Edinburgh Monarchs v Stoke Potters

The Scotwaste Monarchs might have felt tiredness and machine problems were starting to creep in, but Stoke were not a strong enough team to give them any serious problems.

The track for the second match of the night was good enough to allow William Lawson to record 55.2 in the opening heat.

As in the first match, Monarchs started off with two 5-1s. Jason Bunyan fell in heat 1, and Jesper Kristiansen came down in heat 2.

That all changed in heat 3 though as William Lawson stopped while leading, gifting a race win to Lee Complin and a heat advantage to his team.

Robert Ksiezak briefly challenged in heat 3 before dropping back and then falling, confirming that his recent form is pretty poor. Kristiansen did manage to take a second place though.

Bunyan split the Monarchs? pair in heat 5, taking second from Wethers, but there was no problem for Fisher and Lawson romping home in heat 6 against the weak Potters? pair.

Lee Complin took the first TR in heat 7 and seemed well on the way to a win after passing Rajkowski. However he stopped and that ended any faint hopes Potters may have had. Aaron Summers spluttered away from the gate but took the gift point.

Heat 8 was pretty farcical as Madsen lost control on the first corner, causing Bekker to lay his bike down. The South African could hardly believe it as the race carried on without stoppage, Lawson winning easily.

Monarchs took what was their eleventh 5-1 of the evening in heat 9 through Wethers and Rajkowski after Kristiansen had hit the fence hard, but the unbeaten run of Ryan Fisher ended in heat 10. He was on a 5-1 with Lawson when Complin hit the fence and caused a stoppage, then seemed to forget to turn his fuel on in the rerun, only taking a single point.

Summers again could not get away from the start in heat 11 and it seemed a bit odd that he didn?t try a practice start. This left Rajkowski on his own against Bunyan (on a TR) and Madsen. Madsen sensed he had a chance of passing Rajkowski, but in trying to do so he badly blocked his partner.

Madsen did come through to win on the last bend but Bunyan was only third. Better tactics here could have brought the Potters an 8-1.

Bekker made a rare start in heat 12 and as ever Matthew Wethers was happy to settle in for a team riding 5-1. That ensured all three points for Monarchs and to celebrate they took another 5-1 from heat 13, in which Ksiezak showed slightly better form.

Summers? bike gave up the ghost again in heat 14 but Wethers won, and to complete a points romp for Monarchs, Fisher won heat 15 from Complin who rode well in this one.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Michal Rajkowski.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Rye House & Stoke

We break new ground on Friday with our first ever double header. The two visitors to the Dale are the Rye House Rockets in the first leg of the semi-final of the Premier League Knockout Cup while the others are the Stoke Potters in a league match.

It will be tough going completing 30 important heats before the curfew even with the earlier start time of 7.00pm.

First up are Rye House. It seems a long time ago that we beat Workington on aggregate to progress to the semi-finals of the one trophy we didn't win last year ? the Knockout Cup. What a feat it would be if we could lift the trophy this time. If we can get the better of the Rockets then we would face either King's Lynn or Scunthorpe in the final.

Rye House are never push overs at Armadale. We did beat them 50-42 in our league match last June but went on to lose by 20 points at Hoddesdon. It's clear therefore that we need a sizeable lead from Friday's encounter to have a realistic chance of overcoming them on aggregate this time.

Rye House have some of their recent injury stricken side back in working order with Joe Haines, Luke Bowen and Linus Sundstrom making welcome returns to the side but this time they will have to do without the services of Robert Mear and will have to use Rider Replacement (R/R) for their young star. Mear has slipped to number four in the Rye House averages having earlier in the season been their number one average man. This means that R/R can only be covered by Joe Haines, Luke Bowen and the two reserves, Tommy Allen and Andrew Silver.

The Rockets are a wildly inconsistent side. You can' be sure who's going to shine for them on the night. Their top man, Chris Neath, has had some excellent meetings for the Rockets at Armadale in the past but sometimes his away perfromances are woeful for a rider with such talent. Linus Sundstrom, the Rockets blonde Swedish sensation, wins races everywhere yet lacks consistency and much the same can be said for Luke Bowen.

The big excitement is often provided by young Joe Haines whose lengthy absence from the side with a neck injury was a sore loss to the team. He should be one rider well worth watching but the Rockets strength often comes from their reserve pairing of Tommy Allen and Andrew Silver. Allen can be up and down depending on how well he gates. If he makes fast starts he is hard to beat but what about Andrew Silver still turning in the points at the age of 42 after some 15 years out of the sport?

It will be so important to make sure that points are not thrown away in order to build up as big a lead as possible. Tactical Substitutes are not allowed in KO Cup matches so if we can build up momentum there will be no steadying extra point rides to contend with. Of course the same will apply to us in the return match a week on Saturday. We need to be firing on all cylinders in this match. With the weather seemingly set fair for the weekend (famous last words?) perhaps the drier conditions will suit the team better.

After a short break we then turn our attention to the need to continue to collect all three points from our remaining home league matches to maintain a challenge for a top four finish and the play-offs. This time the Stoke Potters are the opposition on a run of three matches in three days like ourselves.

Stoke have rarely produced much of a challenge at the Dale but this year they look a much stronger all round team than some we have ridden against in the past. You wouldn't think so though by looking at the current league table where the Potters have only just secured a finish in the top twelve with last Saturday night's win against Glasgow.

Last year the Potters took a gamble on a trio of young Danish riders on 7.00 point averages and although the two riders they retained, Klaus Jakobsen and Jesper Kristiansen, haven't reached that level yet they have both had some very good scores for the Potters. They provide valuable support for the Potters' top two, Jason Bunyan and Lee Complin.

Bunyan is an excellent racer and would be an asset to any team. His undoubted talent though is often compromised by some poor gating but on his day he is a worthy opponent for anyone in the league. The main support for him should be supplied by Lee Complin who is second in the Stoke averages. However Complin, after looking sensational prior to a serious car crash last year, has not yet looked like the rider he was. Some indifferent scores have left the Potters struggling in some of their matches yet he has been their match winner on occasions.

Tom P Madsen's best days are behind him but he has picked up from a very lean point scoring spell a few weerks ago to provide valuable back-up to the top two. The Stoke third heat leader spot was filled by Phil Morris until he parted company with the club a few weeks ago. The Potters moved quickly to sign up Robert Ksiezak who had been freed by Birmingham. Robert is no stranger to Armadale but has really failed to improve much since leaving the Monarchs' ranks. He relies on his gating for most of his points and there's no doubt he's not an easy man to match so if he has his gating boots on he could cause us some problems.

Normally against a team from such lower reaches of the table we would be confident of landing all three points but with this the second match of the double header how will the team cope? Tiredness can creep in and there's a greater risk of mechanical problems for tiders having to race so many races in such a short space of time. Then there's the risk of delays which could jeopardise the second match reaching 12 heats for a result which would stand. Even if it does we need to be more than six points after heat 12 to clinch the three points.

It will be a tough evening for man and machine. Is it too much to ask for an incident free evening, a big first leg win over the Rockets and all three points from the Potters? I hope not and expect the team to rise to the occasion as they have done so often in the past.

Teams: Edinburgh (for both matches): Ryan Fisher, Max Dilger, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers (captain), Michal Rajkowski Aaron Summers and Byron Bekker.

Rye House: Chris Neath, Rider Replacement for Robert Mear, Joe Haines, Luke Bowen, Linus Sundstrom, Tommy Allen and Andrew Silver.

Stoke: Jason Bunyan, Tom P Madsen, Klaus Jakobsen, Lee Complin, Robert Ksiezak, Craig Branney and Jesper Kristiansen.