Edinburgh Monarchs v Leicester Lions

The visit of Leicester was not regarded as one of Monarchs? hardest home matches, but the Lions proved tougher nuts than expected while the home team missed starts, threw points away ? and lost.

For the first time for a while, the Scotwaste Monarchs are really struggling, a situation which stems from the lack of form of Kalle Katajisto plus the lack of scoring power in the reserve berths. Four pretty reliable scorers isn?t quite enough and there is too much pressure on them not to drop any points.

The best thing about the evening was the chance to see Sergei Darkin for the first time ? what a high quality rider this 37 year old still is.

He gated along with partner John Oliver in heat 1, but the Monarchs strong opening pair were soon past the Aussie. Darkin hadn?t quite got himself used to the tight Armadale bends and first Matthew Wethers, then Kevin Wolbert came through for an entertaining 5-1 start.

Heat 2 is a weekly chance for the reserves to show they are making progress ? but it wasn?t taken here. Jan Graversen was dicing with Ashley Morris when he stopped, leaving Jamie Courtney to soar off in front. Jay Herne gated slowly and never threatened but picked up what was to be his only point of the night.

What was Kalle going to do this week? He didn?t look confident as he went ahead, and struggled to control his machine. Andrew Tully slotted in, Richard Hall stopped? and then entering lap three Kalle took the top bend far too tight and shot across the turn into the fence. A 3-2, and a terrible start for Kalle.

Craig Cook didn?t gate all that well in heat 4 but he road a well-judged first lap to go ahead and win. Again though Jay Herne trailed, though he did get quite close to Sweetman at the end.

Heat 5 was a fine ride by the now dialled-in Darkin, even though Andrew Tully got ride on his tail and gave an exciting chase. Kalle was well at the back.

We were now just three ahead ? call for the two W?s! Sure enough, Wethers and Wolbert sailed home for a comfortable 5-1 over Sweetman, disappointing at this stage, and all seemed to be well again.

Another good ride by Cook shared heat 7, then we had an exciting heat 8. The visitors were doing most of the gating, and it was John Oliver ahead from Graversen. Matthew Wethers was quickly into second and trying every line to put Oliver under pressure.

Finally he pulled off an inside pass off the final corner to take the win. Again it only brought a shared heat but at least some of the racing was good.

Tully again proved reliable in heading Sweetman in heat 9, and this time Kalle was steady enough to take the point. None up, and a Leicester TR on the horizon assuming Wethers and Wolbert took their third 5-1. But they didn?t ? a fast gate and good ride by Sweetman saw to that.

Craig Cook actually gated from gate 1 in heat 11, but he ran into trouble on the first corner and Darking and Oliver passed him. Craig gave chase and got close before making another error and dropping back. A shock 1-5 and Monarchs were in difficulty.

Surprisingly Lions did not use Graversen in heat 12, but in any case Courtney beat the very disappointing Herne, and again Tully?s win only brought a shared heat.

Heat 13 looked a lot more difficult, and it was obviously putting Wolbert under pressure because he shot through the tapes. In the rerun Cook did well to get second, and although Wolbert made up ground fast from 15 metres he could not pass Sweetman. Now we were just three ahead and heat 14 looked very tricky.

Hall won it, but rather surprisingly Kalle and Ashley managed to relegate Graversen to the rear, in spite of a hair-raising lap three for Ashley who almost hit the fence.

So we went into the last race needing a 5-1 to take all three points, and needing to avoid a 1-5 to win the match. It proved too much for us.

Leicester intended to use Hall, amazingly, alongside Darkin, but David Dowling ruled him out ? probably wrongly. So in came the much more dangerous Sweetman, and after a tough first turn the visitors emerged ahead. Darkin just stopped Tully coming round the outside.

Tully was the one giving chase, and on the last lap he made a final bid by diving hard up the inside into the last turn. He got there fractionally ahead, but too close to Darkin who came down. There was never much doubt what the decision would be ? Andrew excluded, and Leicester victorious by a point. They were delighted and quite right too.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Leicester Lions

Most Edinburgh fans will have their first look at the new Leicester Lions side at 7.30 this Friday (22nd) when they visit the Scotwaste Arena on the hunt for Premier League points for the first time since rising from the ashes after an absence of 28 years.

The experienced Russian international Sergey Darkin will line up at No.1 against Monarchs new rising star Kevin Wolbert whose confidence will be high after last week's superb maximum. Darkin previously made sporadic appearances for various Elite League clubs up to 2007 and has made a solid start for the Lions.

Matthew Wethers faces the young Australian rider John Oliver who has returned to these shores after a two year break. The talented 23-year-old was previously associated mainly with King's Lynn but has now been purchased as a club asset by the Leicester promotion.

Sadly the second Russian in the Lions line-up, Iliya Bondarenko, broke his shoulder in a track crash last week at Newcastle and will be out for some time, so Kalle Katajisto will face various rider replacements at No.3 which may allow him to get among the points again.

This week Craig Cook is paired against Lions captain Richard Hall who has made a good start to the new season. The Yorkshire rider has done much of his racing on bigger tracks and the 'Cookie Monster' from Cumbria will be hoping that gives him the edge.

Andrew Tully will have his hands full at No.5 in trying to contain the Lions biggest success story so far, Richard Sweetman. The young New South Wales rider is destined to go further in the sport after spells with Birmingham and with Coventry in the Elite League.

Ashley Morris makes a welcome return at No.6 for Monarchs and his confidence should be sky high after two excellent scores this past week. He faces birthday boy Jamie Courtney who struggles to bridge the gap between the National and Premier Leagues.

Jay Herne looks to have a tougher assignment at No.7 where he lines up opposite the 24-year-old

Danish rider Jan Graversen, a solid performer whose average saw him play musical chairs last year appearing for three different Premier League clubs.

Leicester have made a steady if unspectacular start as they find their feet in the Premier League and Monarchs will be keen to assert themselves early on to avoid letting any more precious home points slip away south as they did last week.

It's fantastic to see Leicester back on the speedway map, but most Monarchs fans will consider it a major surprise if their heroes don't comfortably take full points. However the Lions have a number of potential danger men in their side, so there should be some great action.

Likely line-ups:

EDINBURGH SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers (capt.), Kalle Katajisto, Craig Cook, Andrew Tully, Ashley Morris, Jay Herne.

LEICESTER BREEDON AGGREGATES LIONS: Sergey Darkin, John Oliver, rider replacement for Iliya Bondarenko, Richard Hall (capt.), Richard Sweetman, Jamie Courtney, Jan Graversen.