Edinburgh Monarchs
Kevin Wolbert 14 (5)
King's Lynn Stars
William Lawson 11+1 (6)
Premier League Play Off
56
36
Friday 16th October 2009
Armadale Stadium
Watch
Edinburgh Monarchs
56
1. Ryan Fisher 3 2* 2 1* 1 9 2
2. Michal Rajkowski 0 3 3 0 6 0
3. Andrew Tully 3 0 3 3 9 0
4. Matthew Wethers 2* 3 2* 2* 9 3
5. Kevin Wolbert 3 3 3 2 3 14 0
6. Aaron Summers 3 0 2* 0 5 1
7. Kalle Katajisto 0 X 1 3 4 0
King's Lynn Stars
36
1. William Lawson 1* 2 2 1 3 2 11 1
2. Tomas Topinka r/r 0 0
3. Chris Schramm 2 X 2 3 4 X 11 0
4. Emiliano Sanchez 1 1* 1* 1 1 5 2
5. Josh Auty 2 1 1 0 X 4 0
6. Linus Eklof 2 0 0 1* 0 3 1
7. Jan Graversen 1* 1* 0 2 2
Heat 1
Time: 54.9
1. Ryan Fisher  
3
2. Michal Rajkowski  
0
1. William Lawson  
1
2. Tomas Topinka r/r  
3. Chris Schramm
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
3
Away
3
3
Heat 2
Time: 55.1
6. Aaron Summers  
3
7. Kalle Katajisto  
0
6. Linus Eklof  
2
7. Jan Graversen  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
6
Away
3
6
Heat 3
Time: 55.6
3. Andrew Tully  
3
4. Matthew Wethers  
2
3. Chris Schramm  
Fx
4. Emiliano Sanchez  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
11
Away
1
7
Heat 4
Time: 55.1
5. Kevin Wolbert  
3
7. Kalle Katajisto  
Fx
5. Josh Auty  
2
7. Jan Graversen  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
14
Away
3
10
Heat 5
Time: 55.6
3. Andrew Tully  
0
4. Matthew Wethers  
3
1. William Lawson  
2
2. Tomas Topinka r/r  
4. Emiliano Sanchez
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
17
Away
3
13
Heat 6
Time: 56.7
1. Ryan Fisher  
2
2. Michal Rajkowski  
3
5. Josh Auty  
1
6. Linus Eklof  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
22
Away
1
14
Heat 7
Time: 56
5. Kevin Wolbert  
3
6. Aaron Summers  
0
3. Chris Schramm  
2
4. Emiliano Sanchez  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
25
Away
3
17
Heat 8
Time: 56.4
2. Michal Rajkowski  
3
7. Kalle Katajisto  
1
2. Tomas Topinka r/r  
1. William Lawson
2
7. Jan Graversen  
6. Linus Eklof
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
29
Away
2
19
Heat 9
Time: 55.8
3. Andrew Tully  
3
4. Matthew Wethers  
2
5. Josh Auty  
1
6. Linus Eklof  
7. Jan Graversen
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
34
Away
1
20
Heat 10
Time: 56.4
1. Ryan Fisher  
2
2. Michal Rajkowski  
0
3. Chris Schramm  
3
4. Emiliano Sanchez  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
2
36
Away
4
24
Heat 11
Time: 55.4
5. Kevin Wolbert  
3
6. Aaron Summers  
2
1. William Lawson  
1
2. Tomas Topinka r/r  
5. Josh Auty
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
41
Away
1
25
Heat 12
Time: 56.1
3. Andrew Tully  
3
7. Kalle Katajisto  
6. Aaron Summers
0
3. Chris Schramm  
4
6. Linus Eklof  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
44
Away
5
30
Heat 13
 
1. Ryan Fisher  
1
5. Kevin Wolbert  
2
1. William Lawson  
3
5. Josh Auty  
Fx
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
47
Away
3
33
Heat 14
Time: 57
4. Matthew Wethers  
2
6. Aaron Summers  
7. Kalle Katajisto
3
4. Emiliano Sanchez  
1
7. Jan Graversen  
6. Linus Eklof
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
52
Away
1
34
Heat 15
Time: 55.8
5. Kevin Wolbert  
3
1. Ryan Fisher  
1
1. William Lawson  
2
3. Chris Schramm  
X
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
56
Away
2
36

King?s Lynn only brought four of their own riders plus two guests, but they all fought hard to hold Monarchs to a 20-point advantage which means that both teams go in to Tuesday?s second leg with a chance.

