Edinburgh Monarchs v Newport Wasps

REPORT Friday 15th June 2007, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The weather was bad, the crowd was low ? but the speedway was good and the team performed well as we beat Newport 59-33.

The bad news is that both Tony Atkin and Matthew Wethers have leg injuries and will miss the weekend?s action at least.

The injuries came in a heat 7 which should have been stopped as TR Phil Morris gained an unfair advantage from the tapes, jerking forward and keeping on going as the tapes rose.

That heat interrupted Monarchs? run of success which had started at heat 1. Nick Simmons was excluded for an early fall, Theo and Derek cruised to a 5-1 over newcomer Tom Hedley.

The fast gating Michal Rajkowski led the way in heat 2 with Matthew Wethers closing in. The track was riding quite well in spite of the dampness and Matthew pulled off a great outside overtake on the final turn.

Meanwhile Jack Roberts comfortably took third for his first PL point.

The Wasps gated in heat 3 but Ronnie burst in between them down the back straight and kicked for home. Andrew moved in to challenge and was gifted a point when Atkin stopped.

Henrik Moller had bike problems before the start of heat 4 and was ruled out on 2 minutes. Jack Roberts took the ride and another point, while Matthew headed Chris Schramm. Nice to have a reserve who is heat leader standard at home!

The not-so-hot opening pair of the Wasps conceded a 5-1 in heat 5, and eventually we gained another point in an eventful heat 6.

Rajkowski led the way with Theo in hot pursuit. Derek fell on the first bend and remounted. The Pole unluckily stopped as Theo moved in to challenge, which should have meant that Derek grabbed a point ? but Derek was filled in with mud on his goggles, and had decided to withdraw, unaware that there was a point to be had.

Then came the 1-8, the heat which saw Wethers and Atkin take their leg knocks. Tony was in obvious pain and that was his night over, but after treatment Matthew amazingly re-emerged for later heats.

The score was now 26-18 and a fair bit of our good work was undone.

Heat 8 was another Wethers special, amazing in view of his injury. He again chased and caught Rajkowski with a great inside move on the last lap.

The Raj did finally get the win that his fast gating was threatening in heat 9. Ronnie off gate 4 got trapped at the first bend and lost too much ground, backing up Andrew?s second place.

Tough luck for Phil Morris in heat 10, unsettled by a wobble by partner Burchatt on the first corner and excluded for falling. The rerun was an easy 5-1.

There was another first bend problem in heat 11 as Rajkowski went across the turn and brought down Matthew. Both were OK but the Raj?s bike seemed to suffer.

In the rerun he was no threat to Matthew and Henrik on a 5-1. The lead was building back up again.

Correy beat Morris in heat 12 with an even better point for Roberts, ahead of Rajkowski.

Theo and Henrik chased Chris Schramm into the third bend of heat 13, and it was a relief to see our pair go past on the inside as Schramm fell.

Andrew was the heat 14 faller, caught on the outside, and Jack Roberts had his best ride so far in pursuit of Rajkowski.

Theo and Ronnie closed the show with a 5-1 in the final heat, Ronnie dealing firmly with a first-lap challenge from Schramm.

HERMISTON MOTOR CO. MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Matthew Wethers.

Full Result Details