Title Partner
REPORT Friday 9th October 2009, 10:00pm
Edinburgh Monarchs
Drizzle throughout the evening made conditions increasingly bad, but the evening built to a thrilling climax with a 5-1 in the second Golden Heat taking Monarchs to the final.
They deserved to qualify, though Newcastle fought hard. The Diamonds scored 5 TR points in two outings, compared to 1 in 1 for Monarchs (how ludicrous to have TRs in a home and away tie), and also Newcastle had the benefit of some demented refereeing in the second leg.
There was much to remember about the night, not least a brilliant ride by Matthew Wethers to prevent the highly impressive Rene Bach clinching the tie in the first Golden Heat.
Edinburgh never really took control of the match in the way that they often do at Armadale. Aaron Summers is such a key man for Monarchs but he contributed very little on this occasion, leaving the top five to do all the hard work pulling back the first leg deficit.
Ryan Fisher was the dominant figure in the early stages and won the opening heat easily. Michal Rajkowski took an early bump from Derek Sneddon and was well behind at one stage, but he did very well to pass the struggling Kenni Larsen.
Problems in heat 2 though as Aaron Summers made the first of a series of very slow starts and ran into Adam McKinna on the first corner trying a cut-back. He was excluded, and although Byron Bekker held second for a while in the rerun he made a mess of the road bend and allowed McKinna through. Diamonds led 7-5.
Rene Bach showed early in heat 3 but Andrew Tully did well to slip through on the inside. Wethers held third but couldn?t catch the young Dane who was making his Armadale debut.
A good first turn brought a heat 4 win for Kevin Wolbert but Bekker trailed well back, and the scores were still level.
Wethers and Tully were on song though and took a 5-1 easily from heat 5, followed by another from Fisher and Rajkowski in heat 6. Lemon may have been ruled out at the first attempt for bringing down McKinna, but he wasn?t ? however he fell again next time and this time he was out.
Eight points up now, and surely on the way.
Rene Bach though led heat 7 quite comfortably in the early stages, with Summers trailing depressingly. Wolbert didn?t like the situation, and in spite of the deteriorating conditions he caught Bach and pulled off a superb Schott-like inside pass at the start of lap three. He swept up to the fence and Bach, continuing round the wide line, ran into him.
The decision that Wolbert should be excluded was scandalous, and the heat was awarded as a 1-5.
Rajkowski did an excellent job to win heat 8, but again Summers was at the rear and after three rides, our key reserve had not beaten an opponent.
We were still 5 down on aggregate and needed to make a move. Call for Wethers and Tully, and they don?t let you down ? a 5-1 over Mark Lemon who at this point had done very little.
Finally Monarchs did take the aggregate lead as Fisher took his third win, beating Bach, with the Raj easily ahead of the disappointing King.
But with a 10-point lead on the night, it was TR time! Kenni Larsen took it even though he had no points, and he made the gate. Undaunted by his ill-fortune in heat 7, Wolbert again went for that inside surge going in to the road bend and he went through again, just as he had with Bach.
This time there was no faller and with Summers slithering past Sneddon, the heat had been shared 4-4 leaving Monarchs ahead.
Tully led heat 12 with King not far adrift, but Bekker lost third to McKinna. Trying to regain position he went on one of his pits bend swoops, but ran into McKinna. This time McKinna fell foul of the referee?s curious decision-making and he was out!
No TR in heat 13, in which Monarchs made the start but Larsen brought down Fisher on the first corner. No exclusion. Lemon made the gate in the rerun and once in front looked much more impressive, taking a vital win. Fisher passed Larsen early and that meant Newcastle were 12 down with the second TR beckoning.
This went to Bach of course and he got the better of an exciting battle with Wethers over the first couple of laps to take a 6-3 and level the aggregate scores!
So it was all down to heat 15, an advantage to either side being sufficient to win the tie. Fisher and Wethers were entrusted with the task and they made the start. From gate 4, Lemon reached the first corner behind and dropped his bike on the outside, unaided.
All four back! What a decision. And of course, Lemon made the start next time and romped home with Wethers just holding off Bach for the vital point.
What now? Well it was the first invocation of the Golden Heats, three races with nominated riders, the first advantage deciding the match. Nowhere to put them in the programme, and a long delay while various discussions took place. Not ideal with the track and the public getting wetter.
First time out it was the same men as in heat 15 once more, on different gates. This time Bach took the lead, and although Wethers and Fisher pushed Lemon to the back, Ryan fell on the pits bend and it looked like that would decide it.
Bach was on the outside line, the best to ride, so Wethers decided to try to slither round the inside. This he pulled off brilliantly to go ahead, and although Bach was always right there with him Matthew ensured that we needed at least one more Golden Heat.
This was Wolbert and Tully v Larsen and King (surprisingly not Sneddon), and with a brilliant second bend (Wolbert outside and Tully inside) our pair established themselves in front and went on to clinch the tie amidst much rejoicing.
HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Matthew Wethers.
GOLDEN HEATS:
Heat 1: Wethers, Bach, Lemon, Fisher (f) 61.1
Heat 2: Wolbert, Tully, Larsen, King 60.9
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Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
