Reading have a very good team this year and many thought they would have been one of the teams challenging for a top four finish. Maybe they still will. However they have failed to take a single point from their six away League matches to date although they came close last Sunday in a 45-44 defeat at Newcastle. At home they have rattled off eight straight league wins although they did lose a Premier Trophy group stage match at home to Somerset earlier in the season. They redressed that by then going to Somerset and winning - the key result to the Racers making further progress in the competition.
The Racers can boast a top five all of whom have a seven plus average at home. Only the two reserves have sub seven averages. Ulrich Ostergaard had been nearly unbeatable at home all season until mechanical problems set in a couple of weeks ago and Mark Lemon has been a top quality rider for many years now. The big danger to Edinburgh?s overall success probably lies in the possibility of Reading?s middle order of Madsen, Mills and Suchanek running riot. All are capable of fast starts and seem to be able to ride the inside line round the track to very good effect.
You would think the strain was off a team which didn?t have to win to achieve their objective but another kind of pressure can result particularly if the team get off to a bad start giving their opponents the momentum to continue piling up the points. However if the Monarchs ride to their abilities and don?t get complacent about the match then they should win through perhaps even in the match as well as on aggregate.
The likely line-ups will be:
Reading: Mark Lemon, Chris Mills, Ulrich Ostergaard, Thomas Suchanek, Tom P Madsen, Jaimie Smith, Nicki Glanz.
Edinburgh: William Lawson, Thomas Jonasson , Derek Sneddon, Matthew Wethers, Ryan Fisher, Andrew Tully, Aaron Summers.
Monday 23rd June 2008, 9:22pm
We were six points down after three heats but took control of the match after that, going down in the end by just 44-46 at Reading and qualifying for the Premier Trophy Final on a 100-80 aggregate.
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