Edinburgh Monarchs v Leicester Lions

REPORT Friday 30th September 2011, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

This match was much closer than the final score suggests, with the home team very much indebted to their top two.

Kevin Wolbert and Andrew Tully were streets ahead of everyone, and clinched the three match points with their 5-1 in the final heat.

The top visiting riders Kauko Nieminen and Magnus Karlsson only won one race between them, though Nieminen?s heats against Tully and Craig Cook were amongst the best races.

The most disappointing aspect of the evening was the track, a depressingly shiny surface after a day of good weather betraying over-watering which had some of the riders struggling.

There was still some good action but Craig Cook and Kyle Howarth especially found themselves below par. The first four races were shared, two 5-1s each, and Cook conceded a second 1-5 in heat 7 which gave the Lions a 2-point lead.

The bonus for the home team was an improved performance from Kalle Katajisto, much closer to his best form, and he helped to turn things round.

There were two contentious exclusions over the first half of the match. The slippery surface caused some waggling back-ends, one such by Matthew Wethers in heat 5. Although Viktor Bergstrom was well behind and had a choice of lines, he still managed to head for Wethers and clip him as he the home captain regained control.

Wethers was excluded and a heat advantage was lost. If this was debatable, then three heats later a first bend waggle by Jason Garrity which very slightly hampered Kyle Howarth was also very harshly rated an excludable offence. It looked like an attempt to even things up.

From that point Monarchs started to perform better, and they pulled out a 10-point lead by heat 13. Katajisto played a big part and Cook deserves credit for fighting back after two terrible rides to take a win in heat 11 and a fighting third in heat 13 after a very bad start.

Garrity was seriously under-used by Leicester on his Armadale debut. He started with two paid wins, then had that unlucky heat 8 exclusion, and never reappeared until heat 14 when he was chosen for the TR and gained six points. What might have happened had he been given another couple of heats in the right place?

Full Result Details