Edinburgh Monarchs v Workington Comets

The weather let us down again but we still put on a show for Sky, and gave the unlucky Workington Comets a heavy defeat.

The first few heats featured some ?incidents? as the riders struggled a bit with the first two bends in front of the packed terrace, but in the end it wasn?t a long running meeting as we might have feared. And the Monarchs performed superbly.

Monarchs also had the rub of the green, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Workington did not ? starting in heat 1 when Tai Woffinden packed up at the start. That gifted us a 5-1 though Ben Taylor did keep Derek Sneddon under a bit of pressure.

The Comets gated in heat 2 but drifted wide allowing the home pair to come through. John Branny fell on bend 2 and again on bend 4, and caused a stoppage. Wright was away again in the rerun but this time Summers passed outside and Tully inside, and we had a second 5-1.

Heat 3 also had an unfortunate start as Nieminen lifted on the first corner and swept across the turn, forcing Thomas Jonasson into the fence.

This time the Comets? captain was out and the Monarchs? pair made the start. Joe Haines was determined to stop the rot for his team and passed Matthew, only to be repassed again. Going into lap three Matthew lost his back wheel and spun round with Haines running into him.

Matthew excluded, race awarded as a 3-2.

Fisher and Summers then easily beat Carl Stonehewer in heat 4 and the match was at this stage remarkably one-sided.

Comets needed to hit back quickly and sent out Tai Woffinden on a TR. He was outgated though by Thomas Jonasson, and Matthew Wethers also cleverly nipped ahead on the pits bend of the opening lap. In dicing with Wethers Woffinden clipped his leg on the second lap and was rightly excluded, though Tai regrettably indulged in some graceless comments in a Sky interview.

Once again we capitalised with a rerun 5-1 and now led by 23-6.

Mark Lemon was in good nick and he led all the way in heat 6. Derek Sneddon made a poor start but soon passed the toiling Stonehewer, only to make a rash move round the outside of the road bend and fall.

That was a chance lost, and Nieminen impressively won heat 7 even though first Fisher (who seemed to have a bike problem) and then Tully put him under strong pressure.

Charles Wright made a good start in heat 8 but as the Sky commentators noted admiringly, Aaron Summers was displaying mastery of the second bend and swept by on the inside line.

Derek Sneddon held third but could not improve his position.

Once again the Jonasson-Wethers pair showed its mettle with an easy 5-1 over Stonehewer and Wright in heat 9, and we were now 38-15 ahead.

Lemon took another fine win over Nieminen in the next, but Derek Sneddon ended a disappointing night at the rear. Had the match been tight Tully would no doubt have got that ride.

Woffinden finally managed a trouble-free ride to win heat 11 after an early challenge from Fisher.

Thomas Jonasson was on a maximum going in to heat 12, but he got a bit tangled up on the pits corner and dropped to the back as Nieminen won again. Comets were making more of a show now but it was too late.

Woffinden won heat 13 from Fisher and Lemon, but in the non-heat leader races we continued to have a strong advantage, taking an easy 5-1 from heat 14.

The Comets? luck continued to be bad, and both of their riders hit machine problems in heat 15. Nieminen led but stopped before the end of lap 1, then Woffinden rode a great race to pass the home men, only to stop on the final corner and trundle home for the point.

An enjoyable night for Sky and for the home fans but not, perhaps, for the visitors.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Aaron Summers.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Workington Comets

Armadale stages its first ever Monday night match this week to accommodate the Television Cameras of Sky Sports for live coverage of the Premier League match against Workington.

Not only is live TV coverage of a match a first for Edinburgh but this also happens to be a very important league match as the Monarchs endeavour to keep their challenge on course for the Premier League title. One of their main challengers for that title are the Comets who will see this as an opportunity to tip the balance in their favour by taking all three points.

Edinburgh will again have Mark Lemon as a guest at number 1 for the missing William Lawson but Thomas Jonasson will be back in the ranks at number three after his excellent performance at the weekend when he finished third in the curtailed Swedish National Championship. The rest of the team will be on the same lines as that which decimated Mildenhall on Friday night.

The match against the Fen Tigers may well have been a points scoring frenzy for the Monarchs but there will be no repeat on Monday night! In fact the Comets have a heat leader trio to match any in the league. They are without the injured Daniel Nermark but have as a guest at number 1 a rider who arguably makes them even stronger - Tai Woffinden. In the match last month against Rye House Tai went through the card scoring a full 15 point maximum, a performance which almost saw the Rockets home to an away victory. A repeat performance for the Comets will leave the Edinburgh side with a lot to do to secure victory.

Kauko Nieminen provides the main back-up to Woffinden but Kauko has had mixed results at Armadale in previous visits. His form this year would have him as the number one heat leader at most tracks so his contribution will more than likely determine just how close Workington can come to victory. The third heat leader is Carl Stonehewer, no stranger to Armadale, who can also score heavily. This season, though, Carl has not been as prolific a scorer as in previous seasons. Edinburgh have to make sure he doesn?t produce one of his vintage performances in front of the viewing speedway fraternity in their push for victory.

The Workington back-up is a bit of a mystery. Conference League rider Ben Taylor guests for the Comets at number 2 to cover for the absence of Tomi Reima but is not expected to score other than ?gift? points. The great unknown is how Joe Haines will score. Starting the season at reserve, young Joe has made enormous strides particularly round his home circuit. On his one visit to Armadale last March he only managed 2 points from 5 rides but he has come a long way since then and must be looked on as quite a threat. At reserve the Comets have Charles Wright and John Branney. Charles? two visits to the Dale have produced 2 points (last March) and 10+1 (last August) so who knows what it will be this time? John Branney on the other hand has managed just 3 points in his three visits to the track although, like the other youngsters in the team, he appears to have improved considerably since he was last seen up here.

Overall this is a strong Comets? side weakened only by having to track a CL guest at number 2. They last won at Armadale in September 2006 (by 44-46) but there is not a single survivor in their ranks from that match so it?s up to the Monarchs to keep that statistic alive in the record books. The heavy scoring from the Comets will come from their heat leader trio but the back-up, particularly from Joe Haines, will have to kept subdued to see the home side to victory in this, probably the most difficult home match left in the league this season. Of the remaining league matches only one of the front runners, Somerset, have yet to head north to the track so victory in this match will go a long way to going through the season unbeaten at home.

The announced line-ups are:

Edinburgh: Mark Lemon (Guest), Derek Sneddon, Thomas H Jonasson, Matthew Wethers, Ryan Fisher, Andrew Tully, Aaron Summers.

Workington: Tai Woffinden (Guest), Ben Taylor (Guest), Kauko Nieminen, Joe Haines, Carl Stonehewer, Charles Wright, John Branney.

Here?s hoping for an entertaining match particularly in front of the TV cameras. One of the unknown factors in this match is how the presence of the cameras will affect the riders. For many of them it will be a new experience.