Title Partner
Edinburgh Monarchs
Team Manager: Alex Harkess |
53 | ||||||||
| 1. Josh Pickering | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2* | 2 | 12 | 1 | ||
| 2. Lasse Fredriksen | 1 | FD | 1* | 2* | 4 | 2 | |||
| 3. Kye Thomson | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 0 | |||
| 4. Paco Castagna | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 | |||
| 5. Justin Sedgmen | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1* | 12 | 1 | ||
| 6. Max James | 1 | 1 | 0 | R | 2 | 0 | |||
| 7. Connor Coles | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 0 | |||
Berwick Bandits
Team Manager: Stewart Dickson |
37 | ||||||||
| 1. Kyle Howarth | 2 | 2 | 1* | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | |
| 2. Danyon Hume | R | R | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 3. Jye Etheridge | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||||||
| 4. Drew Kemp | F | FD | 0 | 0 | |||||
| 5. Rory Schlein | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0 | ||
| 6. Freddy Hodder | R | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | |||
| 7. Bastian Borke | 2 | 1* | 2 | FD | 1 | 2 | 1* | 9 | 2 |
In their first home outing of the season the Stellar Monarchs took a grip on this match right from the off and never looked like missing out on either the match points or the aggregate bonus, taking 11 race wins on the night including the first five by which point they had established an 8-point advantage.
Edinburgh team manager Alex Harkess was happy to take the 3 series points, but even more so with what he saw in his team tonight. "That was just what we were looking for, they were really fighting for everything, so determined. They were just never going to give up and I never doubted they would take the points. Everyone did their bit. Young Max James was having engine trouble towards the end but I wanted to keep him in the rides because he deserved the encouragement."
Berwick certainly did not have their troubles to seek, as they lost both Jye Etheridge and Drew Kemp when they piled in to the fence together in heat 7. They were able to cover the losses to some extent with IRR and the use of Bastian Borke for additional rides, and in terms of the match score perhaps the bigger problem had been Danyon Hume failing to leave the start in heats 1 and 5. Hume won two of his other races.
There were some terrific tussles during the evening starting with Josh Pickering's opening heat win from the back against Bandits' guest Kyle Howarth. He stormed through on the inside entering lap three.
The home reserves and the Thomson-Castagna pair both added 4-2 victories which put Monarchs ahead on aggregate, a position they never lost. For Kye Thomson the night was his best display for a while – in fact since the last Berwick visit in July 2023!
Also on song was Justin Sedgmen, who led Rory Schlein all the way in heat 4 and gated like his old title-winning self all night.
Bandits brought in Howarth alongside Schlein for heat 9 to try to close the gap, 8 at that point on the night, but a storming ride by Thomson ensured that there was no gain for the visitors.
Heat 10 was if anything more significant. Hume and Borke for the injured Etheridge and Kemp didn't seem too much of a weakening but the Monarchs' pair hit them hard. Pickering stormed off ahead while Lasse Fredriksen (already battered from a heat 6 first bend exclusion) fought a thrilling battle with the Bandits before securing the paid win.
At 12 points up it was almost all over, confirmed as Thomson won heat 12 followed by a 5-1 for Sedgmen and Pickering over Schlein and Howarth.
Castagna won his customary heat 14 before we had a thriller to finish with. The Monarchs' top two went ahead again on the first lap, but this time track expert Schlein was determined not to miss out, fiercely passing Pickering then storming inside Sedgmen for a tremendous victory.
Pickering had said early on that he wanted to see the fans with smiles on their faces, and after this impressive display that would certainly be true of the home support. The Bandits will live to fight another day.
Edinburgh's rather stop-start introduction to the 2024 season now threatens to take off in earnest with the midweek trip to Poole quickly followed by their delayed opening home meeting, the BSN Series visit of the Berwick Bandits.
Wednesday's first leg Knockout Cup tie at Wimborne Road was always going to be an arduous test against an accomplished and ultra-successful Pirates side on home shale.
But a challenging evening on the south coast turned out fairly well with the limited damage of a nine-point deficit giving the Blue and Golds a great chance of pulling off an aggregate win in the return leg on May 3rd.
Top scorer in deepest Dorset was, surprise surprise, Josh Pickering with 13 points. However, although no one else got near to double figures, another three of the septet, Paco Castagna, Justin Sedgmen and Max James, did manage creditable heat wins.
Like cream, once again our talisman from Oz rises to the top. However, he cannot carry the torch single- handed. Others must also chip in and, with the desire unquestionably in place.
Friday's clash with Berwick presents the perfect opportunity for the main body of the team to hit their stride with some serious point gathering.
Of course, the Bandits will be tough to overcome but with only four points to recover from the recent defeat at Shielfield, the opportunity to go on and take the spoils, including that crucial bonus points, must be well within our grasp.
That said, the form of top Bandit Rory Schlein in the Borders lays down a warning that the task in hand will be anything but straightforward.
Berwick will once again be without the injured Lewis Kerr but, in guest Kyle Howarth, they will have a rider of real quality who should ensure there will be little if any discernible drop in standards.
With Berwick already surrendering the bonus point from their tie with Glasgow, the right result this Friday would set up our "Scottish" qualifying finale against the Tigers as a kind of sudden death decider to determine which of the great rivals proceeds to the next stage of the tournament.
And with the second leg of KO Cup scheduled seven days after that, Armadale will be laid siege to by both Bandits and Pirates over what promises to be a fortnight of must- see speedway at the West Lothian Arena
Thursday 25th April 2024, 12:31pm
The ongoing cup-tie with Poole is set to one side for the moment as the Stellar Monarchs at last race their first home fixture of the season, welcoming the Berwick Bandits to Armadale on Friday for a vital match in the BSN series. Two match points and the aggregate bonus will be decided with Bandits having won by just four points when the teams met at Shielfield Park.
© Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway 2024
Bathgate Road
Armadale
EH48 2PD
