Redcar Bears v Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs took a very important win at Redcar, picking up the key points over the closing heats with a great display from Ryan Fisher being the dominant factor.

The American has never been better, and even though he didn't gate all that well in the final heat, his wide-line riding was irresistible and secured victory for the team.

It was an enjoyable night in spite of the steady drizzle, with the scores level for much of the evening and never more than 4 between the sides. For Redcar, Suchanek was a revelation on a new engine but Adam McKinna proved to be a very poor guest.

The first heat was quite intriguing. Bears won the toss and took the outside. Jozsef Tabaka made a good start but Suchanek slipped inside him round the first turn, only for Fisher to storm round the wide line to the front. That's how it stayed with Tabaka riding very steadily and not giving the disappointing Havelock a chance.

Stuart Swales won heat 2 but Bekker and Katakisto were on his tail, with McKinna well back.

Matthew Wethers jumped into the tapes in heat 3, and Bekker took his place. Wilson led all the way but Wolbert pushed him hard, with Suchanek not far way in third.

Heat 4 went to Sanchez with Tully looking quick enough in second and Katajisto well clear of McKinna.

Heat 5 was thoroughly annoying. At the first attempt Fisher and Tabaka were clear, but the red lights went on for no obvious reason. Next, Swales made the gate but Tabaka made an impressive move to work round the outside of him, only for Swales to push out, and out - and send Tabaka spinning off.

Jozsef was excluded, a very harsh decision indeed. Fisher took the rerun easily to keep the scores level.

Heat 6 was an ominous one with Suchanek and Havelock heading Tully pretty comfortably. It looked at this stage as though Andrew's struggles of the previous Friday had not been resolved.

The deficit was turned straight back again though with a fine 5-1 in heat 7. Wolbert led all the way and won by miles, with Wethers getting the better of a great tussle with Sanchez, passing and re-passing here.

The now-flying Suchanek took heat 8 after Kalle had brifly led, but again McKinna (surprisingly left in) was well behind Tabaka and Katajisto.

Wilson took his second win in heat 9, and his partner Swales was striving to come from the back and get round Tully and Katajisto when his bike stopped.

Wolbert swept to another huge win in heat 10 and was looking really impressive, but this time Wethers was shut out by Bears' opening pair.

For some reason McKinna replaced Swales in heat 11, and Redcar paid the price. Fisher won again from Sanchez and Tabaka easily took third. We were two up now.

That was reversed again in an excellent heat 12 in which Wilson just held off Wolbert, and Swales just held off Katajisto. Kale clearly needed more speed and was missing his big track engine which he wrecked the previous Friday.

We needed to dig deep now. Fisher stormed away with heat 13 and crucially Andrew Tully slipped past Sanchez off the second bend for a vital third, putting us ahead once more.

Wilson had only dropped one point, Matthew had only had one scoring ride, but it was our skipper who got ahead in heat 14 to keep our noses in front. Kalle again just lost to Swales.

Into the final heat, we were looking good with Ryan and Kevin going so well. In fact the Fish didn't make the best of starts but he headed straight for the dirt, where none of the home riders seemed keen to ride, and no-one was ever going to hold him off.

A very good win and a morale booster after Freaky Friday the week before.

Redcar Bears v Edinburgh Monarchs

We begin our Premier League campaign with a visit to the Redcar Bears at the South Tees Motorsport Park, a venue at which we have enjoyed some success in the past. Having made so little impact in the Premier Trophy it is crucial that we make a good start to the league campaign particularly against a team which had proved to be vulnerable at home.

Two early season home defeats in Challenge matches against Workington (40-49) and Newcastle (44-46) were followed by April home defeats at the hands of Sheffield (44-49), Birmingham (37-53) and Stoke (42-48) in Premier Trophy matches. Redcar have in fact only won once on their own track, against Stoke (51-44) two weeks ago. However, just last Sunday, they too opened their league campaign and triumphed with a 42-48 win at Newport so they will be looking to put the home defeats behind them by building on that excellent start.

The Bears' team this year still has Gary Havelock leading the troops at number1. He is one of the four survivors from the squad which finished the season last year for them. The others are Ben Wilson, Maks Gregoric and reserve, Stuart Swales. Gone are Ty Proctor, Carl Stonehewer, Robbie Kessler and Arlo Bugeja. The newcomers to the side are Emiliano Sanchez, Jan Graversen and Tomas Suchanek.

The Bears' problem is their sheer inconsistency leading to a tendency to collapse during a match. Their heat leader trio of Havelock, Wilson and Sanchez produced nine race winners at Newport ending with a match winning 1-5 in the last heat. It was achieved without Tomas Suchanek and Jan Graversen, the former suffering from food poisoning and the latter from the lingering effects of concussion. Both are back for this match and the Bears' team is at full strength. Their man to watch could well be Stuart Swales at reserve who can turn matches in the Bears' favour with his ability round the small Redcar circuit not to mention seven potential rides if needed.

It's clear that we will have to do a lot more than just turn up, like we did against Glasgow last Friday, to have any prospects of returning home with any reward. In fact it will need a lot of improvement in the gating department in which the team were found wanting so much against the Tigers.

The Monarchs' line up will have one change with Max Dilger still missing following his shoulder dislocation. Our old friend Byron Bekker takes his place for this match. Kevin Wolbert had a scare on Monday when, still struggling with a sore back from his crash last Friday, he noticed a swelling at the base of his spine. He went to hospital where he was examined and had an X-Ray which thankfully revealed no serious damage. Kevin will ride in the match but he will still be in some pain and discomfort for a couple of weeks yet. Otherwise there have been no reported problems. Indeed Kalle Katajisto is quite excited at finally getting the chance to race on a Peter Carr prepared engine which is expected to be fast and tailor made for both Redcar and Armadale on Friday. There were some worries he would have to miss the matches on Thursday and Friday due to his commitment to ride for Finland in the World Team Cup this weekend in Italy. These have been resolved thanks to the fact that there is a flight from Edinburgh to Venice on Saturday morning would you believe!

If we can return home to face Sheffield with a win under our belt from this match it could well kick-start a big upturn in our fortunes. Anything less than a match point from a narrow defeat would be a huge disappointment and we wish the team well in their efforts.

Team line-ups. - Redcar: Gary Havelock, Tomas Suchanek, Maks Gregoric, Ben Wilson, Emiliano Sanchez, Stuart Swales, Jan Graversen.

Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Jozsef Tabaka, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully, Byron Bekker, Kalle Katajisto.