Edinburgh Monarchs v Reading Racers

REPORT Friday 9th May 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

For the second week running we repelled a strong challenge from a good southern team in an exciting night of Speedway. How good would this have looked on Sky TV?

Reading kept up the pressure right to the end, and we had to pull out some good performances to stay in front. Heat reverses by 0-5 (heat 3) and 1-8 (heat 11) didn't help!

It was a highly eventful meeting, starting with a good win from the back by Ryan Fisher who passed Chris Mills after a couple of laps.

Mark Lemon fell on the first turn but was back on so quickly he almost caught Derek Sneddon for third.

Our reserves didn't make the gate but they cut past the stand-in Racers' reserves for a 5-1. So far so good.

William Lawson got in front of 11-point average man Ostergaard but stopped on the pits corner of lap one. Andrew Tully then took up the challenge and gave Ostergaard a hard time, passing him a couple of times, but finally Ostergaard took over on the last lap, and Andrew took a heavy tumble going into the last corner. A gift 0-5 to the Racers.

A very unsatisfactory first corner to heat 4 left Matthew Wethers fuming. He was pinned to the fence by Ross Brady two-wheeling across the bend, and never recovered. He should really have taken third place but never settled down.

Aaron took second behind Tom Madsen but we were now a point down!

Lemon recovered from heat 1 to head Lawson in heat 5, theb the luck swung our way in heat 6. Fisher and Sneddon led, but Madsen forced inside Sneddon on the first corner of lap two. Derek came down and Madsen was excluded, unluckily in my view (though others disagree).

We were now 4 ahead and built a lead over the next few heats. A great ride by Matthew blocked out Ostergaard in heat 7, and we would have had a 5-1 in heat 8 (won by Summers) but for Fisher running out of fuel. He managed to hold third ahead of Mills who had fallen. Boy was Ryan mad!

William and Matthew though took a comfortable 5-1 from heat 9, and at 32-20 we were in control. We thought.

Heat 10 featured a fantastic ride from the back by Ryan. He didn't do Derek many favours in the early stages but he rode furiously, rounding the Racers' pair of Ostergaard and Suchanek, then recovering after losing the lead again by making the most audacious move between the opposition. What a win!

Racers hadn't given up though and not only did Lemon take 6 from heat 11 on his TR, but Mills passed Wethers for an 8-1!

Ostergaard then headed Lawson and we were 5 up with 3 to go.

We needed a good heat 13 - and we got it. A great start by Derek, who then pinned Lemon to the line as Matthew came superbly through the middle. Derek battled back round the outside and they rode a great race to take 5.

Was it all over at 44-35? No! Next up was Ostergaard on a TS, and when Suchanek made the gate we had a very tense heat. Fisher (wide) and Tully (inside) tried to hold off the battling Ostergaard and they did restrict him to a third place after a tough heat.

So we were finally home. William took his second win in the last heat with a fine ride, while Ryan rode another wide-line battle against Ostergaard and Lemon, eventually falling on the last lap. Great stuff.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Aaron Summers

Full Result Details