Stoke Potters v Edinburgh Monarchs

Some of us thought that the current Stoke side would be a major test for the Scotwaste Monarchs. The riders believed it was a match they could win.

After two heats, the rest of us saw what they meant. Monarchs led 10-2 and that was because right from the start they were fiercely determined to show the Potters who were the better side. The home riders had virtually no answer, other than Ben Barker.

Barker is a small and aggressive guy with a large talent and a hot temper, and we saw all sides of him on Saturday.

Anyway, these first two heats. We have come to realise that Mark Lemon sometimes starts with a poor first ride, and so it proved in Stoke colours as our guest Magnus Karlsson snapped off gate four to the front, from Krister Jacobsen (the new one) and Derek Sneddon. Derek wasn?t settling for that and came hard inside the Dane to give us the perfect start.

Heat 2, even better ? we certainly didn?t gate but both Andrew Tully and Aaron Summers rode perfect first corners to streak away from the home pair ? Burrows and Klaus Jakobsen (the old one) who are rated a strong pair.

Thomas Jonasson dominated the first turn in heat 3 and never allowed Ben Barker a chance, in fact Matthew Wethers was just short of Barker at the finish as we continued our powerful beginning.

Next race winner was Ryan Fisher by a distance in heat 4, though the home pair shared it.

We then had a pretty annoying long delay while tractors and water bowsers slowly carried out a track grading session which hadn?t seemed especially necessary.

Derek once again showed how positive and determined he was by leading Ben Barker to the final lap, matching the home star all the way until Barker squeezed by on the last lap. It was Stoke?s first heat winner but he really had to work for it.

The first turn of heat 6 was mayhem. It was difficult to see everything that was happening but it looked like Ryan Fisher made the start, just ahead of Lemon, but Ryan fell on the first corner possibly because Mark ran into him. At the same time Andrew was coming from the outside and trying to go round Krister Jacobsen, and they both came down too.

The referee could not sort it out and asked for all four back, but unfortunately Jacobsen took an ambulance ride with a rib injury. This again meant a very lengthy delay and we were at the 90-minute mark before the heat 6 rerun which was won by Lemon with Fisher and Tully beating Jakobsen ? the guy who scored a 15 point maximum a week earlier.

Perhaps surprisingly the TR was given to Andrew Moore, which must have been on recent form rather than form in his first ride. He was last from the tapes but Buzz Burrows was up ahead, until Thomas hit the wide line and flew past in a brilliant move.

At that point Buzz lifted and that could have been a problem had he veered to either side. However the others got past safely with Matthew taking second as we extended our lead to 28-14, with the TR used up.

With Moore wasting the TR, it was obvious that Barker was taking a TS and that came in heat 8. It was an inherently dangerous situation as Barker soon came amongst our riders, because he certainly isn?t cautious.

Derek was holding him off until the first corner of the final lap when Barker came piling through at pace with Derek spinning off into the fence.

From a view on the outside of the incident it seemed Barker must have been guilty, but referee Wilson viewing from the raised box decided otherwise and so it was a 7-2 to the Potters.

Barker also won heat 9 from Fisher and Aaron Summers could not catch Kristiansen, so we had seen our lead halved to 32-25.

Mark Lemon actually cut past our pair off the second bend of heat 10, but Thomas soon reasserted himself with a brilliant outside pass on the pits corner. Matthew took the point and we were moving ahead again.

Magnus and Derek raced clear in heat 11, and the only chance that they might not score a maximum was when Buzz Burrows fell. Fortunately he cleared the track.

Heat 12 is the one which has become a bone of contention. Once again Thomas raced ahead and for three laps was well clear of Barker. Tully was also very much on the tail of Barker.

Down the back straight for the last time, Thomas lifted and so went into the last corner slightly slower than usual. Barker made an outside challenge, Thomas moved out and the pair bumped, which caused Barker to drop back and lose the second place.

Some kind of scuffle ensued but the referee had no hesitation in announcing the 5-1 to Monarchs.

Ryan and Magnus took 5 from heat 13 in spite of close attention from Mark Lemon, and we had now passed 50.

