Newcastle Diamonds v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Sunday 14th September 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Newcastle away was a vitally important match for us, and it was dismaying to find the state of the track playing such a part in the event. A huge Monarchs? travelling support went through the emotional wringer with the team.

The track was tricky all over but the 3rd and 4th bend especially was almost impossible to ride at speed. No-one was immune from the problems though some coped better than others ? the less extravagant the riding style, the better you were likely to be.

In particular we saw from Matthew Wethers one of the best performances ever in our colours. He drew the most generous of comments from Newcastle?s announcer Barry Wallace ? ?It is the best display of white line riding I have seen in 50 years.? There was warm applause for that comment from fans of both teams, and it was richly deserved by the young Aussie.

He took everything in his stride, the importance of the occasion and the difficulty of the track not apparently affecting him. He was often well behind in the early stages but never rushed things, simply riding his line and moving up on the riders in front of him. Perfect timing saw him three times draw alongside the leading riders entering the final turn, and his greater composure brought him victories each time.

The track looked a bit rough pre-match, and we soon found out how awkward it was as Sean Stoddart two-wheeled across the third bend on lap one. He and Derek Sneddon were in difficulties throughout but Derek managed to get the point with a determined effort.

Up front it was clear that William Lawson was going better than in his two comeback matches as he pushed Josef Franc. He got the break on the final bend as Franc hit one of the tricky bits and went across the turn, William coming through to win.

Jerrand Hart made a fast start in heat 2 but Wethers and Summers were quickly through. Unfortunately for Aaron he overslid on the outside of the bottom bend and came down, when all we needed to do was stay on for a 5-1. Easier said that done, I know.

Matthew was obviously going to be useful, and took the first r/r ride. King and Hart gated but Matthew brilliantly eased past them on the inside, while Andrew came past Hart and managed to stay on board. 11-7 and things are looking OK so far in spite of conditions.

Henry and Fisher contested the first turn and back straight in heat 4, both going quicker than seemed wise, and Ryan slid off on the outside. Excluded, rerun an easy 5-1 for Diamonds with Aaron gating slowly and only gradually coming in to the picture.

Juul came in as r/r for Stancl in heat 5, but William Lawson was quickly away. He led in to the third turn ? but slowed and stopped, and with Derek toiling it was a second successive 5-1 for the home team. They were now leading 17-13 and the picture had changed for the worse.

Heat 6 was another Wethers special. It seemed that it was between Franc and Fisher as they battled for the whole race, not realising that Matthew was creeping up on them all the time. Just as Franc got the better of Fisher off the last bend, Wethers snuck through to grab it on the line!

So we were still in it, and Fisher did even better in the next one, leading Christian Henry all the way with Andrew in third. Level again!

Things might have got better in heat 8 as Wethers and Sneddon eased ahead of Stoddart, but Derek was soon in trouble again with Stoddart and Juul passing. He tried so hard to regain ground and seemed close several times, but in the end he just couldn?t keep control. That was a disappointing one, a chance lost.

Speedy Jason King seemed certain to take a win in heat 9 as he raced clear, the outside line now working better for him. But Wethers was there again, easing up on his inside line, and catching him on the last corner to the great delight of the Monarchs? horde! Ryan took third and we were in front again.

Heat 10 was stopped after Andrew Tully passed Juul but fell coming out of the fourth bend. Franc and Lawson were battling for the lead, and did so again in the rerun, with the Czech taking the verdict to level the scores.

William took another second behind Henry in heat 11, with Aaron this time doing well to beat Hart for the important point.

The score was now 33-33 and looking down at the heats coming up, Diamonds had King in heat 12 with the steady Juul, Franc and Henry in heat 13, Henry in heat 14 plus anyone they wanted in heat 15. It looked a formidable task for our boys with Matthew running out of rides.

That?s where we showed our resolve. Matthew did the trick yet again in heat 12 with a pass on King, and Tully rode with his head to pass Juul and stay there. We were ahead again.

Heat 13, and glory be, Ryan made the start and settled at the front. William though was well back. Both Henry and Franc made extravagant efforts to come under Ryan on the fourth corner but each time they shot across the track and our man came back through. All this time William was making up ground and off the last corner, he nipped up the inside to take second!

What a roar, suddenly the finishing line was in sight and we quickly brought Matthew into heat 14 for his final ride. He lined up with Andrew against Henry and Juul, and Matthew actually made the start this time! He never looked like making an error, and Andrew also rode steadily for the point. The match was ours.

William was away in the last race, with King and Fisher going in hard to the fourth bend. King fell and Ryan came down in a heap just behind him. Whether Ryan laid it down or just fell is hard to say, but surely a rider coming off in front of you has some bearing on the second man coming down? He wasn?t given the benefit of the doubt and Craig Ackroyd excluded both.

Ryan probably would not have been fit anyway, he was shaken and sore. A fence post needed mending and it was a while before William finished off a highly enjoyable night with a race win.

In the end we had 11 heat winners and won by 9 points, but it never felt anything like as easy as that.