EDINBURGH Scotwaste Monarchs are back on top of the speedway Premier League on points difference after an awe-inspiring performance against pacesetters Somerset Rebels at Armadale last night.
Monarchs crushed the Rebels 66-24 and have thrown down the gauntlet in no uncertain terms as the race for the championship crown begins to intensify.
This was easily the Rebels most comprehensive away defeat of the season and lends credence to the
view that perhaps the Somerset side have flattered to deceive on occasions.
Monarchs in truth made the Rebels look a fairly pedestrian outfit.
In particular, Somerset's reserve pairing of Stephan Katt and Brent Werner, who have ridden with note elsewhere, were forced to chase air all evening as their Monarchs counterparts Andrew Tully and Aaron Summers tore into them like vultures at a carcass.
Top performer Tully roared to a magnificent 14-point tally and this included a trio of race wins.
Summers picked up eight points from his four starts.
The young Aussie triumphed in two of his rides but it was his second place behind Tully for a 5-1 in heat 12 which had everybody watching at trackside gasping in admiration.
Rebels star Emil Kramer looked a cast iron certainty to split the Monarchs duo, but Summers' relentless pursuit of him eventually paid off when he stormed past his rival on the line.
Incredibly, Monarchs scored ten maximum advantages during the match.
The scoring leviathan of Somerset's squad this year has been Australian stylist Jason Doyle. Doyle has piled up points with consummate ease but he came a cropper when he tumbled off on the second bend in heat 13. He sustained a swollen left hand which will rule him out of Somerset's trip to Berwick Bandits this evening.
And if Doyle, who was driven to Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary for X-rays, turns out to have broken any bones in his hand, it would deal Somerset a crippling blow in their quest to beat Monarchs to the league title.
Somerset team manager Steve Bishop said: "To lose Jason just capped off our night. Hopefully, his hand will turn out just to be swollen, which would see him back in action fairly quickly. The way he has been scoring, he is impossible to replace."
Bishop couldn't quite belive the scale of Monarchs triumph and confessed: "It was a complete disaster for us. I was hoping to try and sneak a win by one or two points! And, if things did go wrong, I still believed we would score forty points.
"Our biggest downfall was our inability to make any starts. We couldn't get into the first corner in front. When we did, we managed a couple of wins. We were hoping Edinburgh might be a bit complacent after running us so close at our place in midweek but they were totally fired up. They want to win the league as much as we do.
"The first 30 yards from the tapes is where Edinburgh won the match. Really we need to win another away match to give us an advantage over Edinburgh.
But, if they win more away fixtures, we need to do the same. After this defeat hopefully we can pull things together at Berwick."
Monarchs' second-string star Matthew Wethers, who rode brilliantly at Somerset, barely put a wheel wrong again as he notched up 12 points from five rides and was joint second top scorer alongside teammate Ryan Fisher.
Wethers drops down to reserve from next week and, if his exploits from the tail-end replicate those of last season, the laconic Aussie will have a big say in the eventual destiny of the championship.
Wethers was slightly astonished that Somerset didn't make a better fight of things, given the importance of the clash.
He said: "We were all surprised by the final score. We did expect to be pushed pretty hard by them. It was a really great result for us.
"I don't think Somerset were deflated after they beat us by just four points on Wednesday. You go into the next match with a fresh start-you don't think about past results. This setback could actually spur Somerset on to do better.
"We were all pretty pumped up for the match and we hammered them from the start. But this is what you aim to do in every match. If you don't score the points, you don't win."
Mark Lemon, guesting for William Lawson, scored nine.
Lemon has been snapped up to guest for Stoke Potters against Monarchs in a critical test for the capital outfit at Loomer Road tonight.
Former Monarch Magnus Karlsson steps in for Lawson.
Monarchs: Tully 14, Wethers 12, Fisher 12, Lemon 9,Summers 8, Sneddon 7, Jonasson 4.
Rebels: Doyle 7, Frampton 6, Kramer 4, Kroger 3, Werner 2, Katt 2.
The full article contains 811 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
