Title Partner
Berwick Bandits
Team Manager: Gary Flint |
51 | ||||||||
| 1. Thomas Jorgensen | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2* | 6 | 1 | |||
| 2. Jonas Knudsen | 1* | 1* | 1* | 3 | 6 | 3 | |||
| 3. Leon Flint | 3 | 2* | 3 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 1 | ||
| 4. Jye Etheridge | 1 | 3 | 2* | 0 | 6 | 1 | |||
| 5. Rory Schlein | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2* | 13 | 1 | ||
| 6. Connor Coles | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 7. Luke Killeen | 1 | F | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||
Edinburgh Monarchs
Team Manager: Alex Harkess |
39 | ||||||||
| 1. Josh Pickering | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| 2. Lasse Fredriksen | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1* | 1* | FD | 5 | 2 | |
| 3. Kye Thomson | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1* | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | |
| 4. Paco Castagna | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 | |
| 5. Craig Cook | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | ||
| 6. Kyle Bickley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 7. Jacob Hook | 2* | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | |||
The Stellar Monarchs battled manfully after losing no1 Josh Pickering in the opening race eventually going down 51-39 at Berwick on Saturday night.
The diagnosis for Josh is still to be confirmed but early fears are a shoulder injury that will see a spell on the sidelines.
This meant the rest of the Monarchs all had extra rides to take with a clearly exhausted Lasse Fredriksen saying after
'We lose Josh in the first heat so we all had to take extra heats and that's tough at Berwick.
'We got better as we went on I thought, although we got beat and at least we should all know the track when we come back in the league.'
The Monarchs were able to hold on in the early stages with Craig Cook in imperious form taking the checkered flag in heats 1 (as a replacement for Pickering) 4 and 6 but as he ran out of steam the match moved away.
That's not to say there weren't moments of promise as Fredriksen, Paco Castagna and Jacob Hook all had their best matches around Shielfield.
As the night went on though the undermanned Monarchs tired and the Bandits excellently led by captain Leon Flint who raced to a paid maximum were able to take advantage.
The Berwick lead was only 6 going into heat 13 but after Fredriksen couldn't hold on to a strong gate the Bandits hit a 5-1 that confirmed the 3 points for the home men.
A further maximum in heat 15 made it a comfy looking win or the Bandits but in reality both teams will know they were in a match.
The Monarchs now need to dust themselves off once again as they head into a KO cup home and away against Oxford starting Wednesday with Pickering likely missing.
The Stellar Monarchs have an immediate chance to dust themselves down and go again as they head for Shielfield on Saturday night with realistically only pride to race for after the Bandits victory at Armadale on Friday,
Progression from the BSN Shield group is now gone barring a freak set of results so it is all about getting back on track for the Monarchs in the Borders.
The home men are off course on the back of a heavy home defeat of their own to Glasgow seven days ago so they will be looking to get on the board in front of their home fans and give themselves a chance to top the group.
The Monarchs recent record at Shielfield is a bit up and down but they were victors last time out with a 46-44 victory in July last year.
That win was brilliantly led by Josh Pickering and the now departed Sam Masters who recorded 29 points between them and a repeat is probably required from Pickering and Craig Cook if the Monarchs are to run out victorious.
Behind that the rest of the men in Blue and Gold will all look to improve on previous visits to Shielfield with Kye, Paco, Lasse and Jacob still trying to work out the quickest way round the Shielfield circuit.
Kyle Bickley was a Bandit the last two years so he will be looking to kick start his Championship level season in familiar surroundings.
The home men even given for the result at Armadale will have a point to prove after going down by 13 to Glasgow last week in a match they could only muster three heat winners.
With progression to the semi finals still in their hands no one will expect a repeat of this.
There is one change to the Berwick line-up from Friday with Oxford's Luke Killeen stepping in for Nathan Stoneman after Stoneman's heavy knock in heat 4.
Tapes up is at 7pm with live updates available on the Monarchs official website for those that can't make it to cheer on their favourites.
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
