Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

This was a low-key Scottish derby with problems on both sides and a very easy win for the Scotwaste Monarchs.

Glasgow?s recent form is not good, and with Shane Parker and James Grieves both missing the Tigers? support did not make the journey over in great numbers.

Jason Lyons stood in for Parker and had a poor night, and with rider replacement yielding just four third for Grieves, it was left to Lee Dicken and William Lawson to provide such resistance as there was.

On the home side, Andrew Tully started with a fall and pulled out after three rides. Aaron Summers was again very unlucky, starting with two wins then blowing his new motor when leading heat 11. He has no real backup equipment so two pointless rides followed.

Both Ryan Fisher and Kevin Wolbert were excellent and scored paid maximums in style. Michal Rajkowski, Matthew Wethers and Andrew Tully all dropped one point each, to Lawson, who also challenged the two maximum men in the early stages of heats.

Although there was some dampness in the track from the drizzle Fisher flew to a time just 0.2 outside the track record, with Rajkowski second under not much pressure from rider replacement Lawson. Grajczonek was well back and didn?t look likely to improve his Armadale record.

Aaron Summers on board a new engine had an easy heat 2 win, but Byron Bekker fell trying to burst inside Lee Dicken and left the track. He could have had a point as Davey later withdrew.

Tully and Wethers led Lawson in heat 3 but Andrew came down on the pits corner, Matthew wobbled which allowed William through to the front. Matthew made a big effort to repass and finished a whisker short at the finish. Anders Andersen seemed to be struggling badly at the rear.

Jason Lyons led heat 4 but didn?t look convincing, and eventually Wolbert powered past him. Bekker came down again and must surely be getting tired of tumbling.

No mistakes from Wethers and Tully in heat 5, a maximum by miles, and more problems for Tigers in the next heat when Jason Lyons two-wheeled into the first corner and speared Ryan Fisher, bringing both down. That left Davey on his own and he pulled out again, gifting a 5-0.

William Lawson took a TR in heat 7 but there was no challenge to Summers and Wolbert who made it three 5?s in a row. Glasgow then sent out Lee Dicken for the second TR in heat 8, and the match was so one-sided that we didn?t even bother to make the obvious counter by using Summers.

This allowed Tigers to take a 5-3 as Rajkowski won with Bekker again pointless.

Davey was excluded on 2 minutes from heat 9, possibly as a time-waster, but it was another easy 5-1 with Lyons touring at the back.

Lawson had a better ride in heat 10, briefly slipping past Fisher before Fisher burst past once more. It did mean the first dropped point for Rajkowski.

Summers flew to the front in heat 11 with Wolbert backing up and beating off a Lyons challenge. Regrettably Summers? engine blew on the pits corner and it was just as well this was not a crucial match as we were spilling too many points.

Then came the news that Andrew Tully had withdrawn from the match, leaving heat 12 with all four reserves in it, Summers being on Wolbert?s bike. This was pretty much a gift win for Dicken with our pair limping round to share the points.

We should have been far more than 22 points ahead and our heat 13 pair responded with an easy 5-1. It was a pleasure to watch the excellent of Fisher and Wolbert.

Matthew Wethers won heat 14 from Lawson who put up a reasonable battle, but Aaron, now on his second machine, trailed at the back.

We finished with another excellent exhibition from Wolbert and Fisher as both completed their paid maximums. Tougher tests lie ahead!

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Kevin Wolbert.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

This week the team changes tournaments again leaving aside the disappointmernt of losing the Premier Trophy to King's Lynn. It's the annual two leg challenge match against Glasgow for the Scottish Cup.

Friday night is the first leg and both teams unusually track seven riders so there will be no Rider Replacement to delay proceedings or cause filling in blanks in the programme.

Glasgow have had a terrible season this year and nothing would give them more pleasure than to win the Scottish Cup, a piece of silverware which has escaped their clutches for some years now. The team they will be tracking is without their number 1 and captain, Shane Parker who damaged

his knuckles and is unlikely to ride again this season. He allegedly punched the wall in the Berwick pits in frustration so it's debatable whether you could call it a 'speeday related' injury! In his place as a guest at number 5 is Birmingham's Jason Lyons, no stranger to Armadale. Add in William Lawson and James Grieves and they have a heat leader trio with more Armadale experience than any other I can think of in the Premier League. Not only that, but Lawson and Grieves have had some brilliant meetings in Monarchs' colours. This time though they are not in Monarchs' colours and that makes a great difference. Strangely when riders cross to the other side of the pits they rarely seem to produce they form they were capable of riding for Edinburgh. Of course the opposition they face is much stiffer than that to which they were accustomed but there have been exceptions (Daniel Nermark for instance!).

If the Monarchs can erase Wednesday night's defeat from their memories and resume business as usual like last Friday then Glasgow will find the going tough. It's a big 'if' though but I'm sure the riders will be focussed and remember just how much this annual challenge means to the fans on both sides.

We didn't have much luck last week with Aaron Summers engine problems following the culpable move made by Linus Eklof in heat 8 and the malfunctioning clutch on Kevin Woelbert's bike. Andrew Tully will still be annoyed at going through the tapes in his first race depriving him of what looked like a certain maximum and Matthew will be looking to start as he finished last week. Indeed both will be looking to start as they finished at King's Lynn on Wednesday.

The Glasgow heat leader trio may look formidable but what about the support acts? Well Lee Dicken had an excellent meeting last time from reserve and must not be allowed to score so freely this time. Josh Grajczonek also had one good ride during which he looked comfortable on the track, which is surely not one of his favourites. There the support might start to taper away. Sandi Conda has yet to appear at the Dale so it's hard to know what to expect. However it's likely to be an experience he's never encountered before riding on a track so unlike those he's used to. He hasn't yet had a meeting where he's looked like living up to the hype surrounding his arrival at Glasgow and I've a feeling that that will still be the case after this meeting. Mitchell Davey, for all the effort he puts in, has never looked at ease on the West Lothian circuit but both the lesser lights will need to contribute to the scoreline if the Tigers are to keep the match close.

The second leg is a week on Sunday (11th October) and we dare not treat this first leg match lightly. The objective is to build up as big a lead as possible but what will we need is the question? Well a minimum of ten points would be just about acceptable but the more we can accumulate the simpler the second leg will be if we are to retain a trophy which has become a regular attender in the mythical boardroom trophy cabinet!

As always may the better team win provided it's the Monarchs but more importantly may the meeting be accident and injury free.

The teams have been announced as follows: Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Michal Rajkowski, Andrew Tully, Matthew Wethers, Kevin Woelbert, Aaron Summers and Byron Bekker.

Glasgow: James Grieves, Josh Grajczonek. Sandi Conda, William Lawson, Jason Lyons (Guest), Mitchell Davey, Lee Dicken.