Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

Drizzle throughout the evening made conditions increasingly bad, but the evening built to a thrilling climax with a 5-1 in the second Golden Heat taking Monarchs to the final.

They deserved to qualify, though Newcastle fought hard. The Diamonds scored 5 TR points in two outings, compared to 1 in 1 for Monarchs (how ludicrous to have TRs in a home and away tie), and also Newcastle had the benefit of some demented refereeing in the second leg.

There was much to remember about the night, not least a brilliant ride by Matthew Wethers to prevent the highly impressive Rene Bach clinching the tie in the first Golden Heat.

Edinburgh never really took control of the match in the way that they often do at Armadale. Aaron Summers is such a key man for Monarchs but he contributed very little on this occasion, leaving the top five to do all the hard work pulling back the first leg deficit.

Ryan Fisher was the dominant figure in the early stages and won the opening heat easily. Michal Rajkowski took an early bump from Derek Sneddon and was well behind at one stage, but he did very well to pass the struggling Kenni Larsen.

Problems in heat 2 though as Aaron Summers made the first of a series of very slow starts and ran into Adam McKinna on the first corner trying a cut-back. He was excluded, and although Byron Bekker held second for a while in the rerun he made a mess of the road bend and allowed McKinna through. Diamonds led 7-5.

Rene Bach showed early in heat 3 but Andrew Tully did well to slip through on the inside. Wethers held third but couldn?t catch the young Dane who was making his Armadale debut.

A good first turn brought a heat 4 win for Kevin Wolbert but Bekker trailed well back, and the scores were still level.

Wethers and Tully were on song though and took a 5-1 easily from heat 5, followed by another from Fisher and Rajkowski in heat 6. Lemon may have been ruled out at the first attempt for bringing down McKinna, but he wasn?t ? however he fell again next time and this time he was out.

Eight points up now, and surely on the way.

Rene Bach though led heat 7 quite comfortably in the early stages, with Summers trailing depressingly. Wolbert didn?t like the situation, and in spite of the deteriorating conditions he caught Bach and pulled off a superb Schott-like inside pass at the start of lap three. He swept up to the fence and Bach, continuing round the wide line, ran into him.

The decision that Wolbert should be excluded was scandalous, and the heat was awarded as a 1-5.

Rajkowski did an excellent job to win heat 8, but again Summers was at the rear and after three rides, our key reserve had not beaten an opponent.

We were still 5 down on aggregate and needed to make a move. Call for Wethers and Tully, and they don?t let you down ? a 5-1 over Mark Lemon who at this point had done very little.

Finally Monarchs did take the aggregate lead as Fisher took his third win, beating Bach, with the Raj easily ahead of the disappointing King.

But with a 10-point lead on the night, it was TR time! Kenni Larsen took it even though he had no points, and he made the gate. Undaunted by his ill-fortune in heat 7, Wolbert again went for that inside surge going in to the road bend and he went through again, just as he had with Bach.

This time there was no faller and with Summers slithering past Sneddon, the heat had been shared 4-4 leaving Monarchs ahead.

Tully led heat 12 with King not far adrift, but Bekker lost third to McKinna. Trying to regain position he went on one of his pits bend swoops, but ran into McKinna. This time McKinna fell foul of the referee?s curious decision-making and he was out!

No TR in heat 13, in which Monarchs made the start but Larsen brought down Fisher on the first corner. No exclusion. Lemon made the gate in the rerun and once in front looked much more impressive, taking a vital win. Fisher passed Larsen early and that meant Newcastle were 12 down with the second TR beckoning.

This went to Bach of course and he got the better of an exciting battle with Wethers over the first couple of laps to take a 6-3 and level the aggregate scores!

So it was all down to heat 15, an advantage to either side being sufficient to win the tie. Fisher and Wethers were entrusted with the task and they made the start. From gate 4, Lemon reached the first corner behind and dropped his bike on the outside, unaided.

All four back! What a decision. And of course, Lemon made the start next time and romped home with Wethers just holding off Bach for the vital point.

What now? Well it was the first invocation of the Golden Heats, three races with nominated riders, the first advantage deciding the match. Nowhere to put them in the programme, and a long delay while various discussions took place. Not ideal with the track and the public getting wetter.

First time out it was the same men as in heat 15 once more, on different gates. This time Bach took the lead, and although Wethers and Fisher pushed Lemon to the back, Ryan fell on the pits bend and it looked like that would decide it.

Bach was on the outside line, the best to ride, so Wethers decided to try to slither round the inside. This he pulled off brilliantly to go ahead, and although Bach was always right there with him Matthew ensured that we needed at least one more Golden Heat.

This was Wolbert and Tully v Larsen and King (surprisingly not Sneddon), and with a brilliant second bend (Wolbert outside and Tully inside) our pair established themselves in front and went on to clinch the tie amidst much rejoicing.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Matthew Wethers.

