Reading slide to home defeat.

Edinburgh Monarchs inflicted Reading's first home Premier League defeat of the season, when they beat the Racers 50-40 at Smallmead Stadium on Monday night. The visitors took the lead in the opening heat, and were never headed after that.

Reading got off to the worst possible start when Monarchs duo Fred Schott and Theo Pijper took a opening heat 5-1 over Paul Clews, and Guest Danny Bird. Bird, who had already blown his best engine whilst warming up in the pits prior to the start of the meeting, also blew another engine when he ground to a halt on the first bend of the first lap.

Racers Swedish star gave the home fans something to cheer, when he roared to a super win in heat three, beating the highly experienced Peter Carr and the talented youngster Rory Schlien. Unfortunately Reading could only manage a 3-3 drawn heat, as Andrew Appleton ran a rare last place. The win by Davidsson was his first Premier League home victory of his Racers career. The Swedish star looked a much better rider all night on his recently imported GM engine, that he uses regularly in his Swedish Elite League matches.

Reading fell six points behind in heat 4, when a Monarchs 4-2 from Magnus Karlsson and Wayne Carter, over Scott Smith and Peter Collyer, put the Scottish side in to a early 15-9 lead. The Smallmead men pulled two points back in the next heat, when a 4-2 from Appleton and Smith over Schott and Pijper, left the scores at 17-13 in favour of Edinburgh.

With two blown engines to his credit, Racers guest Bird was forced to come out on a bike loaned by injured skipper Phil Morris. Bird stormed to a win, but Edinburgh's Karlsson was never far behind, as Bird appeared to struggle for speed. The resulting 3-3 left the scores at 20-16.

The next two heats were shared at 3-3 apiece, to leave the progressive score at 26-22 to Edinburgh after 8 heats. Euphony Racers got the deficit down to two points in heat 9, when another 4-2 from the Appleton and Davidsson pairing over the Swede Karlsson, left Reading trailing 28-26 with six heats remaining.

Any hopes Reading had of making a comeback started to go downhill in heat 11. A Monarchs 4-2 from the fast-starting Schott and Pijper pairing, put the Monarchs in a good position with a lead of 35-31.

In heat 12, Edinburgh pair Carr and Carter made a lightening start over the two Euphony Racers of Shane Colvin and Davidsson. Colvin made a fight of it as he tried to pass Carter, but both Racers left themselves with too much to do, after their poor start. The resulting 5-1 from the visitors put them on the brink of victory, as they led 40-32 with just three heats remaining.

The match was over as far as Reading were concerned after heat 13, when another 5-1 from Edinburgh put the match beyond doubt with a lead of 45-33. Schott and Karlsson took the 5-1 over Bird and Scott Smith. Smith lost a primary chain causing him to fall whilst in a battling second place.

In the penultimate heat, Racers salvaged some pride when Appleton and tactical substitute Clews, raced to a 5-1 over Schlein and Carter, narrowing the deficit to 46-38. A 4-2 in the final heat in favour of Monarchs, left the final score 50-40 to the men from Armadale.

Some good news did come from the evening for the Smallmead faithful. Phil Morris, who has missed the past few weeks with a shoulder injury, said he
plans to be back in action for his Swedish League match next Thursday (12th une). He then intends to return to British action for the Welsh Open at
Newport (15th June), and then finally back for Reading at home to Isle of Wight on Monday 16th June.