READING RACERS gave Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs their biggest scare of the season so far at Armadale last night.
Monarchs eventually scraped home 49-43 in a truly absorbing Premier League speedway encounter which saw few prisoners taken by either side.
Despite their defeat, the Racers management were anything but down.
In what was a dress rehearsal for th
eir forthcoming Premier Trophy semi-final, the Berkshire squad privately believe they took more positives from the meeting than the Monarchs, who not for the first time, did their best to hand victory to the visitors.
Monarchs, minus Thomas Jonasson, who had been injured in Sweden, couldn't shake the Racers off and it was only a fantastic 5-1 from skipper Derek Sneddon and Matthew Wethers, squeezing out Mark Lemon in a pivotal heat 13 battle which finally gave the capital side the breathing space they required.
Some of the racing was edge of the seat stuff, notably when Monarchs ace and top scorer Ryan Fisher was in full flight.
The Californian, right, may push the boundaries on occasion yet, undeniably, he is as mesmeric as he is cavalier.
And, as if to underline this, his brilliant pursuit and double pass of Ulrich Ostergaard and Lemon to win heat 10, is a stone cold certainty for Race of the Year.
After committing the the cardinal sin of running out of fuel two heats earlier, Fisher said: "I simply had to go out and redeem myself in that tenth race.
"I knew I had more speed than the Reading pair. I missed the start and just went for it. I was bombing round the boards a lot of the time because that's where I needed to be, that's where the grip was."
Ostergaard, a hard-as-nails performer, was Reading's top scorer with 13 points but he had the home fans in a fury when he appeared to elbow Monarchs reserve Andrew Tully entering the third bend of the last lap in heat three.
Tully came to grief and, with team-mate William Lawson already out of the race due to an engine failure, the Racers snatched a 5-0 advantage.
Tully said afterwards that Ostergaard hadn't touched him but added: "But he didn't give me anywhere to go either."
Lemon, who scored 12, which included a tactical six-pointer in heat 11, was the only other Racer to offer Ostergaard genuine support. If the Racers had possessed a harder centre, the Monarchs could have been in real trouble.
Lemon said: "This result was an improvement on our recent away trips.
"We lost our two regular reserves with injury a fortnight ago and this has affected the whole team. Good reserves can make such a huge difference.
"We finished the match pretty strongly and the momentum is beginning to swing our way. We took some good positives out of it".
Reflecting on his failure to stop Sneddon and Wethers in that vital heat 13 skirmish, Lemon added: "I actually had to change bikes during the meeting and I was out on a fresh bike in that race which didn't help.
"I made a nice start but the Edinburgh boys had better trackcraft than me.
"Matthew Wethers made a brave move on me and pulled it off superbly. That was a turning point.
"They rode a fantastic race and I couldn't do anything about it. We certainly had our Premier Trophy semi final in mind before we arrived and I think we have taken away some pointers.
"We knew Edinburgh were strong and we didn't fancy our chances to win but the way we rode in the second half bodes well when we return in the Premier Trophy."
After that mechanical breakdown in his first race, Lawson won two of his last four outings.
He gained revenge over Lemon in heat 15 after the Aussie headed him in heat 5.
Sneddon, in spite of his heroics with Wethers in heat 13, didn't enjoy too productive an evening and finished with six points.
He was slightly fortunate to keep his place in heat 6 when he came to grief, seemingly without hindrance, on the first bend.
Racers' Tom Madsen was deemed culpable by the referee for bringing the Falkirk rider down.
Monarchs appeared to be cruising to victory when they led 35-23 after ten race but a tactical 8-1 from Lemon and Chris Mills in the following heat threw everything back into the melting pot.
And, although Ostergaard and Thomas Suchanek collected a 5-2 in the penultimate heat, it wasn't quite enough to smash Monarchs unbeaten home record.
The Armadale track was pretty slick – which suited Reading. You can bet it will be much deeper on the night of the Premier Trophy showdown.
Monarchs: Fisher 12, Lawson 10, Summers 9, Wethers 7, Sneddon 6, Tully 5.
Reading: Ostergaard 13, Lemon 12, Suchanek 6, Madsen 4, Brady 4, Mills 4, Beaton 0.
The full article contains 827 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
