THIRTY POINT ADVANTAGE

NEWS Friday 2nd October 2009, 0:38am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Not everything went smoothly for the Scotwaste Monarchs but they didn't have as many problems as Glasgow Tigers, and took a 60-30 lead in the first leg of the 2009 Scottish Cup.

It was a drizzly day across Scotland though Armadale escaped the worst of it, and indeed Ryan Fisher was just 0.2 secs outside the track record in the first heat.

Monarchs had three fallers in the first four heats, two of these being Byron Bekker and one by Andrew Tully while leading in heat 3. This gifted a win to William Lawson even though the Monarchs had been on a 5-1 at first.

There was little to worry about though, even when Tully withdrew from the meeting after three rides (with, according to whoever you spoke to, a back problem or a breathing problem).

Tigers offered no real challenge with both Parker and Grieves missing, and guest Jason Lyons ineffective.

Aaron Summers' night again turned sour with a blown up engine (a brand new one) while leading heat 11, and he really is having a bad time at the moment in spite of showing excellent form when his bike is going.

Monarchs just piled on the points with Fisher and Wolbert completely dominant and both a pleasure to watch.

Wethers, Tully and Rajkowski all dropped just a single point and only the problems suffered by the home reserves prevented a total annihilation.

Lee Dicken battled to 11 from 7 and William Lawson also hit double figures, but didnt ride as well as he had when guesting for Monarchs recently.

Tougher tests lie ahead with the Playoff semi against Newcastle. We will need Andrew and Aaron fit and ready to race for these matches.