SGB Championship: play-off, semi-final: second-leg:
Edinburgh Monarchs 48, Ipswich Witches 41 (agg: 88-91)
Edinburgh: Ricky Wells 10, Josh Pickering 3, Sam Masters 11, Mark Riss 8, Erik Riss 12, Max Clegg 4, Mitchell Davey 0
Ipswich: Danny King 4, rider replacement for Cameron Heeps, Mason Campton (guest) 5, Kyle Newman 8, Rory Schlein 13, Nathan Greaves 5, Connor Mountain 6.
Revved-up former Edinburgh star Rory Schlein kept his cool to edge current Monarchs skipper Sam Masters and steer Ipswich Witches into the SGB Championship final.
The 33-year-old Aussie won the final race in the two-leg semi-final to take his personal tally on the night to 13 points and top score for the visitors.
Ipswich march on to face Sheffield Tigers or Glasgow Tigers in the final with the Yorkshire side 59-31 behind after the first-leg.
Edinburgh started with a bang, Ricky Wells winning the first heat with Josh Pickering in second place.
But fired-up Ipswich, defending a 50-40 first-leg lead, hit back with a 5-1 thanks to a win by Connor Mountain with Nathan Greaves second.
Monarchs replied with a 5-1 in the third race with Sam Masters taking the win and Mark Riss second.
A shared fourth race was followed by a 4-2 for Monarchs in Heat Five to narrow the gap to 62-58 on aggregate.
But Edinburgh suffered a massive blow three heats later when former star Rory Schlein and Greaves claimed a 5-0 to take Ipswich ahead 24-23 on the night and 74-63 on aggregate.
Josh Pickering crashed out on bend three lap one and was excluded and then Schlein locked-up leaving Clegg with nowhere to go. Clegg was also excluded and the home rider let Schlein know what he thought.
Two shared heats followed by Monarchs claimed Heat 11 and 12 by 4-2 scorelines to lead 37-34.
Schlein was excluded in the next race after a fall and the tension mounted.
Wells won the race with Erik Riss second for a 5-1 and a 42-35 lead on the night.
The sides shared the second last heat 3-3 leaving a gap of three points on aggregate going into the final race.
Ipswich moved their big guns, Schlein and former British champion, Danny King, into the firing line opposed by Sam Masters and Erik Riss.
Schlein won with Masters second and Riss third but it was not enough.
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