ONE TO GO

REPORT Wednesday 1st September 2010, 11:45pm

by Graeme Campbell

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs are on the cusp of winning the third league title in their history after beating the King's Lynn Stars 53-42 and taking all four available league points.

After taking the lead in the first heat, the Monarchs dominated the match, winning 13 of the 15 heats. The Stars only heat wins came in heats 6 and 11, where Oliver Allan and Tomas Topinka respectively were racing for double points as tactical rides.

Top scorer for the Monarchs was Kalle Katajisto, who rode to a phenomenal 15 point maximum, thoroughly enjoying his racing.

The night wasn't without controversy, however, as infamous referee Barbara Horley chose to allow all four riders back into Heat 1 when Fisher raced hard into bend 1, causing Allen slide off. The exact same situation arose in Heat 10 when Wolbert was taken out wide by Allen, and slid off in the same place, however he was deemed the cause of the stoppage and was excluded.

Wethers held a smart line in Heat 8 to hold off the advances of Star's youngster Lasse Bjerre, who eventually suffered an engine failure on the last bend, allowing Lawson to come through and take an unexpected 5-1. By this point, the Monarchs were leading by 31 points to 19.

Although the match was won by the last race, no points could be conceded in the race in order to take all four points. Katajisto and Fisher stepped up to the challenge and rode a sensational race to secure a 5-1.

The four points gained means that we now sit on 61 points in the league. Although the Newcastle Diamonds can still equal this and mathematically win the league on race points difference, it would require monumental wins from them, and massive defeats for us in all of each team's remaining fixtures.

The Monarchs now head back to Armadale for the Cock O' The North Challenge against Berwick on Friday, before heading to Stoke on Saturday looking for that final league point required to clinch the title.

Full Result Details