GOLDEN HEATS:

Heat 1: Wethers, Bach, Lemon, Fisher (f) 61.1

Heat 2: Wolbert, Tully, Larsen, King 60.9

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newcastle Diamonds

Newcastle Diamonds head to Armadale this Friday bringing with them a full squad and a nine point lead they built up in the first leg of the Premier League Play Off semi-final last Sunday evening. Edinburgh have it all to do and will need to be much sharper than they were at Brough Park if they hope to succeed.

The prize for the aggregate winners from this semi-final tie is almost certainly a home and away aggregate match against King's Lynn. Although the Stars have yet to race against Birmingham in the second leg of their semi-final tie at the Norfolk Arena, they won the first leg of the tie at Perry Barr, Birmingham by 43-47 on Wednesday night.

The secret of winning matches such as this is to pull back the deficit as soom as possible so that, if your opponents reach tactical ride (TR) territory, you have enough time to recover from any advantage they gain from these TRs. Newcastle's nine point lead is effectively more than likely to turn out a thirteen point or so advantage as two TRs often yield around an extra four points. If they yield the maximum 6 points then the nine point lead will be worth 15 points. It all adds up to what might turn out to be the best contest at Armadale this season.

Newcastle have been to Armadale twice already this season. In the Premier Trophy last April they were hammered 64-26 but there are only four survivors from that match in the Diamonds' ranks ? Derek Sneddon who scored 3 (4), Trent Leverington also with 3 (4), Kenni Larsen with 7 (5) and Jason King with 5 (4). The Newcastle team which returned two months later in June had five of their current squad: Leverington with 2 (3), King with 3 (4), Sneddon with 10+2 (5) which included a 4 point TR, Larsen with 11 (5) which included a 6 point TR and Adam McKinna wih 4+1 (5).

Since then the Diamonds have been strengthened considerably. Mark Lemon joiued the side from Newport and Rene Bach was signed from Denmark. These two effectively replace Steve Boxall and Craig Branney from their full team of last June. That strengthening has seen the Diamonds produce a strong run of results which finally lifted them up to third in the Premier League table, one place behind the Monarchs. So it's a much improved Newcastle who return this time looking to continue their late season success.

In truth though none of their current squad has dominated round the Dale apart from our own Derek Sneddon whose fast gating and determined riding might well cause problems. Kenni Larsen has certainly improved considerably since signing for the Brough Park outfit but Rene Bach has never been to Armadale and may take some time to get used to the track. Adam McKinna has had some excellent moments but Trent Leverington rarely inpresses. Much the same can be said of Jason King but he has the ability to improve on past results. Mark Lemon has been in incredibly good form since leaving Newport for the North East of England but in his most recent matches seems to have lost some of his touch particularly his lightning gating which netted him so many points.

The Monarchs were not inpressive in the first leg on Sunday and were 'rescued' to a large extent by a fantastic performance by Kevin Woelbert who was quite stunning. Ryan Fisher only managed eight points but they did include two race wins. Our other success was Aaron Summers with 11 points including two race wins. Michal Rajkowski and Byron Bekker were virtually passengers apart from a point from Rajkowski in heat 1. Matthew Wethers too looked well short of his best.

The big doubt is whether Andrew Tully will be fit to take his place in the side. A late decision will determine whether he rides at number 3 partnering Matthew Wethers or whether we use Rider Replacement (R/R) again. Although (R/R) allows all the other riders in the team to take one of the R/R rides I would be much more confident of overall success if a fully-fit Andrew was able to ride. His current form is as good and fast as we've seen from him and only points thrown away have prevented him from scoring maximums round Armadale.

Edinburgh will certainly need Michal Rajkowski's storming starts and determined riding to help build up the lead over the Diamonds plus another strong performance at reserve from Aaron Summers. Ryan Fisher has been nigh unbeatable at the Dale for some time now and looks the complete master of the track but Matthew has been let down by some indifferent gating which has left him with a lot to do in some races.

Byron Bekker tries so hard without success that I wonder whether a less frenetic approach might bring some reward. His gating is what lets him down the most so we must hope that he can contribute points with some decent starts. Kevin Woelbert is just sheer class. The way he has adapted to the Armadale track (as well as the others he has ridden) has been astonishing. The lift he has given the team has made the end of season matches so much more meanigful that those we might have had to face without his contributions. Newcastle saw on Sunday night just what they can expect to face from him and it must have alarmed them.

If the team spirit is there and we produce our best form, the nine point deficit should leave Newcastle well short of what they need to qualify for the final. If we have to use R/R then the team resouces will have to be deployed very carefully to ensure that there are no easy pickings, especially from tactical rides, for Newcastle to boost their tally.

It could well boil down to the last three races but there has to be confidence among the team, management and supporters that we have the ability to win this match on aggregate and set up yet another two-legged match against King's Lynn in the final with a home and away final against Belle Vue for possible promotion to the Elite League the prize up for grabs.

Here's hoping for the great match it looks like being and an injury free meeting.

Teams: Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Michal Rajkowski, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers (captain), Kevin Woelbert, Aaron Summers and Byron Bekker.

Newcastle: Kenni Larsen, Derek Sneddon, Jason King (captain), Rene Bach, Mark Lemon, Adam McKinna and Trent Leverington.