Monarchs had 13 heat winners, but also 8 last places, and it took them a while to shake off the tenacious league champions. 9 points in the last two heats stretched the margin to a 56-36 victory.

Ryan Fisher started with another fast ride under 55 seconds, but Rajkowski made an unusual slow start and was out of the points.

Aaron Summers won heat 2 with encouraging ease but everyone was watching Kalle on his return ride. He was at the back but kept up close with Graversen to suggest better things to come.

Matthew Wethers led heat 3 but Andrew Tully got nudged well wide on the first corner and trailed well behind. Hitting the pits bend, Schramm locked up and caused both Sanchez and Tully to lay their bikes down. He was out of the rerun in which Monarchs led all the way for the first break in the scoring.

Kalle Katajisto hit the first bend in front in heat 4 but lost control on the turn and came down. In the rerun we saw the power of Wolbert again as he raced away from the visiting pair, though Auty was hard to shake off.

Matthew Wethers outwitted Lawson and Sanchez on the first corner of heat 5 but it was an unusually poor ride for Andrew Tully, making no headway from the back. At 17-13 King?s Lynn would be the happier at this stage.

The Raj hit the front in heat 6 though with Ryan sitting behind him, moving out on the final lap to ensure that the Auty challenge made no headway.

Heat 7 took 3 shots to get under way, with Schramm and Wolbert duelling on the way to the turn. Finally Schramm went ahead and he was looking much more effective than on his previous visit. Wolbert chased and was in place to take advantage of a slight error by Schramm late in the heat. Aaron was at the back though and we had picked up five lasts in the first seven heats.

We left Kalle in heat 8, and it paid off. Rajkowski gated and although he was under strong pressure from Lawson all the way, he held on for the win. In third spot there was a steady ride from Kalle ahead of Eklof, and a 4-2 was a good result here.

Tully and Wethers added five over Auty in heat 9 and now we were 14 up, looking to push on.

However heat 10 was an unexpected setback. Chris Scramm?s gating was very much on song and he led all the way to beat Fisher. Rajkowski was in third early on but could not hold off the charge of Sanchez who came through for the point.

Just 12 up now and William Lawson taking a TR in the next heat. We needed to block this and thankfully it proved one of Aaron?s good heats with a strong first corner from gate 4, and alongside Wolbert they rode away from Lawson for a crucial 5-1.

Schramm was immediately put on the second TR but Tully beat him. Summers was brought into this heat but this was one of his poorer rides and he trailed at the back, meaning Stars took a 5-3.

However they had only gained 2 points from their 2 TRs.

William Lawson made an excellent job of heat 13, heading Wolbert and Fisher. Ryan had to come from the back against Auty, who fell well after being passed and stopped the heat ? an awarded result.

We still needed more points and it was something of a surprise to hear that Katajisto was replacing Summers in heat 14. It turned out Aaron was ill.

But we needn?t have worried anyway! The Stars? pair gated ahead of Matthew ? but ahead of them it was Kalle! A neat first turn by the captain put him into second and he rode in his usual relaced way to give Sanchez and Eklof no chance, while Kalle rode his own race out in front. A great 5-1.

Now it was the final heat with Lawson and Schramm on their came. Although his last two rides had not looked quick, Ryan Fisher was in along with Wolbert.

Lawson made the start, Wolbert roared past and Lawson came back. All on the first lap. Meanwhile Fisher had passed Schramm but in barging back, Schramm sent Fisher spinning. He was out, and in the rerun Wolbert was away. Lawson and Fisher were battling for second when Ryan lost it and also suffered a machine problem.

