Edinburgh Monarchs v Somerset Rebels

Another week, another cup final for Edinburgh but this time it was an unsuccessful attempt to retain their Knockout Cup trophy, won this time round by their great rivals the Somerset Rebels.

Monarchs have had to race this tie without Kevin Wolbert in either leg following the German’s crash last Saturday in his national playoff match, and it was obvious right away that they would struggle to get the same kind of points out of rider replacement.

Believing him to be likely to ride he was left in the number 3 position, and this threw too much pressure on young Erik Riss over the second half of this deciding leg.

From Somerset’s point of view their key man was certainly Paul Starke, whose three wins (one over Sedgmen and two over Masters) prevented Edinburgh building on their early advantage. It was Starke’s first match in the main body of the team.

Against slightly easier opposition in the latter stages, Rasmus Jensen won two heats, and these two covered up for the fact that the Rebels’ two main men Brady Kurtz and Josh Grajczonek struggled and never looked like winning a heat.

The gap at the start of the night was only 8 points, and it took Edinburgh just two heats to close that! Starke actually gated in the first race but Craig Cook and Justin Sedgmen swallowed him up round the first turn and sped off into the night.

Even more encouragingly for Monarchs, both Rob Branford and Max Clegg passed Jensen in heat 2. This however proved to be a false indicator of the kind of night the respective reserves were going to have.

It was a terrible start for the visitors but they wasted no time mounting a fightback. Although Sedgmen, the first rider replacement, made the start in heat 3, Richie Worrall forcefully passed him down the back straight and rode a powerful four laps for the win. Charles Wright held third a long way back and Somerset were back in the aggregate lead.

Sam Masters won heat 4 from Josh Grajczonek and Branford took another important point as Jensen dropped out at the back. Level again overall.

The start for heat 5 didn’t look satisfactory at all with Starke shooting away from the inside gate to lead by several lengths into the first turn. Masters soon passed Kurtz but Riss could not follow suit, while Starke rode hard, fast and wide and was uncatchable.

The see-saw scoring continued into heat 6 in which the reliable Cook-Sedgmen pair finished well clear of Grajczonek, who wasn’t looking quick at all. Monarchs were back ahead again but with the two weaker rider replacement rides to come, the home camp knew they probably needed to be well ahead before heat 9.

They got a break in heat 7 though didn’t make the most of it. Worrall lost control on the first turn and brought down Clegg, earning an exclusion. Masters and Clegg then led the rerun with Wright offering very little challenge, but the home pair didn’t team up well at all with Clegg being driven wide and eventually locking up. Even though Wright actually knocked him off, the ref must have reckoned he brought it on himself.

Monarchs now led 27-15 and heat 8 was crucial. It was that man Starke again racing clear of Sedgmen, and Jensen taking the point, so even though they were two up on aggregate the Monarchs were under pressure with some tough heats to come.

Erik Riss did very well to gate and ride steadily for a win in heat 9, ahead of Grajczonek and Jensen.

As if Monarchs didn’t have enough to contend with, Cook and Sedgmen were strolling to their third 5-1 in heat 10 when Sedgmen’s rear chain snapped. That was a really bad blow and the Rebels must have felt at that moment that it was their night.

Starke beat Masters again in heat 10 with Kurtz third, and we were back level again. Heat 12 was the final rider replacement ride for Wolbert, going to Riss, but he was off gate 1 which was pretty hopeless. Sure enough the Rebels were away, only to be stopped when Branford came off on the second turn. He should have been up and off quicker but it made no difference anyway as the rerun was a Rebels’ 5-1.

Garry May then decided to take Kurtz out of heat 13 in order to give Luke Chessell his third heat. Monarchs desperately needed 5 points but Grajczonek was determined not to let Masters get away from gate 4. He pushed his fell Aussie wide and Masters came down.

The rerun with all four was called, and this time the Rebels’ captain split the home pair, leaving Somerset two ahead on aggregate with two races left.

So much pressure had been heaped on young Riss over these closing heats. He made the start in heat 14, but coming out of the second turn he lifted and headed for the fence. Rider and bike cartwheeled down the straight with Branford being clipped by the machine, but mercifully only the bike was seriously damaged.

The unfortunate Riss was excluded and the 5-1 in the rerun ended the contest. A last heat 4-2 ensured Monarchs won their home leg and indeed was the best race of the night with Cook taking a couple of laps to steam past Worrall.

The Rebels would not claim to be Armadale specialists, but they had stuck to their task and earned the reward. Monarchs certainly regretted Wolbert’s absence, and Sedgmen’s broken chain, but you can’t win them all.