REBELS REPELLED BY A GREAT TEAM PERFORMANCE

REPORT Friday 15th August 2014, 11:59pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs swept back to the top of the Premier League and maintained their perfect home record with a big win by 55-39 over Somerset Rebels in a match billed as the Monarchs' biggest home test.

That it may well have been but they passed with flying colours. The whole team performed well but we might be excused if a special mention is reserved for Sam Masters, Derek Sneddon and Steve Worrall.

There was a big pre-match worry when Masters blew his Scottish Open-winning engine to pieces in the pits, leaving only the engine he used at Berwick on Tuesday and struggled with. There was a bigger smile than ever from Sam by the end of the night after one of his best displays yet!

"It looks like that is now my best Armadale engine after all!" he said. "Robbie and I made some changes but we hadn't meant to use it till we were forced into it."

A superb 14 points was the result.

Captain / reserve Derek Sneddon had been under pressure recently with supporters calling for 'changes' but he responded superbly with some ship-steadying heats, two vital wins and paid 11 points.

And the amazing Mr Cool himself, Steve Worrall, won his first three heats and ensured that the Rebels could make no progress against the middle pair either, even though Max Fricke was struggling a little with what he thinks might be a bent frame.

The opening pair of Craig Cook and Justin Sedgmen lost the first race 2-4, and even then Craig had to pass Charles Wright late in the race. That was ominous but they were back on song with 5-1s in heats 6 and 10.

Of course Aaron Fox missed the match after that massive purler on Tuesday, and we were pleased to have Max Clegg stand in at short notice, for which John Campbell thanked him. As on his previous appearance Max showed a nice style.

Sam Masters provided some of the racing highlights. In heat 4 he scattered the Rebels with one of his third bend special dives and brought Derek Sneddon through as well, and he topped that in heat 13 with an incredible pass of Nick Morris. He also defeated both the Rebels TRs, Pontus Aspgren in heat 7 and Nick Morris in heat 11. Other than maybe the Scottish Open this was Sam's best home showing so far.

Derek Sneddon also did some good work from the back, and Craig Cook as well as passing Wright in heat 1, also caught Ollie Allen in heat 13. Craig's gating is not at its top level at the moment though.

Max Fricke had one excellent ride from the back, joining Derek for a heat 12 5-1 after initially being at the back.

It was difficult to know if the Rebels were disappointing or the Monarchs were just outstanding. Nick Morris never has any problem getting round Armadale and won two races, with his only backing coming from Aspgren who managed a win in heat 14. Reserve Paul Starke won heat 8 but when used in the latter stages, ran two lasts.

PL Champion Ollie Allen had an awful night, riding wildly at times. In heat 9 he scattered everyone when he careered across the first bend, and later in the race he clearly brought down his partner Todd Kurtz, but he was surprisingly allowed to carry on.

Aaron Fox was present but it might be a few days before we have a better idea of his prospects of returning in the near future.

Full Result Details