Last three heats kill us at Cowley

The Stellar Monarchs were fairly happy at the end of heat 12 tonight at Oxford, with 7 of the heat wins and just a 6-point deficit. However the last three races were all lost 5-1 leaving an 18 point loss to be recovered for the aggregate bonus when Oxford come to Armadale a week on Friday.

Team boss John Campbell said at the end of the match "We had the bad gates at the finish and it was thrown away at that stage. We had some good performers, Kye Thomson won two races, Craig Cook and Justin Sedgmen did well until they got the poor gates against the top men at the end.

"Lasse battled really hard, what else could he have done? Made the start I suppose, that's what Sedgy said when we had a team talk – 'that's all you've got to do, make the start and get in front. Get to the first corner in front and you can't go wrong.'

"Craig Cook was a very cheery character in the pits, he came down in heat 1 and that might have put him off but he was very positive all night."

Monarchs more than held their own in the early stages with Cook winning heats 1 and 5, Thomson in heat 3 and Sedgmen heat 6. Fredriksen narrowly missed third place in both heats 1 and 5 or we may have been even better placed.

Losses in heats 7 and 8 left us 6 down but speedy use of Craig Cook as a tac sub alongside Sedgmen gained us a 5-1 in heat 9, Cook cleverly slipping past the home men to join his partner on the opening lap.

We then lost a 5-1 but further heat wins for Cook (heat 11) and Thomson (heat 12) kept hopes alive. The last three heats saw these hopes dashed.

There were no GP heroics from Paco Castagna on this occasion and he must be scratching his head at his inconsistency. He had the favourable gate one in heat 14 but completely missed the start.

John Campbell added "I look forward to maximums from both Craig and Paco on Friday night against Glasgow!"

Back in action at Cowley

With rain once again ruining last Friday's clash with Scunthorpe at Armadale, the Stellar Edinburgh Monarchs have another chance to finally get Championship points on the board when they journey south for tonight's (Wednesday) meeting with the Monarch Oxford Cheetahs.

Friday's postponement was particularly disappointing for Edinburgh fans due to the small matter of who had been slotted to guest for the injured Josh Pickering, none other than former hero Sam Masters, although those travelling down to Sandy Lane will have a delayed chance to see the great man in action, albeit in opposition colours.

These days, of course, Sam rips up a different track and, despite his self-proclaimed fondness for his ex-employers, he'll be super-keen to put the past behind him with a strong performance against the blue and golds.

With a current CMA of just under nine, the Aussie flyer has been displaying some decent consistently of late and the Stellar Monarchs need little warning of the threat he poses.

Heat leading for the Cheetahs alongside Masters will be seven-times British champion and, nowadays, part-time speedway pundit Scott Nicholls whose on-bike ability remains more than a match for his racing expertise from the commentary box.

Although these two seasoned campaigners are likely to mount the main Oxford charge on the night, the Cheetahs have quality in spades throughout their ranks.

Another former Monarch, Cameron Heeps, is still a highly regarded rider and definitely another to watch while, elsewhere, manager Peter Shroeck's septet exudes plenty of youthful excitement and potential.

Henry Atkins and Jordan Jenkins continue to fall into that category, if only just, but both have accumulated enough experience in their relatively short time in the sport to be considered riders with a genuine capacity for serious points scoring.

Filling the reserve berths for the Cheetahs are two highly-promising teenagers, Luke Kileen and Ashton Boughen, whose fledgling inexperience is being helped in no small measure by their "doubling-up" activities with the Oxford's sister teams in the British Leagues, Luke as a heat leader in the National Development League. with the Chargers and Ashton as the Spires' Rising Star in the Premier League.

Both youngsters will be eager to maintain the rich vein of form that has seen them weigh in with some really impressive points tallies of late.

Neither the Cheetahs nor Monarchs are likely to be at full-strength for Wednesday's clash. Henry Atkins has been absent from the last couple of Oxford meetings due to a broken finger and must be considered a doubtful starter while, with regards to Josh Pickering's injured shoulder, trip to Oxford, together with Friday's home BSN Series decider with Glasgow, has come just too soon and another familiar face in Craig Cook will deputise over meetings. Happily for the Monarchs, however, Lasse Fredriksen and skipper Paco Castagna are both available again, Lasse after illness and Paco following some refreshingly successful Grand Prix Challenge qualifying success on foreign shores.