Speedway: Kalle's well that ends well

Published on Monday 29 March 2010 10:07

KALLE KATAJISTO proved to be something of a "special reserve" as Edinburgh Monarchs regained the Spring Trophy against Glasgow Tigers at Ashfield.

The young Finn, who hit double figures in Monarchs' 51-45 first-leg win at Armadale on Saturday, roared to a 12-point haul to help clinch the silverware 96-93 on aggregate despite the Tigers winning 48-45 on the day.

Monarchs' triumph was engineered without top German star Kevin Wolbert, whose absence due to continental commitments left many supporters deeply unhappy, some accusing the Monarchs management of keeping them in the dark.

And today Monarchs PR Officer Mike Hunter conceded that there had been a lack of communication. Wolbert missed Saturday's home restaging of the first leg following Friday's rain-off-but had been expected to turn out for the Ashfield return tie.

Hunter said: "We didn't know Kevin wouldn't be riding until late on in the week, and we would never send out a press release saying he was riding when he wasn't.

"Our promoter John Campbell gave Glasgow our team with Kevin in it because we didn't think Kevin would ride in Germany. However it turned out he did after racing in Poland on the Saturday and we need to make sure that lines of communication are opened a bit better in future." Wolbert is scheduled to miss Monarchs' Premier Trophy visit to Newcastle Diamonds next month, but Hunter added: "We are working on that."

Monarchs tossed away points like confetti over the latter part of Saturday's first leg and many felt the pendulum had swung in favour of the Tigers.

But Katajisto turned out to be Monarchs' ace in the pack despite finishing last in his opening ride.

But he won his next two rides, which included a last bend overtake of Robert Ksiezak in heat eight.

Monarchs lost a 5-1 in heat nine and were eight points down after ten races, which put their hosts in front on aggregate. And things looked grim until Aaron Summers, who replaced Wolbert, pulled off a critical win over James Grieves in heat 12.

Ryan Fisher then surrendered a shock 5-1 in the next race which put Monarchs in a stew, 12 points behind and trailing by six on aggregate. But Monarchs then shrewdly gave Katajisto a tactical outing in heat 14 and the youngster combined with skipper Matthew Wethers for a brilliant 8-1 advantage, which placed Monarchs one point ahead over the two legs.

Fisher, who had scored eight points from his first three races, redeemed himself and put the seal on things when he got the better of Grieves in the heat 15 top scorers' showdown and, with Wethers defeating Travis McGowan for third place, Monarchs grabbed a 4-2 and a decisive three-point margin on aggregate to exact revenge on their loss a year ago Wethers said: "Having lost the trophy to Glasgow last season, it was great to win it back again, it was a good team effort."

And Katajisto was also full of smiles, saying: "I felt very pleased by the way I rode on Friday and managed to keep things going nicely again.

"It was good to win my tactical race because it helped put the team back into the match."

Monarchs' Hungarian rider Jozsef Tabaka, who suffered mild concussion after crashing in the first match, failed to score and was unable to gate quickly enough on a circuit which demands sharpness from the tapes.

Glasgow: Grieves 12, McGowan 10, Grajczonek 10, Davey 6, Dicken 5, Ksiezak 4, Courtney 1.

Monarchs: Fisher 12, Katajisto 12, Wethers 10, Dilger 4, Summers 4, Tully 3, Tabaka 0