Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

This was very much the match of two halves, the eventual outcome probably meeting most people’s expectations.

Berwick didn’t find it easy to plug the gaps left by their missing riders, and seemed set for a beating. However after eight heats it didn’t look that way at all!

The home team led 17-7 after four heats, and added another 5-1 two heats later, but they also conceded two 4-2s prior to Berwick using their TR with Kenneth Hansen in heat 8. He romped home followed by Coty Garcia, with Justin Sedgmen having one of his occasional heat 8 disasters.

So now it was 27-24! That seemed to be the spur needed to waken up the Monarchs, none more so than Max Clegg. He was at the back in heat 9 but took advantage of a tangle between Garcia and Kevin Doolan to boldly burst through

After a 4-2, five more 5-1s followed with Clegg in two and fellow reserve Rob Branford in one. The big two of Craig Cook and Sam Masters easily took care of heats 13 and 15 and in the end the patched-up Bandits were swamped.

Edinburgh thus finish six points clear at the top of the table, but maybe still not in their best form of the season.