Monarchs hoping to rule supreme in battle of 2009 heavyweights

May 13 2010 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

THE West Lothian-based Scotwaste Monarchs face an early test of their league mettle tomorrow night (Friday, May 14) when they come up against reigning champs King’s Lynn.

The Monarchs and King’s Lynn dominated the 2009 season, finishing first and second in all four of the major national events, so a blockbuster race is expected when the two clash at the Armadale Stadium.

Unfortunately for the Monarchs, recent results have gone the way of the Stars who have won three of the four meetings.

Top man for King’s Lynn is Aussie Kevin Doolan, but their other star Tomas Topinka is injured and they will use rider replacement for him.

They have ex-Monarch William Lawson replacing British under-21 Champion Joe Haines (on under-21 duty), and useful young riders in Kozza Smith from Australia and Linus Eklof (Sweden).

Last Friday, the Monarchs grabbed a 12-point lead from their KO Cup tie first leg against Rye House, winning 51-39 taking to the track without their two German riders.

The scores were level after eight heats with Rockets having all the race winners from heat 2 to heat 7, so it did not look at that point as though such a margin would be possible. But the Monarchs suddenly clicked and took six of the next seven race advantages.

They did throw away a few points, with falls for Tabaka (twice), Tully and Wethers, but not many would be complaining about the final score.

Monarchs’ most interesting performers were at reserve. For the second week running Kalle Katajisto was amazing, piling up his biggest score of 16 and finishing with a couple of these amazing four-lap scorchers fans have been seeing recently.

Teenager Kyle Howarth, standing in for the absent Max Dilger, has long been earmarked as one to watch and he took three points.

Howarth took a decent third in heat two before riding to a paid win against Rockets captain Chris Neath.

There were some heavy falls, Matthew Wethers taking a very heavy one in heat nine when the otherwise flying Sundstrom ran straight into him. And after two good rides to open with, Jozsef Tabaka overdid things and fell very awkwardly twice.

The second leg the following day was rained off

Teams for Friday:

Scotwaste Monarchs: Ryan Fisher, Jozsef Tabaka, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, Kyle Howarth, Kalle Katajisto or replacement.

Kings Lynn Stars: Rider replacement for Tomas Topinka, Linus Eklof, William Lawson, Kozza Smith, Kevin Doolan, Darren Mallett, Casper Wortmann.

Andrew Tully qualified for his first British Final last week when he finished joint fourth in the semi-final at Sheffield.