Berwick Bandits v Edinburgh Monarchs

REPORT Saturday 4th April 2009, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Seven generally disappointing heats were followed by eight heats in which we fought like champions to earn an important Premier Trophy draw at Berwick.

The Bandits had done well to take a match point at Redcar, so were obviously an in-form team, but we didn't let that slow start prevent us from giving them a real run for it.

As at King's Lynn and Glasgow, we looked a disorganised bunch in the early stages. Our opening pair trailed behind the Bandits (William Lawson's bike going this week), then Michal Rajkowski split the home reserves in heat 2 to leave us 3-9 adrift. That was our second best start in away matches given that it was 2-10 at both King's Lynn and Glasgow, so we are looking for improvement here!

Thomas led heat 3 but Andrew got tangled up going in to the third turn and fell, bringing down Tero Aarnio. The Finn regrettably was ruled out with concussion, but with all due respect to him his current form did not suggest that he would have done any better than his subsequent reserve replacements.

Thomas won the rerun, and Matthew Wethers took second behind Makovsky in heat 4. Sean Stoddart had raced Danny Warwick twice by this stage, and fallen twice trying hard to improve on his poor starts.

We should have shared heat 5, won by Franc, but Aaron Summers showed no inclination to leave the inside line and was easily passed by Franchetti.

That put us ten down but we delayed the TR. We would have needed exceptional foresight to have known that Rajkowski would head home Lawson and Clews with Wethers at the back.

We have Thomas the black and white in the next heat, but Makovsky was too strong in spite of an exciting ride by our Swede who was obviously enjoying Shielfield's slick surface as opposed to last year's mucky and slippery track.

So that was a 4-4 and we were still ten down. That was when things started to change.

Off went Rajkowski again in heat 8, with Aaron Summers backing him up. Warwick was third for a bit which we were quite happy about but when Clews came through we expected a sterner challenge. It was, but Aaron dealt with it and Clews fell going very wide on the final turn.

Matthew got ahead in the next one and held out a speedy-looking Franc. So we were six down with Sean Stoddart's rides used up and Michal Rajkowki on 8 from 3 with potentially four rides left in the last six heats. Could he keep going?

Well he certainly did in the next one. Off he went, with Thomas coming round him on the second bend and going to the front. William Lawson was third but didn't really mount a serious challenge. Suddenly we were just two down!

Makovsky won the next in spite of Fisher's attempts to find a bit more speed, but we kept Danny Warwick scoreless.

Next up we had the big two of Jonasson and Rajkowski programmed for heat 12, against the home reserves. Yes, they did it again with exactly the same pattern as heat 10, and now we were two points up!

Heat 13 was going to be vital. The riders were so determined to grab an advantage that there were two failed attempts with riders down as they battled for position.

Eventually they did get away, and it was Lawson and Makovsky who took 5 for the Bandits. That ended a rather disappointing night for both Ryan Fisher and Matthew Wethers.

We were two down now and put Michal out for his sixth ride alongside Andrew, against Franc and Franchetti for the Bandits. Michal yet again made the gate and kept it wound on to hold off Franc, with Andrew turning in a much more convincing ride to keep the Czech busy as well. He was almost through a couple of times but we settled for a 4-2 to bring us level.

So for the big showdown Bandits had their heat 13 maximum men of Makovsky and Lawson, up against our two big hitters on the night. Thomas H Jonasson and Michal Rajkowski.

This time we didn't have so much hassle at the first corner. Makovsky made the jump again, Thomas and Michal settled in and made sure William, who made a mess of the first turn, didn't have a chance to get in a challenge.

A good result for us but no-one went away too disappointed.

Full Result Details