Birmingham Brummies v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Wednesday 18th June 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

On a track damaged by pre-meeting rain, Monarchs took control over the closing heats to record an impressive victory.

The whole team did well while the Brummies were pretty reliant on Jasons Lyons, Stojanowski and Birkinshaw.

It did take us a few heats to turn the scoring our way. The opening heat was a bad one because Thomas Jonasson forgot his steel shoe, and impeded William Lawson on the first corner. William recovered and managed to catch Craig Watson leaving the final corner for a second place behind Mills.

We turned that round with a fine 5-1 from the reserves, but then lost a 5-1 in heat 3. Derek Sneddon fell while third, then Matthew Wethers just missed catching Stojanowski at the last gasp.

Ryan Fisher won heat 4 but Aaron Summers slid off while lying third ahead of Watson, who wasn?t looking comfortable.

William?s machine was making horrible noises prior to heat 5, and eventually he ran into the tapes at the start. Andrew Tully took his place. Thomas gave Jason Lyons a tough first lap before the home star pulled away, and Andrew passed Stojanowski for third to keep us just 2 behind.

Lyons came in as r/r in heat 6, probably because he looked like the only home rider who could handle Fisher. Again it was a shared heat.

A good first turn in heat 7 by our pair put them ahead, with Derek and Matthew riding steadily for all four laps. That gave us a 2-point lead and we were starting to look the better side, especially with Lyons now having had 3 of his potential six rides.

James Birkinshaw was adjudged a tape toucher in heat 8 in which all riders looked jumpy at the start. Finally we saw the best of Thomas making light of the conditions to lead all the way.

Aaron held off Birko and we were now 4 up.

However gating was certainly important and when Stojanowski made the start in heat 9 with Lyons backing up, it looked like the scores might be levelled. Andrew Tully night have sorted them out but lost a chain as he seemed to be taking the lead. However Fisher wasn?t giving up and his relentless pressure on Lyons eventually paid dividends as he grabbed second.

Then we got going! Another perfect ride by the Sneddon/Wethers pair gained 5 at the expense of Stojanowski/Mills, and then it was no great surprise as Lawson and Jonasson, both now flying, repeated the dose ahead of Watson and Smethills.

Suddenly we were ten up and obviously in TR territory, with Jason Lyons out in heat 12. He led the way and seemed sure to take 6, with Birkinshaw in second, which was going to put a big dent in our advantage.

However the luck the swung our way as Jason stopped towards the end of lap three, and he had to push for a lap to make the race a 5-2.

Heat 13 had always looked good for us, and after a tumble at the first attempt (which looked like Watson?s fault but brought an all-four decision) Lawson and Fisher easily took a 5-1. Ryan had had trouble getting his engine firing, but all was well.

We were now 11 up with two heats left and when Brummies didn?t use a TS we had won the match. Perhaps they should have, because Matthew stopped and Aaron struggled as we conceded a 5-1.

However we put a more realistic look back on the scoreline as Ryan and William raced home to our sixth 5-1 of the night over the lengthy names of Stojanowski and Birkinshaw (21 letters between them) in the last heat. It was Birko?s fourth race on the trot as he showed all his usual commitment.

There was no victory parade though apparently this was because we were not organised at the right time.

Full Result Details