The Somerset ‘Sharp’ Rebels travelled North to the home of the newly crowned Premier League and Premier Trophy Champions hoping to come away from Armadale with better result in this Promotion Play Off than they did in August, which saw them leave on the back of a 66-24 defeat at the hands of the Monarchs.

Edinburgh went into this meeting without their number one, William Lawson, who was en-route to the Czech Republic for Saturday’s under 21 World Final, and brought in Birmingham’s Tomas Piszcz as a guest replacement.  Additional they employed the rider replacement facility at number 2 for their injured Swede, Tomas Jonasson.  Somerset were once again without long term injury victim, Simon Walker, and continued to use rider replacement as cover, again this being in the number two position.

And so it was on a bitterly cold Friday evening that history was made as the tapes rose on the first ever Premier League Promotion Play Off meeting, only for the race to come to a shuddering halt after just a few seconds as Piszcz lost control on entering the first bend, straightened up, collecting Somerset’s Doyle in the process, the pair sliding towards to safety fence as a consequence.

Thankfully, both riders were able to get to their feet without the need for medical assistance, Piszcz being somewhat fortunate to be allowed back in the re-run given that he was the rider at fault of causing the race to be stopped in the first place.

At the second time of asking, Doyle made no mistake from the gate, and took a comfortable victory and with the Edinburgh duo picking up the minor placings ahead of Somerset’s Kröger, it saw a share of the spoils, three points going to each team.

One of the more unsung heroes of Edinburgh’s success story this year has been the form of their young Australian reserve, Aaron Summers, which he clearly demonstrated in heat 2, storming from the outside gate to just get into the bend ahead of Werner.  Behind them Kröger had managed to get the drop on Sneddon, but the Edinburgh captain made his track knowledge count as he cut back up the inside of the German into third place. 

Although Sneddon then gave chase to Werner ahead of him, the American made his experience tell to maintain his second place, but with Summers taking the chequered flag, it was first blood to the Monarchs as they took an early two point lead, 7-5.

Heats 3 and 4 saw Edinburgh stamp an early authority on the match, taking both heats 5-1, Kramer throwing a big ‘locker’ on the second bend, having made the best of the start, which not only allowed the Edinburgh duo of Fisher and Tully through into the lead, but also hampered the progress of his team-mate, Katt, putting out of contention as far as this race was concerned.

Worse was to follow in heat 4 as a fairly level break saw all four riders in contention as they headed down the back straight, Werner just getting the advantage as they headed into the third turn, but he carried too much speed into the bend, which, as a result, carried him wide on the fourth bend with the inevitable consequence of him coming to grief.

Referee Jim McGregor was left with no option but to exclude Werner from the re-run, which left Frampton as the lone Rebel up against Wethers and Summers for the home side.

Unfortunately for the Somerset camp, Frampton made a poor start to hand the initiative to the Monarchs, and compounded this by running wide on the second turn, to leave the Edinburgh riders to record an untroubled maximum heat win and with it the Monarchs into an early, and worryingly early, ten point lead.

Doyle steadied the ship for the visitors in heat 5 with his second successive win of the match, but with Werner still feeling the effects of his spill in the previous heat and retiring from the race, Edinburgh maintained that ten point lead with a third of the match gone.

Somerset’s German Long track ace, Matthias Kröger, has gained a reputation of being a fast starter, and he showed this to good effect in heat 6, making a lightening start to take the lead, ensuring he blocked any potential move from the home riders to nip up the inside off the second bend.

As the race progressed Wethers gradually reeled in the Somerset reserve, Kröger riding his trademark ‘whiteline’ route leaving the Edinburgh rider little option but to try a big outside blast coming off the final bend in his attempt to deny Somerset a second consecutive race winner.

And it almost paid off as the Australian got some excellent drive coming off the last turn to pull alongside Kröger as the pair headed towards the chequered flag, the Somerset rider just getting the decision as they flashed over the finishing line.

Worrying for Somerset, though, was Frampton’s performance, his bike seemingly being well down on power as, despite giving it 100% as always, he finished tailed off at the back.

The decisive period as far as the Monarchs were concerned came as they hit Somerset with maximum 5-1’s in each of the next four heats, Wethers and Sneddon making supreme starts in heat 7 as they cruised the first of those, Summers then exploiting Kramer’s error on the second turn a heat later to follow team-mate Fisher home.

Edinburgh were on the receiving end of another fortuitous refereeing decision in heat 9 as Tully took Kröger down on the first turn, but as in the opening heat, it was a case of all four back, Fisher and Tully making no mistake at the second time of asking and in the space of three heats the home side had suddenly stretched their lead to 22 points.

That 22 point lead became 26 in heat 10 as Tully and Piszcz hit in another maximum heat win over Kramer and Katt, and Somerset’s hopes of keeping the scoreline tight ahead of Wednesday’s second leg at the Oak Tree Arena were fast evaporating.

Then came what can only be described as a bizarre heat 11.

