Edinburgh 58 Rye House 34

The Silver Ski Rockets were put to the sword by the title-chasing Monarchs in the first stop of their short northern tour.

Three Edinburgh 5-1s in the opening six races swiftly took the match away from the Hertfordshire side, at 25-11, and another four maximums followed in the second half of the meeting. Both Craig Cook and Theo Pijper went through the card, as the Monarchs were denied the 60 point mark only by the early loss of Claus Vissing, who was highsided after being clipped by Kasper Lykke in Heat 4.

The Rockets managed just two race wins, with Lykke heading home the field in Heat 2 and the Tactically nominated Olly Allen and Pontus Aspgren combining for a bizarre 8-0 score-line after both home riders had been excluded in Heat 11.

Rye House team manager John Sampford admitted afterwards that “You could see why they are there or thereabouts at the top of the table, and we aren’t. A lack of ability to win races cost us dearly, but they were just so much sharper than us at the starts.”

The Rockets move on to Berwick tomorrow (Saturday) night, before hosting the Bandits in a return encounter on Bank Holiday Monday (2pm start), with Sampford highly uncertain over whether the roster would include Jason Garrity, who has been sidelined since May with a broken leg. “Jason had a practice at Sheffield last night and felt OK afterwards, only to wake up this morning with more pain than before. I would have to say that he is highly questionable for either match.”

Rye House scorers:

Olly Allen 10+1 (4 rides, inc 6 as a TR)

Pontus Aspgren 5+2 (5)

Jason Bunyan 3 (4)

Tyson Nelson 2+1 (4)

Anders Mellgren 7 (5 rides, inc 1 as a TR)

Kasper Lykke 6+1 (5)

Ryan McDonald (guest) 1 (3)

Edinburgh scorers:

Craig Cook 14+1 (5 rides, max)

Max Fricke 11+2 (5)

Theo Pijper 12 (4 rides, max)

Jozsef Tabaka 6+3 (4)

Claus Vissing 3 (1)

Josh Bates (guest) 1+1 (3)

Derek Sneddon 11+1 (7)

Match Points: Edinburgh 3 Rye House 0