Edinburgh Monarchs v Finland

REPORT Friday 28th September 2007, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Finnish visit to Armadale produced a fairly close result but injury to their most promising young rider.

Their under-21 champion Jari Makinen was one we were told to watch out for, but when he hit the fence in his first ride in heat 4, he injured his wrist. After trying to race in heat 6 this was diagnosed as a suspected break.

The other Finnish newcomers managed a few points but most of the time their scoring was dependant on Kauko Nieminen and Kaj Laukkanen, who both piled up the expected big scores.

However for most of the night the dominant figure was George Stancl, who won his first four races. In heat 13 he again rode a dominant first corner and came into the pits bend ahead, only to slide off into the fence.

Tero Aarnio was involved in two good races, with Derek Sneddon in heat one and Gary Beaton in heat 5. He had followed Nieminen through past Sneddon in heat one and should have held on to the point, but made a mess of the final lap.

In heat 5 he made a late outside passing move on Beaton and just missed out by a tyre.

The racing didn?t reach any great heights, even when Nieminen took a 15 metre TS ride in heat 9. His motor spluttered and his challenge petered out.

Monarchs were 17 points up by heat 10, but the Finns came back. Stoddart spun off on the first bend of heat 12 leaving TR Laukkanen and Kalle Katajisto to complete an 8-1.

After Stancl?s fall in heat 13 the visitors took a 4-2 over Wethers, and they repeated this in the last race, a very impressive ride by Laukkanen.

Makinen?s injury was such a disappointment, because in all honesty none of the other Finnish newcomers looked worth a PL place on the averages they would be given.