Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

A potentially tough match was comfortably won by the Scotwaste Monarchs who found the weather a more threatening opponent than Newcastle Diamonds.

The top home trio won 9 of their 10 races, and only an impressive performance by the up-and-coming Richie Worrall kept Diamonds in the hunt. Neither Mark Lemon nor Stuart Robson won a race.

The weather leading up to the match left the circuit grippy and Andrew Tully made use of that to zip round in 54.3 seconds in heat 1, just 0.4 outside Ryan Fisher’s record.

Derek Sneddon held second early on but couldn’t stop Lemon coming through. He took it easy and kept third without too much difficulty.

We’ve heard so much about Richie Worrall, the high scoring and also the controversy, but it was only really the good riding which was on show in this match. He led all the way in heat 2 with Micky Dyer comfortably second. Charles Wright was well adrift and although he closed up on Steve Worrall, he didn’t really threaten to pass.

Ludvig Lindgren made the start in heat 3 but locked up on the turn and caused his chain to come off, followed by himself. He was lucky the following riders missed him.

In the restart it was a comfortable 5-1 for the Pijper/Wethers duo.

Heat 4 was a dramatic race. Richie Worrall and Stuart Robson gated while Craig Cook was stranded at the back. Cook was quickly past Charles Wright and closed on the Diamonds’ pair entering the second lap. It looked as though both the visitors moved to keep the inside covered, Worrall was too tight and he went straight across the turn, ramming Robson into the fence.

In the rerun Monarchs were on a 5-1 right to the last bend, a great effort by Wright who didn’t allow Robson a passing chance – right to that vital last bend when he swung too wide and lost second.

Christian Henry burst through the tapes in heat 5 and was replaced by Richie Worrall, OK after the crash. A lovely first turn by Pijper nipping up the inside took him ahead but Matthew Wethers struggled at the back.

Heat 7 was a good one, and another last bend pass. This time Claes Nedermark led all the way with Cook gradually reeling him in, and coming up the inside at the last gasp for the win. Micky Dyer rode steadily for the point over Lindgren.

Richie Worrall took a TR in heat 8, and raced clear for the six points. We made matters worse for ourselves when Wright took Sneddon wide on the pits corner, which dropped him back behind Henry. Derek tried several outside runs but couldn’t get back into a scoring position.

The gap was now cut from 10 to 5, and we had another tapes exclusion in heat 9. Were the Diamonds chancing their arm, knowing they could fall back on Richie Worrall? This time it was Steve Worrall out and his brother in, but Theo Pijper won the heat from Robson to maintain our lead. Again, though, Matthew struggled.

Andrew Tully had made two good starts but heat 10 was one of his poor ones, and the best he could do was pass Lindgren to sit alongside Sneddon while Nedermark had a clear run up front.

We knew there was a black cloud coming and the ref was doing a good job keeping the riders coming out for the races. Cook beat Lemon comfortably in heat 11 and not only did Micky Dyer take another important point, he was closer to catching Lemon than conceding his position to Henry.

The rain was now coming down and Steve Worrall fell on the first bend of heat 12. We needed the rerun to take place and Theo did another excellent job negotiating the ever-wetter surface to move us 9 points clear.

The ref then headed for the pits and there was surely no way anyone wanted to continue.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

Monarchs face another big challenge this Friday when the rampaging Newcastle Diamonds visit Armadale (7.30) on the lookout for a first away win, having come within a whisker of doing just that at Scunthorpe when they lost a four-point lead over the last three heats.

Ipswich are looking good in the Southern section and Workington look to be the strongest team in the North, but the Diamonds managed to (just) hold off the Comets on Sunday when this time they managed to come back from an eight point deficit over the last three heats.

Leading the line for the Diamonds this year is the vastly experienced and very popular Australian, Mark Lemon, who has has spent the last three seasons at Newcastle. Mark has had more than his fair share of injuries and surgery since first coming to the UK an amazing 22 years ago as a 17-year-old.

One-time Monarch and fellow Australian, Christian Henry, comes in at No.2 after making a comeback with Glasgow's league championship winning side last year. However Christian wasn't able to shake off the injury jinx that has overshadowed his speedway career so far.

A young Swedish rider with a famous surname, Ludvig Lindgren, lines up at No.3 with a Premier League average of over 7 and an Elite League average that at one time got to over 5 with Wolverhampton. So Andrew, Derek and Theo will all have their work cut out against these three.

Matthew also faces a young Scandinavian at No.4, Claes Nedermark who is entering only his second season to Matty's tenth. The Dane gained fame by being dumped by Plymouth even before his first match. Luckily Newcastle fitted him in but unluckily knee damage cut his debut season short.

The Cumbrian Flyer, Craig Cook, who is looking to assume the mantle of Flyin' Ryan Fisher this week has to pit his skill against a genuine Tyneside entertainer, Stuart Robson, who first started out with Newcastle in 1993 before becoming a star at Coventry for seven seasons.

Micky and Charles will both be lining up against a rider called Worrall at No.s 6 and 7 since Newcastle signed twins Steve and Richie from St Helens as their two reserves. The former moto-cross riders both converted to speedway at Scunthorpe in the past couple of years.

Monarchs don't have the 12-point deficit they had to overcome last week so they should start as favourites with the home advantage. However they will have to build up a decent lead before the dreaded Heats 13 and 15 where the big name riders can come into their own.

You can expect fireworks whenever Lemon, Robson and Lindgren meet Tully, Cook and Pijper. But there are also enough close match-ups all the way through the card to provide every bit as much drama, tension and excitement as 2012 has seen so far at the Scotwaste Arena.

Likely line-ups:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Andrew Tully, Derek Sneddon, Theo Pijper, Matthew Wethers (capt.), Craig Cook, Micky Dyer, Charles Wright.

NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS: Mark Lemon, Christian Henry, Ludvig Lindgren, Claes Nedermark, Stuart Robson, Steve Worrall, Richie Worrall.