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Exeter Falcons v Edinburgh Monarchs
Premier League, 08 August 2005
County Ground, Exeter

Exeter 53
1Mark Lemon2*31*22 ..102
2Lee Smethills3132. ..90
3Seemond Stephens3X330 ..90
4Ray Morton122*3. ..81
5Sebastien Tresarrieu1*R1.. ..21
6(g)Daniel Giffard2*110. ..41
7Pavel Ondrasik322*31* ..112
Edinburgh 42
1Theo Pijper134^0. ..80
2William LawsonF100. ..10
4Daniel Nermark26^302 1.140
5Rusty Harrison32133 ..120
6Kristian Lund1000. ..10
7Robert Ksiezak002*10 21*62

* = BP. ^ = TR . ! = TS (15m Handicap). # = TR (Points Not Doubled). & = TS (Points Not Doubled, 15m Handicap).

With Ray Morton making a return to the Exeter side the Falcons were able to field a seven man team for a change but they had to use Daniel Giffard at reserve in place of Ben Barker who was injured riding in a Conference League match at Stoke. Edinburgh had Theo Pijper back at number one after his absence through injury but used R/R at number 3 for Cameron Woodward who broke two bones in his wrist in a crash in the Scottish Open Championship on Friday night.

This was one of Edinburgh’s better performances at the County Ground and, with 11 points separating the teams, it should be an interesting tussle at Armadale next month when the sides meet again with the bonus point up for grabs. It looked like the usual Edinburgh thrashing after the opening two heats both of which Exeter won 5-1. Daniel Nermark separated Seemond Stephens and Ray Morton in heat 3 as the home side added a 4-2 to their tally but Rusty Harrison put a brake on the Exeter bandwagon by winning heat 4 for a shared heat and a heat 4 score of 17-7.

In heat 5 Seemond Stephens left Theo Pijper with nowhere to go on the first bend and was excluded by the referee when Pijper fell. The Edinburgh man brushed himself down and won the rerun from Ray Morton so the Monarchs took a 2-4. This was matched by a 4-2 for Exeter in heat 6 when Mark Lemon just beat Rusty Harrison with Lee Smethills third. Trailing by 10 points Edinburgh gave Daniel Nermark a TR in heat 7. Nermark won the race and, with Robert Ksiezak holding off Daniel Giffard for second place, Edinburgh scored the big 1-8 to cut the Falcons lead to three points. Exeter put some more distance between the sides by winning heat 8 5-1 to take the score to 29-22.

Stephens and Morton made the gate in heat 9 to take a 5-1 ahead of Harrison to increase Exeter’s lead to 11 points but Daniel Nermark won heat 10 for a shared heat before Theo Pijper took a TR in heat 11. Pavel Ondrasik won the heat but Pijper took second place from Sebastian Tressarieu for a 4-4. Stephens won again in heat 12 from Ksiezak and a 4-2 went the Falcons way to increase the lead to 13 points with a score of 45-32.

Rusty Harrison won heat 13 and Ray Morton heat 14 for shared heats but Edinburgh won the last race. It looked as though they were headed for a 1-5 from Harrison and Nermark but Mark Lemon caught and passed Nermark on the last bend to restrict the Monarchs to a two point advantage.

Match Report by Merlin