Heat 14 win for Kalle Katajisto Image Credit: Ron MacNeill

20 POINT LEAD FOR MONARCHS

NEWS Friday 16th October 2009, 0:43am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs beat King's Lynn 56-36 in the first leg of the Premier Playoff and so gave themselves a fighting chance of qualifying to meet Belle Vue for an Elite League place.

Of course no-one would be stupid enough to say it will be easy, especially bearing in mind that King's Lynn beat Monarchs by 20 on their last visit to the Norfolk Arena - and that is the best anyone has done there this season!

It was a hard-fought match against a strange Lynn lineup missing both Ward and Topinka - the young Aussie called off after apparently injuring his back at Ipswich last night.

William Lawson came in and scored double figures, finishing with a heat 13 victory and a second place in heat 15.

Their other guest Josh Auty had his poorest Armadale match of the season, and their star Swedish reserve Linus Eklof didn't go well this time.

But battling Chris Schramm did do well and matched William Lawson's 11 points.

For Monarchs Kevin Wolbert was in great form again with 14, and Matthew Wethers scored a paid maximum from 4 rides.

Ryan Fisher was a little below par with some machine problems. Tully won three heats and Rajkowski two - and then there was Kalle Katajisto!

He looked very handy in his first three rides but only had one point to show for it. However he came into heat 14 to replace the unwell Aaron Summers - and he won the heat! This was a vital 5-1 with Wethers providing the backing.

It looked like Lawson might win heat 15 as he led after a lap, but when Schramm barged off Fisher the heat was stopped. Monarchs took a 4-2 in the rerun with Fisher's bike packing up, but he pushed home.

It will still be a very tough match om Tuesday night. If Monarchs do win on aggregate, Belle Vue will visit Armadale next Saturday evening - the day after the track has staged the first leg of the KO Cup Final between Monarchs and King's Lynn once again!