NO JOY AT THE FOURS

NEWS Saturday 26th July 2008, 9:31am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs did not qualify for the Final of the Fours, won by home side Workington.

Monarchs picked up 7 points in the first four heats of the first semi-final and were well in the hunt, but in what was basically a gating competition, we added only three points over the last four heats to finish in fourth place.

Monarchs' scorers were Ryan 4, Matthew 3, Thomas 2 and Andrew 1. Ryan won heat 4 in impressive style but that was the only time any of our riders made even a reasonable start.

The crowd appeared to consist of home fans plus a large travelling support from Edinburgh, and there was very little to entertain anyone other than close scores.

The finalists were Workington, Somerset, King's Lynn and Scunthorpe and the first three were in the hunt right up to the last race of the final.

In this Tomas Topinka's 3 points brought King's Lynn level with Workington, while Jason Doyle was beaten for the first time leaving Somerset in third place.

Topinka gated in the run-off but Nieminen cut under him on the first corner, and we had another home winner in another Premier League big event.