THIRD IN THE FOURS

NEWS Saturday 25th July 2009, 2:10am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs battled their way to third place in the Fours on Saturday, behind winners Workington and runners-up Somerset.

It was a good effort by the team who were without Andrew Tully, and each rider scored important points.

In the qualifying group Monarchs gave Workington a good run for their money, and seemed certain to draw level with the home team after heat 5 as Ryan Fisher had subdued kevin Doolan and was on his way to his second win in successive heats.

Doolan suddenly pulled out on the third lap, and disastrously Ryan followed suit less than a lap later, blowing his engine.

Not realising there was a point available (and probably disgusted at what the blowup had cost him) Ryan pulled on to the centre green.

So from being comfortably placed we were back in the melting pot, especially with Aaron at the back in heat 6. That left us level with Rye House and three points behind Workington.

Matthew steadied things by taking second place in heat 7, and we knew going into the final heat of the semi that Michal Rajkowski needed to avoid finishing two points behind Mear in the final race. He rode a nervous four laps, dropping from a comfortable second and being passed by Mear who had been at the back, but it was just enough.

Workington strolled away with the final, their heat leaders winning eight of the heats. That left the rest of us to try to get on the podium.

On a less suitable engine Ryan wasn't quite as effective as in the semi, but he did enough to get us into third by taking second place to Makovsky's fourth in the final heat.

SEMI SCORES:

Berwick 14, Somerset 12, Redcar 11, King's Lynn 11.

Workington 18, Edinburgh 12 (Matthew Wethers 5, Ryan Fisher 3, Michal Rajkowski 3, Aaron Summers 1), Rye House 12, Scunthorpe 6.

FINAL SCORES:

Workington 27, Somerset 18, Edinburgh 14 (Ryan Fisher 5, Matthew Wethers 4, Aaron Summers 3, Michal Rajkowski 2), Berwick 13.