Motorsport: Miserable Scotwaste Monarchs finish on a low point

Nov 5 2009 by Alistair Watson, West Lothian Courier

THE Scotwaste Monarchs’ 2009 season, otherwise a good one, finished on a dreadfully low note when they were heavily beaten by the Belle Vue Aces in the Elite League promotion play-off.

The score of 21-68 was an embarrassment for the Armadale side, for whom everything went wrong.

It was the biggest home defeat in Monarchs’ history and not a night to be recalled with any fondness at all.

It was the worst possible time for so many things to go wrong for Monarchs.

To start with Kevin Wolbert was missing with a hand injury. The German returned home earlier in the week feeling that it was too risky to turn out when he was struggling to hold the handlebars. Perhaps in view of how things turned out he should have risked it.

Ryan Fisher, brilliant in midweek at King’s Lynn as Monarchs lost the KO Cup on aggregate, was suffering from flu, and to make matters worse he blew two motors during Friday’s match, in the first and last heats.

And that wasn’t all – Finnish reserve Kalle Katajisto, who has been an excellent addition to the side, crashed in the second heat and hurt his leg causing him to pull out of the meeting.

Andrew Tully suffered with his back which has bothered him since a crash early in the season, and he pulled out as well after two pointless rides.

Michal Rajkowski had been replaced by guest rider Rusty Harrison so in the end Monarchs were left with only Matthew Wethers and Aaron Summers of their normal septet, as well as Fisher, leaving the match against the Elite Leaguers as a hopeless cause.

At least Monarchs’ fans were able to see World Cup winner Krzysztof Kasprzak and World under-21 number three Patrick Hougaard show their skills on what was a very difficult track following some heavy rain during the day.

So that was it for the season, a year which has seen Monarchs retain the Premier Playoff trophy and finish second in the Premier League, the Premier Trophy and the Knockout Cup.

Not bad, and fans await news of the 2010 side which is expected within a few weeks. The new season will begin on March 19 with the Keyline Scottish Open Championship.