Edinburgh Monarchs v Workington Comets

Once again the Scotwaste Monarchs emerged fairly comfortable victors from what seemed likely a difficult match with the track providing some excellent entertainment.

This was something of a miracle after so much rain in preceding days which only stopped at lunchtime on the day of the match.

Several of the Monarchs were in outstanding form ? Wolbert, Wethers, Fisher, Summers ? with Byron Bekker also competitive, and Michal Rajkowski as usual coming good for heat 13.

There were some strong words from John Campbell regarding the rather predictable and unsavoury absence of Adrian Rymel, and from the point Monarchs tore into their opponents.

Ryan Fisher held off a strong challenge from Doolan with Max Dilger getting a point after he had bumped Leverington on the first corner, causing Trent to leave the track.

Aaron Summers won heat 2 with Byron Bekker riding a good heat also, losing out to Branney for second place.

The terrific Wolbert / Wethers pair took to the track in heat 3 and carved up guest Piszcz on the first corner. Five points, and Piszcz came last.

Heat 4 was a curious one ? Rajkowski gated and won in a slow time, Bekker and Compton both lifted which let Branney into second, with Andre languishing in fourth spot.

So we were ten up already and Doolan took a TR in heat 5.

Wethers and Wolbert beat him away though, and only an excellent inside pass on by Comets? Kevin on Monarchs? Kevin earned him anything. A 4-4 left Monarchs ten clear.

Compton gated in heat 6 though and showed what he is capable of by leading Fisher home. Dilger held third for a bit but Craig Cook picked him off.

Tomas Piszcz looked like being a second successive Comets? winner in heat 7 but Summers had other ideas, and nipped past off the fourth turn for a fine win. However Rajkowski had one of his poorer rides and gave up third spot to Branney.

Summers inevitably replaced Dilger in heat 8 and made it three wins out of three, with another good ride from Bekker to make it a 5-1. That was repeated by the two Ws in heat 9 over Compton, and with a 16-point lead Monarchs were close to the winning post.

Fisher won heat 10 from Piszcz after a strong first turn, and again Summers led the way from Doolan in heat 11. This time though he had to give best to a fine pass round the outside by Doolan.

The second TR came with Piszcz in heat 12. He led with the rain starting to fall, but Wolbert wasn?t prepared to settle for second. He made a bold outside move on the pits corner and swept round for a brilliant pass.

That was the match won with only a handful of points needed to secure all three match points.

The starts were getting increasingly ragged and heat 13 was the worst yet, a fler for Doolan and Compton. Amazingly Rajkowski hit that outside line and soared round both of them!

Fisher was left stranded but he was soon in on the action, diving inside Dolan at the start of lap two. He didn?t hit him but Doolan was put into an awkward place and came off. He left the track and headed over for a post-race chat with the ref while the Raj completed another remarkable heat 13 win.

Compton took heat 13 while the home pair got a bit tangled up, and to close an excellent Monarchs? show, Wolbert raced away with heat 15. Matthew wethers nearly slipped past Doolan but fell on the last bend.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Aaron Summers

Edinburgh Monarchs v Workington Comets

This weekend sees the team racing on Friday and Saturday nights at Armadale to catch up on a backlog of fixtures caused mainly by rain-offs. The first on Friday night features Workington Comets while on Saturday Somerset Rebels are the visitors.

Workington are in the same position as us ? scrambling for points before the 19 September deadline to finish in the top four and thereby qualify for the end of season play-offs. Currently the Comets lie in seventh place with 35 points but only one point behind Sheffield, Newcastle and Somerset in third, fourth and fifth places all on 36 points with a match in hand over Newcastle and Somerset. The Monarchs lie in tenth place with 28 points, some eight points adrift of the others, but with three matches in hand over Sheffield and Workington and four over Newcastle and Somerset.

It's all very tight and the pressure is on us; the others have the points in the bag while we have yet to win them. There's not much room for any slip-ups so three points in both weekend matches are likely to be a must if we are to haul ourselves into contention.

