AUSSIE hero Matthew Wethers proved to be Edinburgh Monarchs' "get out of jail" card as Rye House Rockets gave the title-chasing Capital outfit the fright of their lives in a tense Premier League speedway clash at rain-affected Armadale last night.
Monarchs sneaked home 47-46 and owe their victory to a brilliant effort by the ever dependable Wethers in the heat 15 top scorers race.
On a slippery surface which made racing something of a lottery, the Rockets almost hit the jackpot when they we
nt into the last heat just three points down. A 5-1 would have secured a Rockets victory and dealt a massive blow to Monarchs' championship hopes.
Seventeen-year-old whizz kid Tai Woffinden and Chris Neath faced home pair Wethers and skipper Derek Sneddon.
Sneddon fell on the first bend, however, and was excluded from the re-run which piled the pressure on Wethers to keep the Rockets at bay.
But while Woffinden took the chequered flag, Wethers gamely kept Neath at the back, securing the vital two points Monarchs needed to preserve their unbeaten home record.
Wethers admitted that the whole match had been something of a toil for him.
He said: "I struggled with the conditions, I didn't enjoy it all in the mud. As soon as you fell behind you couldn't see where you were going. It felt as if you were going backwards.
"After Derek was excluded I did feel some pressure in that last race. I gated quite well and passed Chris. I just settled for the second place. There was no point trying to catch Tai, you could easily have fallen off because the track was so slippery."
He added: "When the track is as wet as it was it takes away the home advantage. Whoever gated in front pretty much won the race. We would have been pretty disappointed had we lost."
Woffinden was imperious in the wet and scored an unbeaten 18 points, including a six-point tactical victory in heat 12.
His partnership with reserve Daniel Halsey in that race produced an 8-1 advantage for the Rockets which had Monarchs biting their fingernails at that point.
Woffinden also survived a spectacular collision with Monarchs' Swedish star Thomas Jonasson on the second bend in heat ten – a spill that saw the young Englishman's bike sail over the safety fence.
Woffinden echoed Wethers' views over the treachery of the racing surface.
He said: "It was pretty bad throughout, but at least everyone on both sides got on with and did their bit.
"After we got that 8-1 and a 4-2 in the next race, I thought we had a chance of actually winning the match. We needed a 5-1 in heat 15, it didn't happen.
"When Derek fell it perhaps made our chances better. But Chris was stuck with the inside line, which wasn't the best place to be in such tricky conditions.
"I was pleased with my own performance. I'm still carrying a shoulder injury but I seemed to ride through it okay."
Sneddon was Monarchs' top scorer with 12 points but was aggrieved by a couple of refereeing decisions.
He was excluded for tape touching in the seventh race and was annoyed at suffering the same punishment in the final heat.
Sneddon felt all four riders should have been called back in heat 15, which referee Graham Flint permitted when Woffinden careered into Jonasson earlier in the meeting.
"You can't make decisions one way and not give them back the other," said Sneddon. "I think the referee should have a look at the video of the last race and have a word with himself.
"I also didn't touch the tapes in heat seven, but the referee is the man who makes the decisions."
Californian ace Ryan Fisher has had better nights and will be very disappointed with his miserly four points. The fact was that he had only himself to blame. He ran into Rockets second string Robert Mear in the fifth race which left his opponent with concussion, forcing him to withdraw from the meeting.
Fisher then fell in heat 14 which could easily have cost Monarchs the match.
Someone needs to tell Fisher to curb his impetuosity and that a race lasts four laps.
He is a loose cannon on occasions and when the chips are down, someone with a cool head is a more preferable option.
Monarchs: Sneddon 12, Wethers 8, Lemon 7, Tully 6, Summers 5, Jonasson 5, Fisher 4.
Rye House: Woffinden 18, Neath 12, Halsey 6, Ekberg 4, Allen 4, Bowen 1, Mear 1
The full article contains 779 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
