Edinburgh Monarchs
Josh Pickering 9 (5)
Berwick Bandits
Rory Schlein 12+1 (5)
BSN Series
41
49
Friday 21st April 2023
Armadale Stadium
Watch
Edinburgh Monarchs
Team Manager: Alex Harkess
41
1. Josh Pickering 2 1 3 1 2 9 0
2. Lasse Fredriksen 1* F 3 1 5 1
3. Kye Thomson 2 2* F 2 6 1
4. Paco Castagna 0 3 3 1 7 0
5. Craig Cook 2 3 1 3 R 9 0
6. Kyle Bickley FD 0 0 0 0
7. Jacob Hook 3 1* 1 0 F 5 1
Berwick Bandits
Team Manager: Gary Flint
49
1. Thomas Jorgensen 3 1 3 0 1 8 0
2. Jonas Knudsen 0 0 2 2* 4 1
3. Leon Flint 1 2 0 3 6 0
4. Jye Etheridge 3 1* 2 3 9 1
5. Rory Schlein 3 2* 2 2 3 12 1
6. Connor Coles 2 3 0 1* 1 2* 9 2
7. Nathan Stoneman 1* FD 1 1
Heat 1
Time: 57.8
1. Josh Pickering  
2
2. Lasse Fredriksen  
1
1. Thomas Jorgensen  
3
2. Jonas Knudsen  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
3
Away
3
3
Jorgensen rides an aggressive first bend and relegates Josh to last. Comes through to second but cannot catch Jorgensen.
Heat 2
Time: 58.0
6. Kyle Bickley  
FD
7. Jacob Hook  
3
6. Connor Coles  
2
7. Nathan Stoneman  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
6
Away
3
6
Kyle lifted coming out of second bend and had no where to go apart from the back straight fence. Excluded from rerun. Tapes to flag win by Jacob.
Heat 3
Time: 58.2
3. Kye Thomson  
2
4. Paco Castagna  
0
3. Leon Flint  
1
4. Jye Etheridge  
3
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
2
8
Away
4
10
Etheridge from the gate off gate 4 and Monarchs left trailing with Kye coming through to 2nd but unable to catch the leader.
Heat 4
Time: 57.4
5. Craig Cook  
2
7. Jacob Hook  
1
5. Rory Schlein  
3
7. Nathan Stoneman  
FD
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
11
Away
3
13
Stoneman gets in a tangle on the first bend and comes down by himself. Race stopped and he is excluded from the rerun.
Heat 5
Time: 57.5
3. Kye Thomson  
2
4. Paco Castagna  
3
1. Thomas Jorgensen  
1
2. Jonas Knudsen  
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
5
16
Away
1
14
Monarchs gated with good team riding for a 5-1 with Jorgensen keeping them honest for 3 laps and then falling back.
Heat 6
Time: Awarded
1. Josh Pickering  
1
2. Lasse Fredriksen  
F
5. Rory Schlein  
2
6. Connor Coles  
3
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
1
17
Away
5
19
Heat 7
Time: 58.0
5. Craig Cook  
3
6. Kyle Bickley  
0
3. Leon Flint  
2
4. Jye Etheridge  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
20
Away
3
22
Warning for Craig to stay still at the start. Rerun with all 4 riders. In rerun Craig takes it in a tapes to flag win with Bandits keeping out Kyle in the early laps.
Heat 8
Time: 59.6
2. Lasse Fredriksen  
3
7. Jacob Hook  
1
2. Jonas Knudsen  
2
7. Nathan Stoneman  
6. Connor Coles
0
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
24
Away
2
24
Competitive heat with Lasse and Knudsen battling in close quarters with Jacob just keeping Connor at bay after a race to the line.
Heat 9
Time: 58.5
3. Kye Thomson  
F
4. Paco Castagna  
3
5. Rory Schlein  
2
6. Connor Coles  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
3
27
Away
3
27
Kye shed a chain while leading and the Monarchs on a 5-1 at the time. Great win by Paco!
Heat 10
Time: 58.3
1. Josh Pickering  
3
2. Lasse Fredriksen  
1
3. Leon Flint  
0
4. Jye Etheridge  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
31
Away
2
29
Another win from gate 4 this time by Josh! Good ride by Lasse to keep Jye honest and keep Flint at bay.
Heat 11
Time: 58.3
5. Craig Cook  
1
6. Kyle Bickley  
0
1. Thomas Jorgensen  
3
2. Jonas Knudsen  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
1
32
Away
5
34
Bandits gated and were gone. Craig was all over Knudsen but could not find a way through.
Heat 12
Time: 59.7
3. Kye Thomson  
2
7. Jacob Hook  
0
3. Leon Flint  
3
6. Connor Coles  
1
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
2
34
Away
4
38
Impressive gate from Bandits who lead for 3 laps until split by Kye with a neat inside pass.
Heat 13
Time: 58.4
1. Josh Pickering  
1
5. Craig Cook  
3
1. Thomas Jorgensen  
0
5. Rory Schlein  
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
4
38
Away
2
40
Rocket gate by Craig and a good first bend with Josh at the back but came through to third on 2nd lap. Rory rode intelligently to hold him off.
Heat 14
Time: 59.5
4. Paco Castagna  
1
6. Kyle Bickley  
7. Jacob Hook
F
4. Jye Etheridge  
3
7. Nathan Stoneman  
6. Connor Coles
2
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
1
39
Away
5
45
Bandits leading for most of the race with Paco challenging for 2nd but Coles just made it on the line after repassing Paco. Jacob fell on 2nd lap.
Heat 15
Time: 58.4
5. Craig Cook  
R
1. Josh Pickering  
2
1. Thomas Jorgensen  
1
5. Rory Schlein  
3
 
