Job done with an away draw

On a very windy and dusty day at the GT Tyres Arena, the Stellar Monarchs made short work of the first cup tie of the year and were virtually through after heat 5 needing only finishers in the remaining races.

Team manager Alex Harkess said "It really was a match without any pressure, we knew what we had to do and hoped that everyone enjoyed their day.

"We made a pretty good start which laid the foundations, disappointed that we fell away a bit then showed what they are worth to come back and take a lead. Once again everyone showed a little bit of what they are capable of but it has to be consistent."

We had made a strong start with an opening heat 5-1 which must have settled any nerves we had been feeling, Justin and Kye heading home Troy Batchelor, who went on to ride unbeaten in the remainder of the meeting.

Our mega-reserve Victor won heat 2 followed by a race win for Jonatan in a continuation of his Friday night form.

Things then proceeded to slip away from us a bit as the Comets found their feet and showed themselves to be a much better team than they looked the previous night. We trailed 25-17 after heat 7 then set about turning things back round.

The outside line could be profitable but you had to be bold to stay out wide under pressure. Both Grahn and Castagna took that route to great effect in winning heats 8 and 9 as we fought back.

There was a touch of good fortune to our 5-1 in heat 11 as Vuolas stopped on the first bend and baulked partner Hook allowing Sedgmen and Palovaara to race clear. For a moment it looked like the heat had been stopped but it hadn't.

We immediately capitalised in heat 12 with good first bend work from Victor helping his partner to set up a Swedish 5-1 which is becoming a pleasing feature of the season. So now we were level.

We shared heat 13 behind Batchelor and ensured that we couldn't lose on the day with our fourth 5-1 in heat 14 from Palovaara and Thomson.

An away win would have been nice but Comets had choice of gates in heat 15 and took a 5-1 from the tapes.

An away draw is certainly welcome and now we await confirmation of what happens next in the knockout cup,

Massive Lead But Job To Finish

The Stellar Monarchs head for Cumbria on Saturday looking to complete the job and book their place in the next round of the MaxiCab KO Cup with a whopping 41 point lead to defend.

While it would take a collapse of epic proportions for the Armadale men not to progress nothing will be taken for granted and the Monarchs will also look to build on the confidence gained from that result on Friday evening.

The line-up is as was on Friday night with rider replacement continuing for Oskar Polis while a replacement is sought.

Mark Parker continuing his Championship education at number seven also at a track he knows better than any other.

For the hosts there is one change from the first leg with Tate Zischke on SGP2 qualifying duty at Glasgow it is the Tigers Leon Flint who steps in.

Tapes up is at 3pm with live updates available on the Monarchs website throughout with a next round clash with Glasgow awaiting the victors.