Edinburgh Monarchs v Kings Lynn Stars

REPORT Friday 2nd May 2008, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The visit of King's Lynn plus some good weather was a promising prospect - and we were not disappointed.

The Stars might not be enjoying their best spell right now but they impressed in this match with their willingness to fight on when they seemed to be beaten.

The Scotwaste Monarchs were solid once again with Lawson outstanding and everyone else chipping in with good scores, while King's Lynn's scoring came mainly from Topinka and (eventually) Shane Parker.

Tacey and Harrison picked up points without being consistently good, but reserves John Oliver and Kozza Smith did impress with their efforts.

Oliver gated well and Smith was very entertaining as well as stylish, deserving more than his single point.

What a strong start Monarchs made. Lawson led heat 1 with Parker trying to challenge him while fighting off Andrew Tully. Tully was hitting the inside line leaving the turns and remarkably it proved to be too much for Parker who couldn't hold him off.

Summers went to the front round the first turn in heat 2 with another of his excellent outside runs, and Tully again moved through on the inside to join him. Although they held the 5-1 position throughout the race they couldn't relax due to the attentions of Kozza Smith right on their tail.

Topinka comfortably won heat 3 and looked very stylish and fast, belying his current 7.71 average. Derek Sneddon and Ryan Fisher comfortably shared the heat.

Heat 4 was a 4-2 with Wethers winning from Harrison, and when Sneddon and Fisher took a relatively easy 5-1 from Parker in heat 5 we were 22-8 ahead.

We could then have used Fisher as r/r to try to build up the biggest advantage before the tacticals arrived, but we chose Aaron Summers who couldn't manage to pick up a point, much to his disappointment.

Topinka took a TR in heat 7 and enjoyed a great battle with Matthew Wethers who passed him at one stage, only to be re-taken.

Matthew was the r/r in heat 8 and Shane Parker came in as TS. However it was Tacey who came to life after two pointless rides for the victory.

He won surprisingly easily but all eyes were on the rear of the field as Parker closed in on Wethers and Summers. The Monarchs were riding close making it difficult for Parker to find space, but it did seem on the final lap that he had eased inside Summers.

Aaron rode a great last bend though, angling on to a wider line, and he went back into third spot leaving the TS pointless.

Sneddon and Fisher were again sharp in taking a 5-1 over Harrison in heat 9. Fisher then took his r/r ride against Topinka and it looked as though that would pay off with the flying Lawson well ahead and Fisher clear in second.

However Topinka wore down Fisher and passed him off the final turn for a good second spot. The score was 40-23 and we were virtually home, but not before the Stars fought back over the next few heats.

Tacey and Parker took a pretty easy 5-1 over Wethers in heat 11, and we lost a 4-2 in the next as well as Topinka won again.

The gap was down to 11 and Stars needed three 5-1's - not all that likely. We didn't even think about that as we enjoyed a thrilling heat 13.

It was another Parker v Lawson classic. Parker led but Lawson was hitting the apex of the turns before racing down to the line, drawing almost level several times. He was through once but Parker came back. Parker dropped to the inside on turn 4 of lap three to block Lawson's move. Lawson tried the same thing on the last corner, Parker went wider - and Lawson caught him on the line.

What a heat and quite rightly Alex Harkess asked Parker to join Lawson on the victory lap.

Heat 14 was very interesting too for the first two laps and that was due to Kozza Smith who was putting in the boldest of outside challenges on Fisher and Tully. He slid off on the pits bend and that was that.

Parker finally got the better of the slow-starting Lawson in heat 15 to stop William's maximum, and that was the last act of a good match.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: William Lawson.

Full Result Details