Monarchs Fall Short At Berwick

It was a case of close but no cigar for the Stellar Monarchs as they took it all the way to a heat 15 decider falling 47-43 at Berwick on Saturday night.

In truth though perhaps the biggest surprise was that the Monarchs took it this far given they could only muster 5 heat wins throughout.

Team boss Alex Harkess saying after, 'I am disappointed, we knew coming down here it doesn't change, it's from the gate and we didn't put ourselves in the major scoring positions enough.

'The reserves when they did get into scoring positions they then let it slip unfortunately.

'Even in heat 15 I was confident we might get a 5-1 but it just takes someone to make a gate and that's that, it's very disappointing.'

The Armadale men knew heading down the A1 that a win was needed but it didn't look likely as Berwick showed their mettle from the starts from the off.

Six heat wins out of the first eight for the home side showing they had their gating gloves with them, excellent guest Leon Flint the only Monarch to take the checkered flag up to this point.

Race positions were generally sorted early in the races but there was drama throughout heat two saw first Max James then Joe Thompson coming down both while in scoring positions.

Heat eight was an enthralling encounter despite no passing as the front three finished within a second of each other.

At this stage the Bandits lead was four, Heat 10 one of frustration as the Monarchs hit the front Lewi Kerr left stranded only for referee Willie Dishington to bring it back a 4-2 for the home men in the re-run compounding the Monarchs misery.

By heat 14 the gap was six and this meant it was tactical time, Josh Pickering duly taking the win but with Bandits match winner Drew Kemp rounding Paco Castagna to get into second the Monarchs needed a heat 15 maximum to salvage the draw and a super heat.

Kemp's tail was up by this point though as he rocketed from the start and held of the early charges from Pickering to bring home the win for the Bandits on the evening, the aggregate bonus point scant consolation for the Monarchs.

Berwick 47 : Kerr 2+1, Hume 9, Etheridge 3, Kemp 13, Barker 9+1, Hodder 3, Thompson 8+1

Stellar Monarchs 43 : Pickering 13+1, Thomson 6+1, Fredriksen 5+1, Castagna 6+1, Flint 11+2, James 0, Coles 2

Monarchs Need To Plunder The Bandits

The Stellar Monarchs head to Berwick on Saturday evening looking to build on a convincing 51-39 victory over the same opponents at Armadale knowing a win on the night is needed also.

The Monarchs playoff hopes are no longer in their own hands but there is still a chance to upset the apple cart and sneak in but for any chance of this maximum points the rest of the way is more than likely required as a minimum.

Berwick will be in no mood to let this happen and they are having a disappointing year of their own and after a five week home layoff the hosts will be desperate to get back to winning ways and build some end of season momentum.

Both teams see line-up changes from their normal 1-7 due to injury.

For the Monarchs Justin Sedgmen misses out due to concussion and a twisted knee, all of a Monarchs persuasion delighted to see and hear from Justin at Armadale on Friday and the Aussie has targeted 9th August for a return.

Former Bandits captain Leon Flint stepping in to guest.

The Bandits have long standing injury concerns of their own with Rory Schlein and Bastian Borke out.

Ben Barker and Joe Thompson continue to step in after doing the same on Friday night.

This will be the second meeting of the season between the two at Shielfield the Monarchs just missing out in a last heat decider back in April.

As already mentioned better will be needed than that this evening if the Monarchs playoff hopes are not to be diminished.

The action starts at 7pm with Berwick's live stream available from https://tv.berwickspeedway.com live updates also available on the Monarchs website throughout.