With Doyle coming out donning the ‘black and white’ helmet colour for double points in an attempt to reduce the Edinburgh lead, at the first time of asking Frampton’s already under-performing bike completely gave up the ghost just as the riders were about to ready themselves for the green light, the 23 year old being excluded under the two minute rule, and was duly replaced by Brent Werner.

Once again four riders came to the tapes, but just as the tapes rose, referee McGregor immediately switch on the red stop lights.  Everyone in the stadium instantly thought that the referee must have deemed it an unsatisfactory start, only for it to be announced that Monarchs skipper Derek Sneddon had been excluded for what was described as a ‘starting infringement.’  It then transpired that he had been excluded for ‘spinning his rear wheel’ at the start line, something for which the referee had warned Sneddon for earlier in the meeting.

At the third time of asking the riders finally got away, Doyle and Werner taking the lead and the holy grail of an 8-1 for the Rebels was well and truly on.  Wethers was immediately on Werner’s case, but the American made his experience tell, thwarting Wethers moves until the Edinburgh number 5 over did it as the pair came off the 4th bend on the second lap, coming to grief in the process.

Wethers was duly exclude by the referee, but although the surviving three riders had crossed the start line to begin their third lap, as Wethers had not completed two laps when the race was stopped, a re-run was ordered, Summers being the lone representative up against Doyle and Werner.

And so yet again riders came to the tapes, now for a fourth time, in an attempt to complete heat 11, and as on the previous occasion, Doyle and Werner sped from the tapes leaving Summers in their wake, scoring a big 8-1 heat advantage, Doyle’s three points for the win being doubled to six by virtue of the tactical move.

Suddenly Somerset tails were up and after looking out of sorts all evening, Emil Kramer suddenly burst into life for the visitors, making the best of the break from the gate, and with Kröger blocking Fishers’ attempt to sweep round the outside of the field on the second lap, the Rebels took their 2nd heat advantage of the match and what two heats previously had been a 26 point deficit had been cut to 17, Edinburgh 46-29 to the good.

With three wins from his three starts, Doyle had been the dominant force so far in this match, and with him coming to the tapes in heat 13, Somerset’s hopes must have been high that he could make it four wins on the bounce to keep the Rebels in with a chance of keeping the Edinburgh lead to less than 20 points ahead of the second leg.

The only thing you can predict about speedway, though, is its unpredictability, and so it proved in heat 13 as Doyle got nowhere fast off the inside gate, giving Wethers and Piszcz the opportunity to hit back with a virtually unchallenged 5-1 and take their lead back out to 21 points, leading the Rebels 51-30 with just the final two heats remaining.

As the tapes rose on heat 14, so did Somerset’s hopes as Werner and Kröger hit the front ahead of Tully and Sneddon.  Both Monarchs were soon on Kröger’s tail, and the pressure eventually told as the German made a mistake coming off the second turn on the third lap which allowed Tully through into second place, Sneddon following through to draw alongside Kröger as they headed down the back straight, only for Sneddon to move across on the Somerset rider, almost running him into the fence.

Tully meanwhile was in hot pursuit of Werner, reeling him in hand over fist with each turn of the wheel, catching his prey as they entered the last turn, and with Tully carrying the greater speed into the bend, he passed Werner as the chequered flag beckoned them both.  Sneddon picked up the point for third place to give Edinburgh a 4-2 heat win taking the match score to 55-32 in their favour, with Kröger showing his displeasure at Sneddon’s move on him earlier in the race as the riders took to their slowing down lap.

Doyle quickly made amends for his heat 13 ‘duck’ by storming to victory in the fastest time of the night in the final heat, leaving Fisher a mere spectator.  Just as importantly Kramer kept an omnipresent Wethers back in last place, to take third and in the process give Somerset their third heat victory in the final five heats. This giving them a 21 point deficit to claw back when the two teams reconvene at the Oak Tree Arena for Wednesday’s second leg.

Edinburgh Monarchs - 57
1 Tomas Piszcz [g] - 1*, 1*, 2*, 2* = 6+4
2 Tomas H Jonasson - Rider Replacement
3 Ryan Fisher - 2*, 2, 3, 3, 0, 2 = 12+1
4 Andrew Tully - 3, 1*, 2*, 3, 3 = 12+2
5 Matthew Wethers - 2*, 2, 2*, exl, 3, 0 = 9+2
6 Derek Sneddon [c] – 2, 1, 3, exl, 2, 1 = 9
7 Aaron Summers – 3, 3, 2*, 1 = 9+1

Somerset Rebels - 36
1 Jason Doyle – 3, 3, 6^, 0, 3 = 15
2 Simon Walker  - Rider Replacement
3 Emil Kramer [c] – 1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 1 = 8
4 Stephan Katt  - 0, 0, 0 = 0
5 Jordan Frampton – 1, 0, 0, exl (2min), 1 = 2
6 Matthias Kröger – 0, 0, 3, 0, 1, 1, 0 = 5
7 Brent Werner – 2, exl, ret, 2*, 2 = 6+1