Edinburgh Monarchs v Redcar Bears

If you love your speedway, what better weekend could there be than having you the chance to see your team race four matches in three days, starting with a home double header at the Scotwaste Arena tonight, firstly against the Redcar Bears followed immediately by the Glasgow Tigers.

The big push for the Play-Offs has come about due to Monarchs having ridden the least number of matches of any club, 22, which is six less than most of those around them in the top six. This means they are desperate to complete all four matches, win them all, and come through with all seven riders and bikes unscathed

First up are the unpredictable Redcar Bears, lying a disappointing ninth position in the Premier League table with just over half the points total of the Monarchs, having lost five times at home and winning only once on the road. They have made a couple of changes along the way with Richard Hall and Luke Crang moving on.

But count the Bears out at your peril. They have as good an Armadale record as they come and they have a really strong heat leader trio of Richard Lawson, Hugh Skidmore and Aaron Summers, backed up by the experience of Mark Lemon, Carl Wilkinson and Jan Graversen, with the lively Rafal Konopka at reserve.

If Monarchs can carry on the devastating form that brought them seven points from two matches last weekend, it should set them up perfectly for the other matches to follow. However, as their fans witnessed last Friday, there were several scary moments that saw riders and machines take some punishment.

Glasgow Tigers are the second opponents tonight and they will have to patiently bide their time and hope the first match goes through smoothly. The Tigers are currently one place lower than Redcar in tenth spot, which is something of a recovery after a season troubled by inconsistent performances.

Out have gone Mark Lemon, Christian Henry and Anders Thomsen, with Victor Berge being out injured. But they still have a nucleus of dangerous Armadale performers in Theo Pijper, Kevin Wolbert and Rusty Harrison. Kasper Lykke is a rider on the way up and Tero Aarnio and Victor Palovaara will be keen to impress.

The Tigers will also be hoping Jan Graversen goes well for Redcar in the first match because he slots into the Glasgow side as a guest reserve at No.7. They have lost three times at home and only won once on the road, so it would be a seismic result if they could put a spoke in Monarchs' Play-Off hopes.

The question last week was: 'were Monarchs so good or were Sheffield so bad.' Edinburgh answered that emphatically with a huge win at Rye House. They have a team that would not disgrace itself in the Elite League, where most of their septet are already riding regularly, and they want to end the season on top of the Premier League.

They are lucky enough to have exactly the same seven riders who started the season for them, and at the moment there is not a discernible single weak link in the side. They also have two of the Premier League's most in-form riders in Craig Cook and Sam Masters who were both unbeaten last Friday.

It would be a major surprise if Monarchs didn't manage to take full points from both matches, but this push for perfection brings back all the same tense feelings as when the team was in the middle of their record breaking unbeaten run earlier in the season. Be there to cheer them on!

And please remember the earlier starting time. Tapes up 7.00 sharp.

Likely line-ups:

EDINBURGH SCOTWASTE MONARCHS; Craig Cook, Justin Sedgmen, Max Fricke, Stevie Worrall, Sam Masters, Aaron Fox, Derek Sneddon (capt.)

REDCAR ECCO BEARS: Richard Lawson, Mark Lemon, Carl Wilkinson, High Skidmore, Aaron Summers, Jan Graversen, Rafal Konopka.

GLASGOW ALLIED VEHICLES TIGERS: Victor Palovaara, Theo Pijper (capt.), Kevin Wolbert, Tero Aarnio, Rusty Harrison, Kasper Lykke, Jan Graversen (guest).