JUBILANT Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs have captured their second major trophy of the season.
The Capital speedway outfit clinched the Premier League title last week and added the Premier Trophy to their roll of honour with a brilliant 52-41 second leg triumph over Birmingham Brummies at Perry Barr Stadium last night.
Monarchs' 117-65 aggr
egate success is a measure of just how little mercy they showed their hosts. There was no hint of benevolence from the champions despite the fact Birmingham handed the crown to Monarchs on a plate five days ago when they defeated their main rivals Somerset Rebels.
Monarchs director Mike Hunter today said: "We have made this the best season in our history. And this win is the high point. To capture two national trophies, including the league, is a tremendous feat.
"We have never achieved that before and I don't think anyone who has seen Monarchs over the last 60 years could say that any of our teams were better than the squad we have this year."
Defending a mammoth 41-point first-leg lead gained at Armadale, it would have taken something cataclysmic for the Brummies to stop the Monarchs, who simply stormed to victory with William Lawson and Aaron Summers, who both struggled against Workington Comets on Friday, back to something like their best.
Lawson won the opening heat and Summers came from the back to combine with team-mate Matthew Wethers for a 5-1 in the next race.
Leading 27-15 after seven races, Monarchs were almost on auto pilot.
The Brummies could do little to stem the tide and with Monarchs ace Ryan Fisher in stupendous form this merely compounded their misery.
Fisher picked up 17 points and was beaten just once by Brummies joint top scorer Jason Lyons.
But Fisher also repaid the compliment when he headed Lyons.
Summers, after falling off his mountain bike, crashed at Redcar on Thursday and this spill definitely affected his scoring rate.
However, his eight-point total signalled he is back in the groove. He said: "I feel a whole lot better. I was struggling on Friday. But I feel pretty good with my eight-point score."
Summers admitted winning two trophies in his first year with Monarchs was beyond his wildest dreams.
He said: "You simply don't know what to expect from your first season in the Premier League, anything can happen.
"To win the league is brilliant enough. Now we have added the Premier Trophy and it has given the whole team an added boost. I have so enjoyed this year and can't wait to come back next year."
Skipper Derek Sneddon, who scored seven points, added: "Having such a big first-leg lead made the meeting a bit easier than it might have been had we toiled in the first leg at Armadale.
"I'm delighted for all the boys. They all played their part. To win two trophies in the same year is just fantastic."
Monarchs' elation at Birmingham helped soothe their disappointment at bowing out of the Knockout Cup after going down 53-39 at Workington Comets on Saturday, following Friday's first-leg home fixture.
With just a slender eight points in hand after Friday's tense home leg at Armadale, Monarchs basically dug a grave for themselves.
Lawson failed to beat a Workington rider at home and suffered the same ignominy at Derwent Park, and with Summers failing to score from his crucial tail-end position, Monarchs were treading water. But promoter John Campbell felt his champions tried their best despite the fact they couldn't beat the Comets to the chequered flag.
Campbell said: "I knew we would put up a tremendous fight which we did. But we didn't have a dominant rider. Had we done so we would have progressed to the final.
"There was barely any overtaking on a dusty track, although I'm not saying this affected the outcome."
Campbell added: "We made it hard for ourselves after struggling at home on Friday.
"We had the problems in the cup that Workington had in the Sky league match.
"And while I'm not blaming Ryan, I thought he might have been the man to win races for us at Workington. But he didn't make good enough starts."
Birmingham: Lyons 12, Watson 12,Piszcz 11, Taylor 5, Birkinshaw 1, Herne 0
Monarchs: Fisher 17, Lawson 9, Summers 8, Sneddon 7, Tully 6, Wethers 5.
The full article contains 742 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
