Speedway: Stars are brought down to earth by Monarchs

Published on Wednesday 21 October 2009 09:47

EDINBURGH Scotwaste Monarchs remain the Premier League play-off kings after retaining their trophy against King's Lynn Stars at the Norfolk Arena last night.

Monarchs went into the play-off final second-leg tie defending a healthy lead of 20 points from the first leg and this proved too big a deficit for King's Lynn to pull back.

Although King's Lynn triumphed 47-41 they were eased aside 97-83 on aggregate.

And now the speedway side face Belle Vue Aces for the chance to win promotion to the Elite League.

A jubilant Monarchs director Mike Hunter today said : "We should have won on the night and were unlucky not to do it. But we always had things under control at all time. We lost a 5-1 in the second last race which made our loss slightly wider."

Hunter added that Monarchs have given themselves a big psychological boost ahead of their KO Cup Final first leg tie against the Stars at Armadale on Friday.

"I think King's Lynn know we should have won and they also know they were well beaten at Armadale last week, they will be wary of us now."

The only downside of Monarchs' success was an injury suffered by Michal Rajkowski who crashed into the safety fence in heat eight. The popular Pole was initially thought to have broken his ankle but Hunter said: "We don't think this is the case, however it remains to be seen if he will be fit for this weekend's matches."

Kevin Wolbert was Monarchs' top scorer with 12 points from five starts. The German won his opening four rides with ease but got checked in his final ride and finished last.

In only his second meeting for Monarchs, comeback kid Kalle Katajisto stole the show with nine points from the reserve berth.

The young Finn won his first race in spectacular fashion coming from the back to defeat Linus Eklof and Jan Graversen who are no slouches around their own track. Katajisto, who also posted a second victory, said: "I told Edinburgh I would go well at King's Lynn and I stuck to my word, I'm very pleased with my score."

Ryan Fisher did all his hard graft in the first half by winning his first two rides and this was just the springboard Monarchs were looking for. And he was just beaten on the line by King's Lynn's guest star Ty Proctor in his next outing.

The Californian was also unlucky to be disqualified in his fourth ride when Proctor fell off. In the rerun Ulrich Ostergaard, who replaced Stars' No.1 Darcy Ward, who is sidelined with a back injury, made the start but Fisher moved him across on the first bend and though Ostergaard didn't fall off, the referee harshly punished Fisher.

And to further underline how unfortunate Monarchs were Aaron Summers shed a chain when leading heat 12, however the Aussie pulled off a great win over Emiliano Sanchez and Chris Schraam in an earlier heat and this tempered his mechanical blip.

Perhaps the one slight disappointment for Monarchs was skipper Matthew Wethers who struggled a little and only picked up three points.

"I would have liked to have scored more, but everybody in the side chipped in which was the main thing.

"It's great to beat King's Lynn and get through to have a crack against Belle Vue," he said.

Proctor and Ostergaard didn't pull up any trees for King's Lynn and with key performer Eklof, who tormented Monarchs in their Premier Trophy clashes, having a subdued evening, the Stars, who have notched up scores of 60 at home as a matter of routine this season, lacked the firepower on this occasion, but be assured they will regroup.

Monarchs host the first leg of the promotion decider against Belle Vue at Armadale on Saturday with a 7.00pm start.

The second leg will be staged in Manchester next Monday.

King's Lynn Stars: Schraam 11, Ostergaard 9, Graversen 8, Eklof 7, Sanchez 6, Proctor 6.

Edinburgh Monarchs: Wolbert 12, Katajisto 9, Fisher 8, Tully 6, Wethers 3, Summers 3, Rajkowski 0.