Edinburgh Monarchs v Reading Racers

A heavy shower pre-match made the track tricky in the early stages, but Monarchs had a strong spell in mid match to give themselves a handy lead to take to Smallmead.

The tie could have been killed off in the last two races, but a surprise race win for Nicky Glanz in heat 14 followed by a Racers? 5-1 in the last race gave their team a glimmer of hope.

Nevertheless it was another strong home performance by Edinburgh who held their nerve through these tight early heats.

The match started with the first of Thomas Jonasson?s falls, as he went across the first corner and clipped the fence. William Lawson had gone ahead and Chris Mills was in difficulty behind Jonasson, so Thomas would only have needed to stay on board. However he couldn?t.

Lawson won the rerun in a quick time, and we took 5 from heat two as Aaron Summers and Andrew Tully strolled home.

Derek Sneddon gated in heat 3 but Ostergaard was soon hard under him and away for the win.

Madsen gated in heat 4 but was a bit hasty moving over to the left from the outside gate. He didn?t turn properly and as the others did, he came down with an arm injury.

However Madsen came back after treatment and was the early leader of the rerun. Ryan Fisher was soon on his tail, probing inside and out before eventually sweeping round for a fine outside overtake. Aaron trailed behind Glanz in this one, the first signs that Glanz is a handy rider.

Heat 5 went to Mark Lemon as Matthew Wethers sought in vain for his inside passing line, spoilt by the pre-match rain.

Lawson and Jonasson led heat 6 but Thomas was intent on blasting round the turns, and crashed into the fourth bend boards. So again William had to wait for the rerun to take his 3 points.

So the score now was 20-16, more to Reading?s liking than ours.

There was a big moment in heat 7 when Ostergaard stopped a few yards out of the gate, allowing Fisher and Tully an unopposed 5-1.

With Thomas having such problems he was pulled out of heat 8, replaced by Tully who led all the way.

Meanwhile Aaron had to overcome a bad first bend which dropped him yards to the rear. He slipped past Glanz after a couple of laps, then on the last turn risked a bold charge under Mills. It was hard to see if he made any contact but Mills lost control and crashed into the fence, reacting angrily as Aaron came round.

However the 5-1 was given and we were starting to stretch them. Sneddon and Wethers made no mistake heading Smith as Madsen retired from both the heat and the match, and we were now 16 ahead.

Lawson easily beat Ostergaard in heat 10 but Jonasson?s nightmare evening ended with a last place.

Mark Lemon had been the most impressive Racer and he took the TR in heat 11, leading down the back straight. However on the pits corner he lost control just as Andrew Tully was moving in to challenge, and Tully ran into him. Lemon had to take the blame and Racers had lost their TR chance. Not only that but the rerun was an easy 5-1 for the home pair.

Remarkably Ostergaard was swept aside by Sneddon and Tully in heat 12 and it was becoming a rout, with the score now 48-24.

Lemon made another good start in heat 13 but Fisher sailed past on the outside line, a great move. The rest of the heat feature d a chase by Lawson who almost passed a few times, but couldn?t get there.

We were 26 points up with two favourable-looking heats left. Suchanek gated in heat 14 but was soon overtaken ? however remarkably Glanz pulled off a brilliant first bend move to go ahead, and resisted all Wethers? attempts to pass. A very good ride by the young Dane.

Lemon and Ostergaard were out looking at the gates prior to heat 15, and showed great determination as they swept ahead at the first corner. At one point Ryan roared under Ostergaard into the pits corner but his speed carried him across the bend and the Dane came back.

But 22 points is a good lead against a team of Reading?s quality without question.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Andrew Tully.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Reading Racers

Following a somewhat humbling experience at Sheffield, Monarchs turn their attentions to another competition as they face the Reading Racers in the first leg of the Premier Trophy semi final.

The Racers have already been in action at sunny Armadale this season, in an intriguing Premier League encounter. We eventually won by a rather unflattering 6 point margin and one thing is for certain, if we don?t build a bigger lead for the second leg in Berkshire on June 23, we?ll be facing a mammoth uphill struggle.

The visitors? side could probably best be described as ?quietly dangerous? in that a number of the team members seem to avoid headline grabbing performances but, somehow, do their job and score the points necessary to gain decent results.

A classic example is Chris Mills, who has never been an out and out superstar of the sport (I hope he won?t be too offended by me saying that!) but, somehow, always seems capable of producing a heat win at Armadale when you least expect it. He forms an opening partnership with the evergreen Mark Lemon, who seems to have been around for so many years he even makes me feel young!

Top man for the Racers (and indeed the Premier League as a whole) is Ulrich Ostergaard. The Danish star certainly made an impression on his recent visit and any restriction in his scoring will be most welcome!

The remaining members of the top 5 are Tom P Madsen and Tomas Suchanek. Madsen is a former Berwick rider (who isn?t nowadays?!) who is always at his best when he?s wearing his gating boots, while Suchanek is another who using his trapping capabilities to boost his stats. He has, at times, struggled quite a bit this season and has been on the receiving end of various internet rumblings regarding his team position but a win in heat 14 at the Lothian Arena last month (defeating Ryan Fisher in the process) proved he?s not the duffer some people have marked him down as.

At reserve, Jamie Smith is trying his hardest to rebuild an injury ridden career yet again. He?ll no doubt be hoping to avoid the tractors at all costs, especially given the fact it?s also Friday the 13th today! Meanwhile, his partner is young Dane Nicki Glanz (son of former rider Peter). Nicki, of course, made an appearance at the Frede Schott Testimonial in 2004 and will no doubt be looking to put that experience to good use.

In the Monarchs? camp, all should be well despite having just suffered the largest defeat of the campaign to date at Sheffield last night. It really was an evening when nothing seemed to go right from the start and only Thomas H Jonasson and Aaron Summers truly showed the South Yorkshire punters what they were all about. Let?s also hope all engine gremlins and potential injuries (Andrew Tully) are not serious in any way and don?t hold the lads back tonight.

It promises to be a cracker. In fact, the action may be so hot I might actually wear my shorts!

As always, may the best team win...

Line-ups:

Monarchs: William Lawson, Ryan Fisher, Derek Sneddon, Thomas H Jonasson, Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, Aaron Summers.

Racers: Mark Lemon, Chris Mills, Ulrich Ostergaard, Tomas Suchanek, Tom P Madsen, Jamie Smith, Nicki Glanz.