Heat
Score
Match
Score
Home
2
41
Away
4
49
Schlein gated off gate 4 and Craig stopped after thinking he saw a red light on the first bend. Race continued and he retired after completing a slow lap. Josh split the Bandits.

On a hugely disappointing night for the Monarchs' support, Berwick Bandits triumphantly bounced back from their own home defeat of last Saturday to land a 49-41 victory which was probably unexpected but very much deserved for a lively and committed display.

Team manager Alex Harkess said "I was very disappointed by our display. Kye Thomson was very unlucky to lose a chain and fall when leading one race but as the home team we should have been able to do more. I'm looking for big improvements at Berwick tomorrow."

Berwick displayed good teamwork throughout and combined well when in front, notably Connor Coles whose 9+2 was a match winning effort.

Unsatisfactorily enough, the match was hugely unbalanced by a ridiculous advantage for gate 4, from which 37 points were scored. Gate 1 on the other hand scored just 14. In heat after heat the rider from the outside leapt ahead. To make it worse gate 2 was the second best starting position meaning that riders from gates 2 and 4 totalled 59, to 31 for riders from gates 1 and 3.

That meant you had to capitalise on the heats in which you had the good gates, or to try to scrape something up when you didn't. The only points dropped by riders off gate 4 were Thomson's fall, and a last place by Kyle Bickley!

Of course it should be possible to make up some of the ground lost at the start, but this was a night when no riders on either side were really able to achieve much from the back, leading to a disappointing spectacle for the fans at the track and watching on the British Speedway Network. Best race was heat 8 in which Fredriksen and Knudsen passed and repassed before the Norwegian took 3 points for the Monarchs.

The only compensation for spectators was the closeness of the score, and Monarchs did manage to edge ahead at heats 5 and again at heat 10. They would have had a greater advantage at that point had Kye Thomson not fallen while leading heat 9 due to a lost chain. Needless to say, Kye had come off gate 4 and the heat was heading for a home 5-1 over Rory Schlein (who otherwise made an excellent Armadale return).

From heat 11 onwards though, with a run of gates 2 and 4, Berwick took over and made the most of their opportunities.. They were two ahead after heat 13 and with the advantageous gates over the final two races there was only going to be one outcome.

Jye Etheridge and Coles did well to hold off Castagna's strong challenge in heat 14 and that was the match victory secured.

As Monarchs' captain Josh Pickering had unwittingly chosen gates 1 and 3 for heat 1, Berwick had the choice for the final race. Just to cap Monarchs' night, Craig Cook pulled up believing he had seen a red light, which was actually from a centre green camera.

Monarchs have a chance to regain some pride at Berwick on Saturday night.