MATTHEW INSPIRES A GREAT WIN

NEWS Sunday 14th September 2008, 2:10am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The amazing Matthew Wethers won seven heats at Newcastle - six of them from the back! - as the Scotwaste Monarchs recorded a 49-40 win on one of the most difficult tracks we have ever encountered.

This puts Monarchs five points clear at the top of the table and as well as beating Glasgow on Friday if we can, we must wait to see how Somerset do in their remaining matches. However we are in the driving seat now.

It was an incredibly tough match at Newcastle thanks to the state of the track. Apparently the 3rd/4th bend had been under water in the morning and it remained desperately tricky, upsetting most of the riders to some degree.

We had early fallers - Summers in heat 2, Fisher in heat 4, and also an engine failure for William Lawson while leading heat 5. Derek Sneddon found conditions almost impossible to handle, and the surface didn't suit Andrew Tully either.

Ryan Fisher was also in difficulty quite a bit but managed a vital win in heat 13. He took a heavy fall in the final heat after the match was decided.

Moving up our charts, it was a great night for William Lawson who was much more like his old self than in the last two matches.

And then of course there was Wethers. What a character. His skill and track craft can sometimes be underestimated but no-one will forget this performance.

He found an effective inside line, especially on the "impossible" bend, which took him past the opposition time and again. Three times he grabbed a win on the final corner, one of these (heat 6) seeing him pass both Franc and Fisher off the last corner.

His final ride in heat 14 clinched the match, and this time he actually made the start from gate 4.

It was some night and a very big cause for celebration.