Edinburgh Monarchs v Birmingham Brummies

REPORT Friday 21st August 2009, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Rain once again hit Armadale hard but this time we managed to get the match in and score an admirable victory in a match abandoned after 12 heats.

Heat 13 had been started but stopped due to a crash, and while discussions were taking place the weather deteriorated to the point where a call-off was inevitable.

The recent enforced changes have left Monarchs with a team which is not strong and which lacks Armadale experience, so it was a good result and a deserved one. Considering the conditions there was a good level of entertainment on view.

The first rain came about 7, a heavy shower, and we knew that more was forecast.

Ryan Fisher is in good form at the moment and gives the team the solid foundation it needs. He won heat 1 comfortably from Rusty Harrison, with Tomasz Piszcz a long way at the back.

Heat 2 looked promising for us, with Aaron Summers sweeping to the front joined by Byron bekker off the second bend. Into the pits turn, Bekker swept too wide and hit the boards entering the home straight.

It was an opportunity lost even though Summers won the rerun.

Heat 3 was a remarkable race. Initially it was stopped with Dilger coming down in the first bend crush and perhaps fortunate to make the rerun. He showed determination to go ahead off the second bend in the rerun, chased by Sweetman with Matthew Wethers pressing from third.

Eventually Wethers squeezed through and then generously sat with his partner, team riding home for an excellent 5-1.

Heat 4 was our first sight of new boy Wolbert. He gated behind Lyons and Smart but immediately looked comfortable on the track, pressing Smart hard and cutting inside him at the end of lap two. A fine second spot and a very impressive debut ride.

Piszcz was away well in heat 5 but Monarchs held second and third with Rusty Harrison at the back. This time Matthew could not wait for Max and had to move into second with Rusty pressing on the outside. Rusty then took third and by the end of the heat Max was well behind.

These two 4-2 reversals cut the gap to 2 points but Ryan and Michal jetted off to lead heat 6. With Jason Lyons pressing it seemed Michal might be vulnerable, but in fact Jason made rather a mess of it and came down on the third lap.

Now we were six up but proceeded to lose that over the next two heats. This was especially disappointing as the usually reliable Aaron Summers was in both ? and took no points. In heat 7 Wolbert rode another good race to hold off a strong challenge from Lindgren as Sweetman won the heat.

Harrison led heat 8 and was using the outside impressively. Summers lay second but Smart was also riding a strong outside line and looked like passing. This he did with a powerful surge down the back straight, going inside Summers who fell on the final bend. It was a fair move and levelled the scores.

Even worse, we lost another 4-2 in heat 9 with Matthew slow away again but taking second behind Lyons, and Max trailing again.

We needed a big effort now. No problems for Fisher again as he led with Rajkowski going with him. Ryan decided against the team riding option. Sweetman fell on the first bend but Rajkowski proved vulnerable and was overtaken by Lindgren.

The scores were levelled again and Aaron Summers kept it that was by winning heat 11. Wolbert was at the back this time, trying to pass Piszcz on the outside. He clipped the boards on the pits corner and lost ground, but again it was a decent ride.

Heat 12 was a pleasant surprise for the home fans. Summers and Bekker made the start, Bekker possibly slightly on the move as the tapes rose, and this time the South African rode a steady race to clinch the paid win, absolutely vital in view of what happened next.

Lyons and Piszcz made the start in heat 13 but Fisher was far faster going into the pits turn. He swept through on the inside with Lyons coming down, quite similar to the Summers/Smart incident, and consistently the ref excluded the man on the outside.

In fact he got the wrong one, throwing out Piszcz when it should have been Lyons. This may have been corrected but it was irrelevant anyway as the rain came in buckets and the match was called off.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Matthew Wethers.

Full Result Details