Edinburgh Monarchs v Kings Lynn Stars

REPORT Friday 16th October 2009, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

King?s Lynn only brought four of their own riders plus two guests, but they all fought hard to hold Monarchs to a 20-point advantage which means that both teams go in to Tuesday?s second leg with a chance.

Monarchs had 13 heat winners, but also 8 last places, and it took them a while to shake off the tenacious league champions. 9 points in the last two heats stretched the margin to a 56-36 victory.

Ryan Fisher started with another fast ride under 55 seconds, but Rajkowski made an unusual slow start and was out of the points.

Aaron Summers won heat 2 with encouraging ease but everyone was watching Kalle on his return ride. He was at the back but kept up close with Graversen to suggest better things to come.

Matthew Wethers led heat 3 but Andrew Tully got nudged well wide on the first corner and trailed well behind. Hitting the pits bend, Schramm locked up and caused both Sanchez and Tully to lay their bikes down. He was out of the rerun in which Monarchs led all the way for the first break in the scoring.

Kalle Katajisto hit the first bend in front in heat 4 but lost control on the turn and came down. In the rerun we saw the power of Wolbert again as he raced away from the visiting pair, though Auty was hard to shake off.

Matthew Wethers outwitted Lawson and Sanchez on the first corner of heat 5 but it was an unusually poor ride for Andrew Tully, making no headway from the back. At 17-13 King?s Lynn would be the happier at this stage.

The Raj hit the front in heat 6 though with Ryan sitting behind him, moving out on the final lap to ensure that the Auty challenge made no headway.

Heat 7 took 3 shots to get under way, with Schramm and Wolbert duelling on the way to the turn. Finally Schramm went ahead and he was looking much more effective than on his previous visit. Wolbert chased and was in place to take advantage of a slight error by Schramm late in the heat. Aaron was at the back though and we had picked up five lasts in the first seven heats.

We left Kalle in heat 8, and it paid off. Rajkowski gated and although he was under strong pressure from Lawson all the way, he held on for the win. In third spot there was a steady ride from Kalle ahead of Eklof, and a 4-2 was a good result here.

Tully and Wethers added five over Auty in heat 9 and now we were 14 up, looking to push on.

However heat 10 was an unexpected setback. Chris Scramm?s gating was very much on song and he led all the way to beat Fisher. Rajkowski was in third early on but could not hold off the charge of Sanchez who came through for the point.

Just 12 up now and William Lawson taking a TR in the next heat. We needed to block this and thankfully it proved one of Aaron?s good heats with a strong first corner from gate 4, and alongside Wolbert they rode away from Lawson for a crucial 5-1.

Schramm was immediately put on the second TR but Tully beat him. Summers was brought into this heat but this was one of his poorer rides and he trailed at the back, meaning Stars took a 5-3.

However they had only gained 2 points from their 2 TRs.

William Lawson made an excellent job of heat 13, heading Wolbert and Fisher. Ryan had to come from the back against Auty, who fell well after being passed and stopped the heat ? an awarded result.

We still needed more points and it was something of a surprise to hear that Katajisto was replacing Summers in heat 14. It turned out Aaron was ill.

But we needn?t have worried anyway! The Stars? pair gated ahead of Matthew ? but ahead of them it was Kalle! A neat first turn by the captain put him into second and he rode in his usual relaced way to give Sanchez and Eklof no chance, while Kalle rode his own race out in front. A great 5-1.

Now it was the final heat with Lawson and Schramm on their came. Although his last two rides had not looked quick, Ryan Fisher was in along with Wolbert.

Lawson made the start, Wolbert roared past and Lawson came back. All on the first lap. Meanwhile Fisher had passed Schramm but in barging back, Schramm sent Fisher spinning. He was out, and in the rerun Wolbert was away. Lawson and Fisher were battling for second when Ryan lost it and also suffered a machine problem.

He had to push the last lap for a point and that was that, we had a 20-point lead.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Kevin Wolbert.

Full Result Details