IT COULD HAVE BEEN MORE

NEWS Friday 25th September 2009, 0:43am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs take a 13-point lead to King's Lynn on Wednesday for the second leg of the Premier Trophy final - but it could and should have been more.

League champions King's Lynn did not appear to be at their best, providing only two race winners, and they were dependant on reserve Linus Eklof to keep them in the match.

But the most important moment of the night came in the first few yards of heat 8, when Eklof moved out from the inside grid and collided with the previously unbeaten Summers, who came down heavily.

It looked nasty but Aaron was thankfully OK. His bike, however, wasn't,and after making a late switch to Kevin Wolbert's bike he trailed at the back in the rerun.

Back on his own bike for his final two rides, with some parts borrowed from his second bike, Aaron failed to leave the tapes both times. The turnround in his fortunes was a massive factor in keeping the scores reletively close.

Other than the brilliant early form of Summers, Ryan Fisher was dominant and Andrew Tully, having charged through the tapes in heat 3, was unbeaten in his next four rides with some magnificent riding.

Michal Rajkowski had a last but won his last two heats, and Matthew Wethers rode steadily.

Kevin Wolbert didn't gate well and fought hard for his six points. He was on the wrong end of a 1-8 in heat 11, which was also one of the heats Summers stopped in.

This race win for Ward on a TR was the second and final heat winner provided by the champions, the other being Topinka in heat 4.

Stars' middle pair, often so effective, had a very poor night and it remains to be seen how much better the Stars will ride on their home track on Wednesday.