Edinburgh Monarchs v Somerset Rebels

REPORT Friday 9th September 2011, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

This may not have been a great season for Edinburgh but this match showed that they still have, on the right night, class and character in the side.

They went into the match without Matthew Wethers (fourth in the averages) and Kyle Howarth, and seemed to be right up against it, with guest reserve Ashley Birks not having had any previous success at Armadale.

On top of that, the other reserve Byron Bekker was ruled out with a knee injury after falling in heat 2, which meant that Monarchs could not even field a rider replacement in two of Wethers? four heats.

As it turned out, Birks far exceeded expectations with a display of confident gating and riding, giving the backup which the home heat leaders needed. Kalle Katajisto, in spite of plenty of effort, struggled again, though his few points were also important.

The dominant figures though were Kevin Wolbert, Andrew Tully and Craig Cook, all at their brilliant best throughout. They didn?t always gate but were capable of powering through from the back when required, on a track which was in miraculously good condition after yet another Friday of bad weather.

Ride of the night was Wolbert?s power pass of Corey Gathercole in heat 10 at a point when the Aussie had won his previous two heats. It was a firm but fair overtake in a great race. At his best Wolbert really is a top quality rider.

Cook was the poorest gater of the top three, therefore had to do the most passing, but was pulling off some of the best cutbacks seen at Armadale since the heyday of Peter Carr.

Tully looked relaxed and confident as he reeled off five wins, before missing his maximum in the final heat.

Dakota North and Alex Davies gave support to Gathercole for the Rebels but nominal top two Sam Masters and James Wright were very disappointing.

Somerset lost James Holder who fell heavily in heat 8. There were two long delays for the injuries to Bekker and Holder, and whatever the rights and wrongs of current medical procedures it is becoming a problem in keeping the crowd interested during such gaps.

At least tonight, the fans saw some excellent racing and a very strong performance by the home team.

Full Result Details