REBELS WIN THE CUP

NEWS Friday 2nd October 2015, 11:59pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Somerset Rebels held the Border Roofing Monarchs to a 47-43 home victory tonight, which wasn’t enough to overturn the 8-point deficit from Tuesday, so the Rebels took the trophy on a 92-88 aggregate.

Alex Harkess said “We just didn’t perform to our best, it was very disappointing. Far too much went wrong and we didn’t bounce back as we usually do. Congratulations to Somerset.”

Yes it was a disappointing night for the Border Roofing Monarchs, the first time we’ve lost any team competition since October 2013! We could of course bemoan the unfortunate absence of Kevin Wolbert and the broken chain which cost Justin Sedgmen a paid win in heat 10, but the fact is you have to rise to the occasion and ride through these things, and we didn’t do it.

It comes as something of a shock because so often we pull out exactly what is required. Craig Cook scored a paid maximum including a win from the back in the last race, but elsewhere we were not at our best on a night when nothing much seemed to go right and the writing was on the wall quite early.

Instead far better to congratulate the Rebels on a spirited performance in which Paul Starke was really a standout, with the others coming good when they got a sniff of aggregate victory.

Remarkably we had levelled the aggregate scores after just two heats. Even though Starke and Kurtz were away well in the first race, Sedgmen and Cook were soon at the front for a 5-1. Heat 2, excellent riding by Clegg and Branford soon rounded up Rasmus Jensen and already we were level!

However we did not push on from there. Richie Worrall forcefully barged to the front after Sedgmen had led briefly in heat 3, and with Erik stuck at the back we lost a 4-2. Sam Masters then beat Grajczonek with Branford again beating Jensen, and again we were level.

Sam was out again quickly for heat 5 in which it looked very much as though Paul Starke had jumped the start. He won comfortably and once again Erik was trying too hard and didn’t look like passing Kurtz, though Brady again found it hard to make much of Armadale.

In heat 6 we forged ahead for the first time, a very easy Cook – Sedgmen 5-1 over Grajczonek who so far wasn't at his best.

Richie Worrall then lost control on the first corner of heat 7 and brought Max Clegg off, earning an exclusion, and really we should have taken a 5-1 in the rerun. Sam led from Max with Charles Wright no threat at all. However they didn’t team up well, Max Clegg ran too wide and it seemed that Wright actually knocked him off!

If Graham Reeve was watching, he must have decided that Max himself was too out of control to get the benefit of the doubt, so he simply got the point. However now we were 27-15 ahead, 4 up on aggregate, the high point of the night for the home side.

Starke again flew to a win in heat 8 and really he was the man keeping the Rebels in the hunt. Jensen beat Branford this time and the aggregate gap was now 2 in our favour.

Those of us keeping track of what was coming up might have felt at this point that we were not doing enough. Over the remaining seven heats, thanks to the Wolbert situation three would feature Erik Riss (pointless so far) plus a reserve, and in all honesty after their bright start messers Clegg and Branford were fading out of things. We needed a miracle.

Erik in fact did a great job in heat 9, beating Grajczonek who still wasn’t living up to his reputation.

Then came that fateful moment. Cook and Sedgmen were strolling to a 5-1 over Wright and Worrall, when Sedgmen ground to a halt and instead of 6 up we were a mere two up on aggregate.

The remarkable Starke then won again. He may or may not have got a flier in heat 5, but these next two wins were no fluke. His Poole connections were bearing fruit. Sam had no answer other than to easily pass the floundering Kurtz, though Max Clegg could not follow suit.

The aggregate scores were now level and Erik then came out as rider replacement for Kevin, off the dismal gate one. Rebels’ Wright and Jensen were away but Rob Branford flopped off at the back. He should have been off in time but he wasn’t, but the rerun made no difference. That meant we were now 4 down on aggregate.

There was still a ride remaining for Luke Chessell, and it wasn’t to Rebels advantage that this should be in heat 14 where they wanted to use Jensen again. So they dumped Kurtz out of heat 13 in which he wasn’t likely to score.

Craig was always going to win heat 13 but the question was could Sam get second? At the first attempt he crashed trying to go outside Josh Grajczonek. As you might expect, Sam had no complaints about the decision to let all four back in. “It was hard but fair racing,” he said, “I would have done the same.”

In the rerun Josh got the second place so we were two down on aggregate with two races left. Once again, Erik was under pressure to pull out a big ride.

As in heat 9 he made a start in heat 14, but this time he lifted on the second bend and lost it big time with his bike cartwheeling down the straight and almost wiping out Rob Branford. Amazingly no harm was done to the riders, but Erik’s bike was wrecked.

He was out of the rerun, an easy Somerset 5-1, and that was that – Rebels had won the cup.

The final race was actually the best of the evening as Craig Cook found a way past Richie Worrall to complete his maximum, with Sedgmen third ahead of Rebels' hero Starke.

They were naturally elated and we were left wondering why we could not have done a bit better. Starke was the visiting hero but the others did enough, while on our side apart from Cook and Sedgmen no-one was at their best. The track seemed a bit too slippery and several riders lost control on the pits bend.

The Rebels travelling support enjoyed the presentation with many of our fans on the road home, but no-one really had many complaints about the result.

Now it’s on to Peterborough on Sunday to hopefully put on a decent show there and give ourselves a chance in next Friday’s Premier Playoff semi-final second leg.

Full Result Details