Impressive first victory for Monarchs

Two unbeaten riders and plenty of points for all of the top five was the pleasing situation for the Monarchs tonight as they recorded a very convincing win by 54-36 against Berwick.

Berwick's efforts were obviously badly hampered by injury to Peter Kildemand in heat 1, with the IRR procedure only providing four points, but there was no denying how impressive both Dan Thompson and Kye Thomson were in going through the card. Bandits only managed three race winners, two of these going to guest reserve Dayle Wood who is a hugely improved rider. Thomson's full maximum was his second for Monarchs, the previous one coming in 2023 also against Berwick.

After scoring the full 15 Kye Thomson typically was mainly interested in talking about the team. "It's been a slow start with two home draws, some of us firing and some having a few dramas. But we're talking a lot and trying to help the young ones get going. Tonight we've come out on top against a strong side."

In the final heat 15 Dan Thompson slowed just before the line to give Kye the fifth race win of his night, and Kye appreciated that. "We are working well together, he's unreal to ride with. Tonight was a big night for us and we can still qualify for the BSN semis."

Kildemand's misfortune came in heat 1 as Dan Thompson tried to come in between the Dane and his partner Jye Etheridge with Jonatan Grahn well ahead. Kildemand and Thompson tangled and the Bandits' no. 1 somersaulted and landed heavily. Thompson bike looked worse for wear and it was reported that Kildemand has a collar bone injury.

It was ruled that Kildemand be excluded though it was difficult to apportion blame for such an incident. Monarchs took a 5-1 in the rerun and they continued to be successful, gating better in most heats.

Thompson and Thomson dominated the meeting and took 5-1s from both heats 13 and 15 riding together, something Monarchs used to achieve regularly in years gone by but not for two or three seasons now. With Grahn, Sedgmen and Castagna also scoring heavily and taking no last places, Monarchs were able to carry their reserves who rode much better than in previous weeks but could still only total 3 points. Cluff lost what appeared a certain third in heat 7 when passed by Fredriksen, and the best ride by Loftus was against Berwick's top two Palovaara and Morris who he challenged strongly in the early stages of heat 11.

Best race of the night was heat 9, with Morris and Castagna battling for the four laps and Castagna just failing to pip the Aussie. The teams meet again tomorrow at Berwick (7pm).