ASHFIELD was bathed in warm sunshine last Sunday. It could have been summertime. And, as far as Aaron Summers was concerned, the livin' certainly was easy.
The Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs reserve star scored his first paid maximum for the club which helped crush Glasgow Tigers 58-34 to fire Monarchs into the Premier Trophy semi-finals with ridiculous ease.
Yet the 20-year-old Aussie with the Shirley
Temple curls today declared: "You haven't seen the best of me yet – I know I can get better."
Speaking ahead of Monarchs Premier League engagement against King's Lynn Stars at Armadale tonight, Summers relived his glory afternoon against the Tigers, and told how he almost blew his maximum hopes in his last outing.
"I was really pleased to get the maximum," he said. "I wasn't expecting it after my last visit to Glasgow when I had all sorts of trouble with my bike and stuff.
"You don't go to meetings expecting a maximum. And with everybody in our team so strong, I thought I might struggle when I came over this season. This is only my third month of racing, but everything just worked out for me on the day, I was really happy."
Summers won his first three races without serious trouble, but then touched the tapes in his crucial fourth ride and had to start from 15 metres back.
Incredibly Summers pursued and passed Tigers duo Lee Dicken and Josh Grajczonek to finish behind partner Thomas Jonasson which clinched his 11-point unbeaten score.
Said Summers: "I didn't think I'd catch up with them. I thought I had really blown it after touching the tapes. But being penalised 15 metres, I wanted it more, and it made me more determined to get past the Glasgow pair because it was me who stuffed up in the first place."
On an almost arid surface which wasn't conducive to a surfeit of overtaking, Summers' effort was top drawer stuff. He added: "The Glasgow track wasn't pulling a lot of drive going into the turns. Coming out wasn't so bad. But despite the slickness and the dust, my bike was going really good and the engine I'm using at the moment is working really well."
As Summers readily acknowledges, the Tigers were slayed by another solid bout of Monarchs scoring firepower. "We knew we wanted to win the meeting. And everyone put in a full effort."
Certain Tigers riders have since been lambasted by co-boss Stewart Dickson for their displays, and Summers concluded: "Some of the Glasgow boys may have been having an off day – you can't really tell. I don't know if they were putting in the effort, or what the deal was. But the pace wasn't there for them."
Wet weather has dominated conditions at the Lothian Arena of late, but Summers believes once the temperature begins to rise so will Monarchs performances.
"If we get a dry track then I think some of us will only get better. You can be caught out in the wet.
"I don't think I've reached my peak yet at Armadale. It was a good thing at the weekend that I adapted to the Ashfield track. I haven't been used to a dry surface so far."
Yet many think Summers is already riding above expectations. "But I know I can do better. Sunday just proved to people what I'm capable of. That was the sort of standard I think I should be up to – scoring a lot of points.
"Getting the maximum, I couldn't have done any better, but there is room for improvement. My gating was good against Glasgow. When I got into the bends there was no-one else there! It made life a whole lot easier."
After a fantastic effort in pulling off a 45-45 draw at King's Lynn recently, Monarchs are in no mood to let the Stars outshine them at home. "Everyone will be trying their hardest," said Summers. "It is not going to be a pushover despite our great result down there. King's Lynn have got some good riders in their side."
Monarchs will be without Thomas Jonasson who is riding in a Swedish Under-21 qualifier and will operate rider replacement for him. And the Norfolk outfit, whose strongest duo are Tomas Topinka and Kevin Doolan, are struggling to replicate the form which took them to championship glory in 2006, and are already out of the Premier Trophy.
Meanwhile, Monarchs will face Redcar Bears in the second round of the KO Cup after ousting Berwick Bandits from the first round last weekend.
The full article contains 775 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