Matthew took the heat 14 win and we saw an excellent ride from Aaron after losing a lot of ground on the opening bend to catch and pass Kristensen.

We did not put out Thomas for heat 15, even though he wanted to ride, to avoid an unnecessary rematch with Barker. The Stoke captain led all the way and we would have shared the heat, had not Magnus blown an engine on the last corner.

A tremendous performance to put us three points clear at the top of the PL.

Stoke Potters v Edinburgh Monarchs

After two excellent performances this week already against Somerset, the team head off to Stoke tonight on a high in an attempt to take all three points from this restaged match.

The original running of this match took place on 5 July. With the Monarchs leading 26-28 the meeting was abandoned after heat 9 due to persistent rain. So what?s different this time?

Edinburgh have Magnus Karlsson, a member of the 2003 Championship winning side, as a guest at number 1 while the rest of the team, albeit with the same riders, has been completely rejigged since then with only Matthew Wethers and Ryan Fisher at numbers 4 and 5 in the same spots in the side as in the abandoned match.

In a strange twist of fate Magnus Karlsson guested for Stoke at number 1 in place of Lee Complin on that occasion and switches teams while Edinburgh?s regular guest over the last few weeks, Mark Lemon, changes colours to line up at number 1 for Stoke instead (it could only happen in Speedway!). Four of the Stoke team for the first match remain in the same team place, Ben Barker at number 3, Jesper Kristiansen at number 4, Andrew Moore at number 5 and Klaus Jakobsen at number 7. Stoke?s new Danish signing, Krister Jacobsen, comes in at number 2 for the Potters while Barrie Evans has been replaced at number 6 by Buzz Burrows who has dropped to reserve.

Stoke were also in action last night and came close to winning at Scunthorpe where they went down to a 46-44 defeat with Ben Barker scoring a 15 point maximum so they seem to have recovered well from the 67-25 annihilation they suffered at King?s Lynn last Wednesday night when Andrew Moore top scored for them with 12 of their points.

It?s hard to predict which way this match will go. Stoke have three good heat leaders in Lemon, Barker and Moore and excellent back-up from danger man Klaus Jakobsen at reserve. Last week in the Potters? match against Rye House Klaus scored a 15 point maximum against the Rockets and has been scoring heavily at number 7 for some time now so is clearly a major threat to our chances. The rest of the Potters? team is a bit uninsurable. You can never be quite sure which team is going to turn up. For example will Ben Barker score 5 points as he did against Rye or will it be the maximum man who scored the lot at Scunthorpe last night?

The importance of this match cannot be underestimated. To have any chance of winning the league title, the Monarchs must take at least another two points away from home but it?s more than likely that more than that will be needed. Stoke is a track which has proved a happy hunting ground in the past so it should hold no fears for the riders, particularly Ryan Fisher, currently in great form, who has guested for the Potters on a number of occasions at Loomer Road Recently. The Monarchs? solidity and, hopefully, power at reserve gives them reason to be optimistic but these sort of away matches are never easy and have often turned out to be banana skins in the past.

The results against Somerset were as good as the Monarchs could realistically have hoped for but the team has gained nothing from them other than large pay packets. Both teams ended up with two league points as expected to maintain the status quo. With an understrength Somerset side heading off to Berwick tonight the Monarchs have a great chance to take a major stride towards the title should the Rebels lose to the Bandits. The only concern seems to be the fitness of Thomas Jonasson who withdrew during last night?s meeting feeling unwell. Should he not be fit enough to ride, Rider Replacement will operate with all of the team able to take an extra ride.

Over to you, guys, and the best of luck for tonight?s match.

The probable line-ups are:

Edinburgh: Magnus Karlsson (Guest), Derek Sneddon, Thomas H Jonasson, Matthew Wethers, Ryan Fisher, Andrew Tully, Aaron Summers.

Stoke: Mark Lemon (Guest), Krister Jacobsen, Ben Barker, Jesper Kristiansen, Andrew Moore, Mark Burrows, Klaus Jakobsen.