Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

REPORT Friday 16th June 2006, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

A visit from Berwick is usually a good confidence booster for the Monarchs' riders.

Berwick have rarely employed many Armadale specialists, although we hadn't seen Stan Burza or Andreas Bergstrom before.

These two had their moments but after 4 heats, with the score at 19-5, there was no doubt who was on the way to a win.

Burza did make the start in heat 1 but Henrik Moller and Theo Pijper soon worked their way past.

Heat 2 unfortunately brought injury. Craig Branney off gate 4 pushed inwards, Derek off gate 3 pushed outwards and they came down in a heap. Craig's foot hit the fence and he was out of the match.

That was a serious blow to the Bandits and probably cost them a few points.

They gained their first scalp in heat 4 when Bergstrom chased Derek all the way and nipped inside him on the final turn.

Monarchs gave Andrew Tully an outing in heat 5. Burza led for a lap this time before Matthew cleverly anticipated the Pole moving out on the road bend, and cut under him for the win. The double points left Berwick with a 5-3 advantage.

Two of the next three were 5-1's with Sean unplaced in heat 7 meaning a 3-3. Nothing much worthy of comment.

Andrew Tully took another of the TR rides in heat 9, and came from the back with a powerful drive into the pits bend to take a point off Warwick.

Henrik and Theo took another easy 5-1 from heat 10, then Berwick tried Bergstrom as a TS off 15 metres. Derek had an ef at the gate which meant he would score. Burza was getting the hang of the track now, and gave Rusty a decent chase, so Bergstrom was too far back to take second - result a 3-4.

Matthew took his fourth win in heat 12, but Sean finished behind Birkinshaw and Warwick, a disappointing result. Heat 13 was an easy 5-1, and Makovsky took the second TR in heat 14.

This was Matthew's fifth heat and he had little difficulty taking his fifth win. This time Sean looked more determined and passed Warwick for third, which gave us a 4-4 result.

Monarchs now needed a 5-1 from the last heat to clinch third place in the Premier Trophy north. With four unbeaten riders it seemed odds on, but Burza outgated Henrik and Rusty, who finished behind Makovsky as well. A final consolation for the beleaguered Bandits.

Full Result Details