BIG FINALE: CHAMPIONS WILL BE CROWNED!

NEWS Wednesday 23rd October 2013, 12:55pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

We have arrived at the final weekend of the 2013 season and to decide the Premier League Championship, the Scotwaste Monarchs will race against Somerset at Armadale on Friday (7:30 start) with the proviso that if the weather proves impossible to beat, the match will shift to Saturday night (7:00 start).

The second leg is at Somerset on Monday and many supporters are making arrangements to travel down. Both teams are close to full strength (each has a young guest rider in the second reserve berth) so it should be a fair, close contest with a very big prize!

TEAMS FOR THE PREMIER CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Craig Cook, Max Fricke, Claus Vissing, Jozsef Tabaka, Theo Pijper, Liam Carr, Derek Sneddon (capt).

SOMERSET REBELS: Jason Doyle (capt.), Kyle Newman, Alex Davies, Josh Grajczonek, Nick Morris, Charles Wright, Oliver Greenwood.

COMMENTS FROM THE TOP: Speaking in the Monarchs' match magazine for Friday -

Garry May, Somerset team manager:

"I think we are both equal teams. Both can do well at home – you could thrash us at Armadale, and we could thrash you at Somerset. It's so even. You've got an out-and-out no. 1 with Cookie, so have I with Jason. It's going to be down to the other riders now to see who comes through.

"Of course you've got Derek Sneddon going down to reserve now, he had a blinder at Ipswich for you. Yet when he rode at our place he got 0! I think they are going to be two cracking meetings."

Derek Sneddon, Monarchs' captain:

"It's easy to captain a team if you've got a good bunch of guys. Each and every one of us, though we've had our up times and down times, are all genuinely 100% behind each other.

"We all want success. We had a spell when things weren't going well, the heads were going down, but we got ourselves through it. It was the team that did that amongst ourselves.

"We want success and we all believe we are capable of it."

FORM GUIDE: What do previous meetings between the sides this season show? The teams have met six times.

In the Premier League, Monarchs won 46-44 at Somerset in a superb match in June which was on Sky TV, and they also won the league match at Armadale 49-41.

The next meetings were in the KO Cup semi-final in August, and both matches finished in 49-41 home wins for a 90-90 draw.

In the replay Somerset won their home match 58-32 and lost 41-49 at Armadale for a comfortable aggregate win. They went on to win the final against Rye House.

So Monarchs have won 4 of the 6 matches but Somerset have scored more race points!

REBELS HAVE GROWN IN STRENGTH: All teams would wish to go better and better as the season has gone on, and that can fairly be said of Somerset during 2013. They didn't win their League Cup qualifying group, and they lost at home to the Scotwaste Monarchs in June, but they have gone on to top the Premier League qualifying table and to win the KO Cup.

They have a top quality no. 1 in Jason Doyle, who has ridden over 100 meetings this season and rarely had a bad one. He was a star for Birmingham in their runners-up position in the Elite League and is probably the only Premier rider who can reasonably claim to be on the same plane as Craig Cook.

Fellow Aussies Nick Morris and Josh Grajczonek are also top heat leaders, with Morris in particular being one of the best Armadale visitors of recent years.

Alex Davies and Kyle Newman are high quality backup riders and great triers.

Possibly the key man for the Rebels is their ex-Monarch at reserve Charles Wright. He was controversially signed to replace the fast-improving Stefan Nielsen, but he has been in the best form of his career to justify the move.

LAST MEETING: The Scotwaste Monarchs defeated Glasgow 51-42 in the Scottish Cup second leg, which wasn't enough to overhaul the first leg deficit. Derek Sneddon was unbeaten by the opposition in four rides for Monarchs, while James Grieves scored 16 for Glasgow in his farewell Armadale appearance.

NEXT MEETING: There's no more at Armadale this season after the Premier Playoff Final so everyone will look forward and plan for March 2014 when it all begins again.

Full Result Details