He had to push the last lap for a point and that was that, we had a 20-point lead.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Kevin Wolbert.

"King's Lynn will be making as many visits to Armadale as Glasgow this year ? four in total! Friday night sees the third of these visits this time in the Play Off final, first leg. Just as in the Premier Trophy Final we need to build up as big a lead as possible.

Just three weeks ago we beat the Stars by 54-41 but the thirteen point lead didn't prove sufficient as we lost the return by twenty points to surrender one of the trophies we won last year. We now have a chance to retain one of the other trophies we won last year and in doing so earn a home and away Promotion/Relegation battle with Elite League Belle Vue. So what are the chances?

Since we faced the Stars at the end of September they have lost their inspirational captain Tomas Topinka. With Kozza Smith still missing from the side the Stars have opted to use a guest for him and Rider Replacement for Topinka. The guest they have chosen is Josh Auty, a rider who this season has already scored double figures in his three visits to the Dale with Sheffield. He will be riding at number 5 partnered in three of his heats by one of the King's Lynn reserves. The Rider Replacement facility has been declared at number 2 with every one of the Stars team eligible to take a ride, in three of them partnering Darcy Ward. The other is a heat 8 ride as heat leader.

If Auty can reproduce his scoring power for the Stars they will be well served and it should strengthen their line up quite considerably. It's a big 'if' though because, if not, the third pairing could well be the visitors' Achilles heel. Having said that we found last time that Linus Eklof at reserve was in the form of his life and it was his peformance over the two legs which arguably cost us the Premier Trophy.

Darcy Ward has yet to find his best form at Armadale but such is his talent that we have to hope that it's not on Friday night. He will have a variety of partners, each of whom a danger to our hopes. The partnership between Chris Schramm and Emiliano Sanchez has been the boilerhouse of the King's Lynn side this year but in the Premier Trophy match they were on the wrong end of three 5-1s and that's what we have to look for again.

But while King's Lynn will look with satisfaction at their line up for this match and hope to keep any arrears down to less than the 13 points by which they lost last time, they will be up against a Monarchs side now in their best form all season as anyone who was at Glasgow last Sunday will confirm. Apart from Byron Bekker who has now departed from the team we didn't have a weak link with all of the riders hitting top form both in the gating and determined riding stakes. The performance was quite stunning and a repeat may well leave the Stars struggling.

While our top two pairings carry a lot of threat and Kevin Wolbert has the class to go through the card it could be that the tie is decided at reserve as last time. In that match Aaron Summers had two brillinat wins and a paid win until his crash with Linus Eklof left his bike wrecked resulting in his failing to score thereafter. Aaron was back to his very best at Ashfield with storming starts which took him to a score of 15+2 from seven rides. That's just what we need this time and he'll be well up for this one after the events of three weeks ago.

With Byron Bekker gone, we welcome back Kalle Katajisto who returns to the team after his spell with us two years ago. He was just 16 years old then and had only had a few meetings on 500cc machines. Since then he has run up some very impressive scores in his native Finland and we hope he can contribute to the team total. With Lakeside's Joonas Kymokorpi in his corner we don't know what to expect but he need feel no undue pressure notwithstanding the importance of the meeting.

Since we lost by 20 points at the Norfolk Arena in the second leg of the Premier Trophy we must aim for a 20 point lead on Friday night. Can it be done? We were well on our way the last time until we effectively lost Aaron Summers in that fateful heat 11 before which we led by 16 points. The resultant 1-8 we lost in the rerun scuppered our chances to a large degree. We deserve a bit of luck to balance things out but would settle for having no bad luck which would give us a good chance of bettering the lead of last time to set up a thrilling second leg next Tuesday.

Here's hoping for a cracking match with all of the riders emerging injury-free.

Teams: Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Michal Rajkowski, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (captain), Kevin Wolbert, Aaron Summers and Kalle Katajisto.

Workington: Darcy Ward, Rider Replacement for Tomas Topinka, Chris Schramm, Emiliano Sanchez, Josh Auty (Guest), Linus Eklof and Jan Graversen.