BATTLING PERFORMANCE AT NEWCASTLE

NEWS Sunday 4th October 2009, 0:02am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs gave themselves a decent chance of reaching the Premier Playoff Final when they fought back from a tough start to lose the first leg by 50-41.

Andrew Tully was missing with problems stemming from his early season shoulder and back injuries, and rider replacement was only a modest success. We trailed by 12 after a disappointing heat 8 maximum loss but took advantages in the next three heats to close the gap.

Given Newcastle's recent form the result is a reasonable one but it will still be hard work to try to complete an aggregate victory at Armadale on Friday.

Once again Kevin Wolbert rode brilliantly and provided the foundation for our score. He won four races including his last three, and recorded increasingly fast times, finishing with the quickest of the night in a storming heat 15 ride.

There was support from Aaron Summers (11 points, 2 wins), Ryan Fisher (8 points, 2 wins) and Matthew Wethers (5), though we probably missed one or two chances to achieve a better total.

We used a TR at the first opportunity with Kevin in heat 9, a race won by Aaron, with our German star busting a gut to pass Bach but narrowly failing.

Bach and Lemon were the home stars but the Diamonds were pretty solid. With Kenni Larsen returning and two potential TRs to use, we will need to be at our best on Friday.