Injured Kerr had also been in good form for Wolves in the Elite League

Horrific falls involving Chris Kerr and Jake Anderson overshadowed Birmingham's 48-41 defeat at home by Edinburgh in the Premier League.

American Kerr suffered a broken leg in heat three, one race after Anderson damaged his elbow and shoulder.

"When we have accidents like we did, riders' heads drop. But I'm very confident we can bounce back from this," said Brummies boss Graham Drury.

"With anything like this our thoughts go to the riders and their families."

The Monarchs took advantage of the home side's misfortune to end the Brummies' impressive nine-match unbeaten run.

We'll come back fighting, I'm sure we will Brummies boss Graham Drury

With only five riders available for the final 12 heats, and Justin Sedgmen less than fully fit after a crash at Swindon on Monday, Birmingham did remarkably well to stay in the meeting up until the final three races.

But Edinburgh registered back-to-back 5-1s in heats 13 and 14 to take the points away from Perry Barr.

"I think credit's got to be given to Edinburgh, they saw the dreadful accidents we had and they certainly capitalised on them, and I can't blame them for that," said Drury.

"We'll regroup, we've got a good bunch of riders here, and we'll come back fighting, I'm sure we will."

Aaron Summers and Jason Lyons led the Brummies scoring with 11 points each, Sedgmen adding eight and Richard Sweetman seven.

Andrew Tully and Ryan Fisher both chalked up 11 for the Monarchs, backed up by and eight-point haul for Kevin Wolbert.

Birmingham now defend a 38-point advantage at Sheffield on Thursday night in the second leg of their Knockout Cup tie.

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version