MISTAKES AND MISFORTUNES LEAD TO DEFEAT

A night of misfortune and mistakes by Monarchs came against the wrong opponents as our old bogey team Newcastle grabbed a 44-46 away win.

Monarchs led 14-4 but a dreadful spell of frustrating problems from heat 6 to 8 levelled the scores. Having been pretty much gifted their chances, Newcastle were then good enough to take advantage.

Monarchs had a narrow lead from heat 9 onwards, and were a bit fortunate the Diamonds subsequently had two exclusions for Lemon and Sneddon in heats they seemed likely to profit from.

But Monarchs didn't really take advantage and although they led by 2 points going in to the last race, Bach made the start in the deciding heat and Larsen took advantage of mistakes by Fisher and Wolbert to burst through and complete the 5-1 for victory.

Monarchs machine problems were far too numerous. Ryan Fisher blew his Armadale engine before the start, Kalle Katajisto blew his to smithereens in heat 8 and will not be able to retrieve it, Jozsef Tabaka also stopped in the disastrous heat 8, and Andrew Tully also had major bike problems.

There were positives in defeat. Kevin Wolbert was brilliant in his first four rides even though he missed out in heat 15 (in which he finished with a puncture). Jozsef Tabaka showed much improved form until he stopped in heat 8, and Max Dilger's steadiness earned him points.

We are now looking to win two or three away matches to get back into contention in the PT section. It is not impossible.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

Be afraid, be very afraid. Monarchs may have enjoyed a successful weekend with another late, late show at Ashfield, but they could hardly face a stiffer test in their opening Premier Trophy match of the new season this Friday.

Newcastle have been one of the 'sleeping giants' of the Premier League for a number of years now, but 2010 may just be the year the giant awakes. They finished 2009 on a high and who will ever forget that pulsating Play-Off second leg last October when it took two sudden-death heats to separate the sides on aggregate.

Just like Monarchs, the Diamonds are able to start this season with six of last year's seven riders, a bit of a rarity these days. The only enforced change came when Trent Leverington decided to take a break from speedway - before having second thoughts by the time everyone had completed their line-ups.

This actually looks to have worked to Newcastle's advantage because his replacement is the highly talented young Australian, Dakota North, son of a former Stoke Potter. Dakota (named after the plane) beat Darcy Ward to become 2007 Australian U-16 champion and is now backed by no less than Leigh Adams!

Another Australian rider to watch will be Monarchs favourite guest in time of need, the popular Mark Lemon, who certainly knows his way round Armadale. Then there's Kentish lad, Jason King, who will be looking to continue his upward progress from the solid base of a seven-plus average.

But the real headliners are the latest in a line of famous Danes to have ridden for the Diamonds. Rene Bach scored 13 on his last Armadale appearance, and Kenni Larsen can surely only improve on his uncharacteristic four points. He has already set off like a train with double figure scores in every match.

Finally and by no way making up the numbers come the two Scots, our former 'captain fantastic', Derek Sneddon, and Adam Mckinna who seems be at last cementing a place in the Premier League. So all in all, the Diamonds have a very strong line-up and are tipped to be serious contenders this term.

They've already completed three and-a-bit matches, beating both Berwick and Redcar on average, and recording two away wins from two starts! And there's hardly a cigarette paper's worth of difference between the teams if Speedway Star is anything to go by. They have Newcastle as third favourites and Edinburgh fourth.

So we should be in for a real treat as two sides packed with eager young racers go head to head. If Monarchs are to come out on top, as they should do, they will have to be at full strength and they will have to be a lot less generous in gifting points to the opposition at critical times, as they did last Friday.

Likely line-ups:

Monarchs: Ryan Fisher, Joszef Tabaka, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew wethers, Andrew Tully, Max Dilger, Kalle Katajisto

Diamonds: Kenni Larsen, Derek Sneddon, Jason King, Rene Bach, Mark Lemon, Adam McKinna, Dakota North