FOUR POINTS CLEAR AT THE TOP

The Scotwaste Monarchs threw quite a few points away but took all the match points in a 52-38 victory after an entertaining night of Speedway.

Five of the team had non-finishes during the evening ? two for Tully ? but they had enough scoring power to have the result sewn up with a couple of heats to go.

For the second home match running there was a 0-5 heat result, this time in the final heat in which both Fisher and Tully fell.

Turning to the Wasps, they gave a lively display and contributed plenty to the entertainment. Craig Watson had his best Armadale meeting for years, looking like his old self, and Leigh Lanham has rarely had a bad outing at the West Lothian track.

Kyle Legault and the two Swedes were also involved in some decent tussles. Davies and Kurtz at reserve were a little disappointing perhaps.

All of the home riders had something to be happy about but something to regret also! Ryan Fisher started with a fast win (54.2) and looked likely to go through the card till he missed the gate and fell trying a big dive on the pits corner.

Andrew Tully was excellent in four of his heats, pulled out of heat 7 with a front wheel puncture, and fell while trailing the Wasps in heat 15, causing a second rerun.

Matthew Wethers turned in some exceptionally clever racing and also looked likely to finish unbeaten until he was headed by Watson in heat 14, and excluded for bringing down Lanham in the final race.

Cal McDade disappointingly fell while looking sure to record a paid win in heat 2, then picked up very useful third places in his other rides.

Kalle Katajisto looked really wild in his first three rides, crashed in one, then came good with some of his spectacular heat wins.

And finally Tobias Busch started with two disappointing last places before looking impressive with a second behind Kalle in heat 8.

The team now head off on tour to Rye House and Newport over the weekend.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Newport Wasps

With more than half the visiting Newport side new to the Armadale circuit, there will be no lack of interest this Friday (7.30) in the first half of a weekend home and away double header for Premier League points.

Monarchs still sit proudly on top of the league while Newport are close to the bottom, but with matches in hand over Berwick and Redcar below them. At least the Wasps have a more settled line-up this year having used only half the number of riders they did last season ? an incredible fifteen.

And of last year?s Wasps, only two were retained, Leigh Lanham who rode for half a season and Kim Nilsson who rode only twice in Newport colours. Ipswich-born Lanham leads the side, returning after dislocating his shoulder at the end of last season and not yet back to his impressive 2008 form.

He will be partnered by Swedish Under-21 rider Robin Aspergen, making his Wasps d?but as an injury replacement for Anders Mellgren who had come in on assessed 7.00 but who had dropped to reserve. Aspergen rides for Vetlanda in the same side as Jason Crump and Jarek Hampel, and will be using Mellgren?s equipment.

Craig Watson provides the experience to back up Lanham at No.3. The Sydneysider, also in his early thirties, has ridden for the majority of his career at Newport. He has had more than his fair share of serious injury, the most recent of which was a shattered upper leg at the beginning of the 2009 season.

Canadian Kyle Legault at No.4 also suffered a broken thigh early in 2008, a broken jaw at the end of 2008, and complications from the thigh injury at the start of 2009 when about to begin riding for Poole. Newport is the latest in a list of former clubs where he has tended to spend only one season before moving on.

The other Under-21 Swede, Kim Nilsson rides at No.5 and is close to matching his assessed 7.00 point average. The team is completed by two 17-year-old Australians, Alex Davies on an assessed 5.00 who moves back down to reserve and Todd Kurtz who is exceeding his original assessed 3.00.

On their home shale, Monarchs should be too strong for the Welsh club and will be looking for a big score to boost their confidence ahead of away matches against Rye House on Saturday and Newport on Sunday. But expect a few surprises along the way from virtually any one of this very entertaining Wasps side.

Probable line-ups

Monarchs: Ryan Fisher, Ryan Fisher, Tobias Busch, rider replacement for Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers (c), Andrew Tully, Cal McDade, Kalle Katajisto.

Newport: Leigh Lanham (c), Robin Aspergen, Craig Watson, Kyle Legault, Kim Nilsson, Alex Davies, Kurt Shields.