Monarchs can afford to be wasteful as they crush Rebels

DESPITE frittering away some crucial points towards the end of the meeting, Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs appear to be in a strong position to reach the play-off finals after defeating Somerset Rebels 57-36 in last night's semi-final, first-leg clash at Armadale.

Monarchs skipper Derek Sneddon said: "The ball is now in Somerset's court, but I think they will be stressing more than ourselves."

Sneddon picked up nine points from his six rides but was aggrieved to be excluded from his fourth outing for spinning his back wheel at the start which referee Jim McGregor deemed a racing infringement. "If I was spinning my back wheel, then I would have thought it would have pulled me through the tapes," Sneddon explained, "but my bike didn't move a millimetre. Obviously Mr McGregor saw something I wasn't aware of."

The Falkirk ace accepted Monarchs took their foot off the gas over the last few races, but added: "While it was annoying, it would have been a lot worse had we only been four points ahead at the time, but a 21-point lead is quite a big cushion to have for the second leg.

"Somerset will be aware they only beat us by four points in the league round their own place. They will have to do all the chasing, the pressure is very much on them.

"We won't be taking anything for granted. Somerset will be up for revenge after losing the league to us so we need to put up a really good show."

Considering that Somerset's Jordan Frampton, who has been a match winner for the Rebels over the course of this season, struggled and only scored two points, Monarchs didn't fully capitalise on his poor display and will pray it doesn't come back to haunt them.

Even Frampton's team manager Steve Bishop admitted: "Jordan had a disastrous evening. He has a lot of making up to do."

Monarchs were coasting 43-17 after ten races and their target of 60 points looked set to be realised. Rebels, though, then gave their No.1 rider Jason Doyle a tactical outing in the following race and this paid big dividends. Doyle, who had won his previous two races with ease, took the chequered flag again and with partner Brent Werner following him home, the Rebels secured a vital 8-1 advantage.

Monarchs lost a sucker 4-2 in heat 12 when Emil Kramer, who had done nothing until then, easily headed Monarchs' Californian star Ryan Fisher.

However Thomas Piszcz, who was guesting for absent Monarchs' star William Lawson, combined with Matthew Wethers in heat 13 for an excellent 5-1 over Frampton and Doyle who incredibly trailed in last.

This was a real bonus. And while Monarchs picked up a 4-2 in the penultimate heat, this was cancelled out when Rebels pair Doyle and Kramer repaid the favour in the heat 15 top scorers' clash against Fisher and Wethers, who was surprisingly favoured over Andrew Tully who had earlier shown more composure coming from the back than Wethers.

Doyle held his hands up over his heat 13 shocker, saying: "I had been making decent starts all night. I didn't in that race and I paid for it big time.

"I was off gate one, I wasn't concentrating. It was a bad ride all round."

Doyle added: "I think we can pull back the deficit next Wednesday. But every point will count and we need to be at our very best because, as Edinburgh have proved in winning the league, they have seven very good riders."

Wethers, who picked up nine points but fell off trying too hard in heat 11, thinks Monarchs are pretty well placed to deny Somerset for a second time this season.

"We showed them what we can do at their own track in the league and we need to do the same again.

"We have a good chance of going through. The onus is on them to claw back the deficit. We just need to stay calm and not do anything silly," he said.



Monarchs: Fisher 12, Tully 12, Summers, 9, Sneddon 9, Wethers 9, Piszcz 6.

Somerset: Doyle 15, Kramer 8, Werner 6, Kroger 5, Frampton 2, Katt 0.