MONARCHS BEAT THE FINNS

NEWS Friday 28th September 2007, 0:24am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs (with an unusual lineup) beat Finland 49-43 in spite of high scores from Nieminen and Laukkanen.

Regrettably the young Finnish Under-21 Champion Jari Makinen crashed in his first ride, and though he tried one more heat he withdrew with a suspected broken wrist. This robbed the meeting of a likely source of some good racing.

The Finns were left to rely on Kauko Nieminen and Kaj Laukkanen who did all that was expected of them, and finished with a combined 27 points.

The most successful rider for most of the night was George Stancl who won his first four heats, but after taking the lead in heat 13 he crashed on the pits bend and damaged his frame.

Tero Aarnio showed some style for the Finns without getting many pojnts. Kalle Katajisto scored 7 on his UK farewell for this season, but generally there were some fairly easy pickings for the home side.