Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

A big crowd gathered in the sunshine hoping to see an exciting Scottish speedway derby. Instead they witnessed the match that never was.

The Scotwaste Monarchs came to race, and duly picked up big scores and pay packets. The Tigers? riders were not happy, we know that because they said so, but they failed to provide any serious opposition in their twelfth match with new averages due in seven days time.

Ryan Fisher was close to the track record in heat 1, and new boy Tobias Busch was not too far behind. Travis McGowan stopped at the start and pulled on to the centre, while Lee Dicken plodded round well adrift.

Jamie Courtney stopped in heat 2, in fact he never got above walking pace all night. Katajisto was wobbly but won easily from Andersen, while Dilger had a bike problem and struggled home for the point.

James Grieves made a very slow start in heat 3 and never challenged the Wolbert / Wethers pairing.

A clash between Katajisto and Andersen on the first bend of heat 4 appeared to be Kalle?s fault for locking up, but Andersen was blamed and excluded. As Grajczonek had already stopped and gone on to the centre green, the rerun featured just Tully and Katajisto for a 5-0 which made the score 19-4.

By now it was obvious what was going on, though probably everyone hoped it wasn?t true and that Tigers would start racing properly.

Wolbert and Wethers led again in heat 5 with Dicken and McGowan well back. The Tigers? pair tangled up and McGowan actually fell off! He wasn?t going fast enough to hurt himself.

Grajczonek actually took a second place in heat 6, beating Busch, and Grieves on a TR headed Max Dilger behind Tully in heat 7. The score was now 32-11.

Tobias Busch took his first race win in heat 8, looking good and recording a time of 56.5, most satisfactory.

Wolbert and Wethers took another easy 5 from heat 9, with Grajczonek third for most of the heat before slipping to the rear behind Andersen.

Fisher and Busch were next to take 5 as Grieves got his slowest start yet and didn?t challenge.

Tully and Dilger were on a 5-1 in heat 11 but in a brief flurry of action, McGowan (on a TR) and Dicken passed Max for a 5-3 heat advantage.

Tigers had their reserves out in heat 12, so it was no surprise that Wolbert and Katajisto took a maximum advantage. Kevin to be honest had not looked especially comfortable, but he had an untroubled 12-point maximum.

Grajczonek exceeded the 2-minute allowance in heat 13 and went off 15 metres. Fisher led with McGowan in second for three laps, till Glasgow?s no. 1 went to the fence on the last lap, allowing Tully a simple pass and a paid win.

Grieves beat Dilger again in heat 14 as Matthew won the heat.

McGowan and Grieves came out for the last heat against Wethers and Katajisto. What thrilling denouement would we see? Actually it was quite entertaining in a morbid sort of way.

Grieves stopped early and came off the track, but this time he was followed by Matthew on to the centre green, leaving Katajisto and McGowan. On lap three though, Kalle suddenly tumbled and McGowan had no option but to lay his bike down.

He was awarded three points, which must have come as a big surprise to him and could make it awkward for Glasgow to put together the team they wanted.

How many people will come to watch Edinburgh v Glasgow matches in the future? How can they be sure that they will see a proper fixture? These are questions that must now cause concern.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Glasgow Tigers

Fans will be able to run the rule over two riders completely new to Armadale when Glasgow Tigers come calling on Friday at 7.30 hoping to repeat their stunning away win at the home of the Monarchs only five weeks ago.

Glasgow's recent signing, Michael Penfold, was drafted in three weeks ago from Australia to take the place of Robert Ksiezak, whose recovery from injury is still a long way off, and Monarchs will be fielding a new rider in Tobias Busch who takes the place of the struggling Jozsef Tabaka at No.2.

'Penny' Penfold is an 18-year-old rider from Newcastle in New South Wales who came with high recommendations after an excellent summer back home in Australia. In his first few outings for Tigers he has looked like a competent racer but is clearly unaccustomed to the intensity of Premier League speedway.

The same may be true of Tobias Busch from the north east of Germany who has been signed this week by Monarchs, but at 22-years-old he might be expected to be a good deal more experienced. Both come in on assessed averages, Michael Penfold on 5.00 and Tobias Busch on 7.00.

That apart, the Tigers are having another roller coaster of a season, promising much with away wins only to turn in some disappointing home performances. Some of the blame is being levelled at the Ashfield track but they come to Armadale on the back of an encouraging win over Somerset Rebels.

Travis McGowan led the way with a maximum 15 points including two wins over former Ashfield track expert, Shane Parker. James Grieves and Josh Grajczonek were also in good form but the key factor was a welcome paid fourteen return from the reserves, Jamie Courtney (8+1) and Anders Andersen (3+2).

And of course in their win first at Armadale for many moons, McGowan, Dicken, Grajczonek and Grieves all turned in double figure scores from five rides each. On that occasion, Tigers also gained six points from Robert Ksiezak's rider replacement rides but that won't apply this time.

Flyin' Ryan Fisher and Matthew Wethers scored 14 points each for Monarchs but Kevin Wolbert, Andrew Tully and Kalle Katajisto were all well below their best. And with only two points in total coming from Jozsef Tabaka and reserve replacement Cal McDade, Monarchs will expect to do much better.

Confidence should be high after a crushing double win over title hopefuls Scunthorpe Scorpions which has propelled Monarchs to second in the league table. The team also seem much happier with track conditions as evidenced by both Kalle and Ryan breaking the previous track record.

So all indications are that Monarchs should put the record straight by taking full points to maintain their lofty league position, but nothing can be taken for granted against the Tigers who will give their all now that they have proved they can win at the home of their fiercest rivals.

This should be one of the most interesting and entertaining local derbies for quite some time, so get there early to make sure you don't miss any of the action.

Probable line-ups

Edinburgh: Ryan Fisher, Tobias Busch, Kevin Wolbert, Matthew Wethers (C), Andrew Tully, Max Dilger, Kalle Katajisto.

Glasgow: Travis McGowan, Lee Dicken (C), Michael Penfold, James Grieves, Josh Grajczonek, Jamie Courtney, Anders Andersen.