On-form Monarchs now favourites to lift Trophy

EDINBURGH Scotwaste Monarchs are through to their first Premier Trophy speedway final since 1999 after bundling Reading Racers out of the competition at Smallmead Stadium last night.

The Racers edged home 46-44 in the semi-final second-leg clash but Monarchs sailed through on an 100-80 aggregate following their massive 22-point win at Armadale.

Monarchs will face Birmingham Brummies in the final next month.

Having recently defeated the Midlanders at Perry Barr in the league, Monarchs will start as favourites to lift their first piece of silverware this season.

Capital boss John Campbell said: "I don't want to pre-judge the issue but we are going so well right now, we have confidence about winning every match. It's hard to tell what Birmingham's line-up will be as they still have injury problems and it's not sure if they'll be back at full strength or not."

Campbell has such high expectations of his squad that he felt they could have beaten Reading for a second time.

"I'd hoped we would win the second leg as well," said Campbell. "But it is really pleasing to have gone through to the final in a canter."

While Reading privately conceded they had a mountain to climb, Campbell confessed he was given an early fright in the opening race.

He said: "It was disappointing to lose a 5-1 in that heat. I think we got the gate positions wrong. And I was concerned had we lost another 5-1 in the second heat the pressure would have been on. Luckily, that didn't happen." The one Monarch who did struggle was reserve Aaron Summers, who crashed heavily in Germany on Sunday riding for his home country Australia.

"To be honest I don't think Aaron should have ridden," admitted Campbell. "He made no impact at all. He looks as if he's been in a boxing match, he feels pretty battered and would have had an uncomfortable journey home last night."

In spite of Monarchs' wobbly start which saw them six points down after three races, they provided the next five race winners of their nine in total and pulled level after heat eight.

Monarchs director Mike Hunter said: "By then we were home and dry. I never believed before the start it would be a foregone conclusion. Reading have riders who can all win races and when we fell six behind early on I thought it was going to be a tough night.

"But as has been the case this season, everyone contributed something, apart from Aaron, and we got a grip on things."

Ryan Fisher was Monarchs' top-scorer with 12 points and the Californian's best win came in his second ride.

Racers duo Mark Lemon and Chris Mills sped away in a 5-1 position, but Fisher blasted round the pair of them on the third and fourth bends to take the chequered flag in sensational style.

Skipper Derek Sneddon, after a poor last place in his opening ride, quickly redeemed himself by winning two races, including a fine victory over Lemon who is certainly no slouch around his own track.

And Sneddon's teammate Andrew Tully recorded the fastest time of the meeting despite scoring just four points.

Monarchs were at full strength with the return of Thomas Jonasson. The Swede started with two last places then won his next couple of rides by a country mile.

Although all of the Reading squad scored points, their heat leaders, with the exception of No.1 Ulrich Ostergaard, were kept in check by Monarchs and this ultimately proved decisive.

Ostergaard dropped just one point from five rides, beaten only by William Lawson who scored eight for the Capital outfit.

Only Lemon and Mills, and to a lesser degree, Thomas Suchanek, provided able support to Ostergaard, who confessed: "We knew it would be a stiff test for us. We lost the tie up at Armadale, but Edinburgh are riding so well right now they will be hard to beat in the final."

Monarchs lost the 1999 final to Newport Wasps and Hunter said: "It would be nice to make up for that. Over two legs we are a match for any team in the country, but, just as we have done so far this season, we are taking one match at a time."

Reading Racers: Ostergaard 14, Lemon 7, Mills 7, Suchanek 6, Madsen 4, Smith 4, Glanz 4.

Monarchs: Fisher 12, Sneddon 8, Lawson 8, Jonasson 6, Wethers 6, Tully 4, Summers 0.