Berwick Bandits v Edinburgh Monarchs

Berwick had juggled their lineup for this match, signing Swede Matthias Thornblom in place of ben Barker, and using in-form Rohan Tungate as a guest for Claus Vissing who following Thornblom’s signing becomes the Bandits’ no. 1.

It looked a shrewd-enough move (Thornblom has ridden as a GP reserve) but where they proved to be less than shrewd was in the track preparation. The outer half of the circuit was deep and loose and pretty well unrideable for the first eight heats or so, and the riders put off by it appeared to be the home team.

We simply murdered them from the gate. Richie Worrall (a good guest again) and Liam Carr (likewise!) won the first two heats even though their partners lost position. We were in front again in heat 3 and this time Wolbert and Riss finished the job, giving us a lead we never looked like losing.

So it continued. Cook and Carr a 4-2 in heat 4, Sedgmen and Worrall a 5-1 in heat 5 and already we were in TR territory. Cook and Clegg a 4-2 in heat 6, and when Doolan did get the TR in heat 7 he only just avoided a 1-5 loss by passing Riss late in the race.

Heat 8 was even more extraordinary, because Justin Sedgmen (who never looked confident or settled) had a 2-minute exclusion, only for Max Clegg to pull off a great win. He had to hold off Coty Garcia, who unfortunately fell on the last turn to gift Liam Carr a paid win, after Liam had in turn held off Hall.

33-17 ahead, it was all but over even though we then lost two 4-2s as the Bandits suddenly remembered they were supposed to win races. Jorgense, Tungate and Doolan took the flag in heats 9 to 11, then we took over again. Kevin Wolbert had his third win in heat 12, Craig Cook won heat 13 and we shared heat 14 when Hall fell while challenging Riss for second.

Leaving the best till last, Cook won the final heat with a brilliant outside pass on Jorgensen.