How the Comets must be regretting the four points they've lost at home by failing to win by more than six points and the two they dropped to us by drawing at Derwent Park a couple of weeks ago. At the start of the season the Comets were being talked about as Championship contenders let alone Play-off finalists particularly as they had the strongest looking heat leader trio in the league in Kevin Doolan, Adrian Rymel and Andre Compton. They've had loads of injury problems since but the heat leader trio is still intact for their visit to the Dale on Friday.

While Kevin Doolan and Andre Compton have always been among the top visitors to Edinburgh, the same can not be said about Adrian Rymel who, although more than capable of winning races, has all too often blown hot and cold. Which Rymel will turn up on Friday? Well it would be a major surprise if he were to go through the card or even come close to it. It would also quite likely ruin our chances of all three points if he did!

With Ryan Fisher and now Kevin Wolbert providing the heat leader strength we've longed for for some time we should be capable of restricting the scoring of the Workington big guns. Ryan has been looking unbeatable in recent matches while Kevin has re-ignited ambitions for the season with what can only be called spectacular performances since he joined us just a short time ago. My bet is that between them they can limit the scoring of Doolan and Compton and, with Matthew Wethers also hitting some great form last week, they may have to be at their very best to challenge him too.

The battle may come down to the lower order. With Max Dilger and Byron Bekker struggling for points a lot will depend on Michal Rajkowski and Aaron Summers to provide most of the back up. Aaron will be hoping to be better prepared mechanically than last week as he is such a vital member of the side particularly since he can take up to seven rides in support of the heat leaders. A double figure score is now quite the norm for Aaron in home matches and he should be more than a match for the Comets' lower order.

Michal made some fast starts last week but seemed too slow to maintain position until he received some support in his last ride from Ryan Fisher when he produced a vital race win just when it was badly needed to help us on our way to three points against Glasgow. He is a vital part of the side having to cover the difficult number 5 spot in the team where he is supported by the reserves in three of his rides before facing the Workington big two in his fourth race.

Max Dilger, however, has yet to find his feet in the Premier League. He was so unfortunate to have to withdraw with a hand injury last week after his crash with Josh Grajczonek but he has been back in his homeland this week riding on both Saturday and Sunday. He was well in the points so we hope that his confidence will be much higher than it was after our run of recent matches over such a short time. Byron gives it his all but until he can make a few decent gates he may continue to find points hard to come by.

So what about the Workington lesser lights? The Comets will be using Rider Replacement for Richard Lawson which means that Andre Compton, Trent Leverington and their two reserves, Craig Cook and John Branney can cover for him. Trent Leverington comes in as a guest for Phil Morris still suffering the after effects of a dislocated shoulder. The Newcastle rider has had a very unimpressive season having dropped to reserve for the Diamonds with an average of 4.41. His record at Armadale is not what you would call impressive for a rider who has ridden there so often over the years. However, he has had his moments and should not be disregarded since he is likely to have five rides. Craig Cook looked so impressive in the early part of the season when his gating was excellent but he has rather gone off the boil recently. However his reserve partner, John Branney, has had some superb scores from reserve like the 9 points he scored against us in the league match at Workington. We have got to restrict Trent, Craig and John to as few points as possible.

The feel-good factor is back though at the Dale as no doubt the Comets will find out. A good win over Glasgow plus a newcomer who can score double figures has lifted the team and given us renewed hope for some end of season glory. If we can take six points from the weekend's two matches then a qualifying place for the Play-offs may well be insight.

Here's hoping for an injury free meeting with a good win for the Monarchs and no mechanical problems to be sorted before Somerset come visiting on Saturday night.

Teams: [b][u]Edinburgh[/u][/b]: Ryan Fisher, Max Dilger, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers (captain), Michal Rajkowski Aaron Summers and Byron Bekker.

[b][u]Workington[/u][/b]: Kevin Doolan (captain), Trent Leverington, Adrian Rymel, Richard Lawson (Rider Replacement), Andre Compton, Craig Cook and John Branney.