DEFEAT AT REDCAR: JONASSON INJURED

NEWS Thursday 11th September 2008, 1:47am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Thursday was a bad night for the Scotwaste Monarchs, defeat at Redcar by 49-41 being overshadowed by the bad news from Sweden of a broken leg for Thomas H Jonasson, riding in the Swedish Playoffs for Valsarna.

Obviously we had hoped that Thomas would return to the team for the vital match at Newcastle on Sunday, but again hopes of seeing our chosen 1-7 on track have been dashed.

The onus falls on the remaining six to do well in the home and away matches with the Diamonds. Rider replacement will operate for Jonasson and we will need to perform better than we did at the STMP on Thursday.

The final score probably flatters us and reflects in the main excellent performances by second strings Derek Sneddon and Andrew Tully plus Aaron Summers.

Both Ryan Fisher and William Lawson (in his comeback match) were below par and unbalanced the side, while Matthew Wethers scored 7+2 which was probably below expectations also.

Derek Sneddon won two heats including a heat 1 win over Havelock, while Andrew Tully brilliantly won the final two races, passing Chris Kerr and Gary Havelock to do so.

Aaron won heat 2 and was always competitive, though he finished last when given the black and white helmet in heat 14.

William Lawson won heat 5 ahead of Grieves and Kerr but other than that never looked like beating an opponent in his other 4 rides. A home meeting will hopefully help him get back in the groove.

Somerset lost at Sheffield so we retain top spot in the Premier League.

Full Result Details