Somerset Rebels v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Tuesday 11th June 2013, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Whatever problems we might be having at the moment, they can’t take this one away from us – a truly brilliant display for the viewers of Sky TV on a track which produced superb racing.

The pattern of the match had us slip behind in the early stages but fight back brilliantly over the closing heats, producing the most dramatic of endings.

Even Craig started with a last place in heat 1, while Derek held on to second. Max gave notice in heat 2 that he was on for a good night, and we shared the next three races.

Jozsef brilliantly won heat 7 from the back, coming through the middle of the two rebels, but when we lost a 5-1 in heat 9 this put us 8 points down.

Probably most people thought our best chance would be to lose a further 4-2 in heat 10 which would have allowed a TR for Craig in the following race, but a battling ride by Theo and Jozsef shared the race and we were still 34-26 behind.

Heat 11 was crucial though. Craig gated and Derek was almost with him. Craig was slowing and looking back for his partner but Josh Grajczonek was close, and eventually squeezed inside Derek, bringing him down on the pits bend. Tough decision, referee ruled a 5-1 to us.

Another great race in heat 12, Theo winning with Max squeezing past Nick Morris to get us to just 2 points down.

Craig raced off with heat 13 while Claus battled with the Rebels, passing Doyle but just losing out on the last corner when Doyle got round him.

Heat 14 was the best race yet and a brilliant ride by both Jozsef and Max to pass the home pair of Davies and Nielsen – now we were two up!

Craig again gated in the last race with Jozsef away quite well, but hit by Grajczonek as they left the second bend. Another tough decision and this time it went in favour of the home side.

So pressure was on Craig now, and after gating he swung wide and lost the lead to Doyle. Undaunted, he produced the move of the season and went back inside the Rebels’ no. 1, this time making no mistake for a breathtaking win and a 46-44 victory.

Full Result Details