Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

REPORT Friday 18th September 2009, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Berwick didn't have the strength in depth to give us too many problems but messers Clews and Burza ensured we didn't have it all our own way.

The match ran smoothly which ensured that we were on schedule to complete our second double header within the alloted three hours.

We started powerfully with two 5-1 wins, before Josef Franc showed us his gating skills in a rerun heat 3. Paul Clews was excluded in the first running for an over-enthusiastuc pits bend dive which brought Matthew Wethers off.

There was a very curious start to heat 4. Stan Burza gated but didn't make a great first turn, swinging a bit wide. Meanwhile Kevin Wolbert had headed for the outside but clipped the fance and fell.

It looked like he had pretty much come down himself, but to everyone's amazement Burza was blamed and ruled out.

That left us with a very easy 5-1 over Franchetti who shows absolutely no clue how to get round Armadale.

Makovsky has sometimes ridden the track well, but not on this occasion and he was easily beaten by Tully and Wethers in heat 5. On his first home match back, Andrew Tully was right back in the groove.

Burza at least managed to split the Monarchs in heat 6, and then we saw Clews take the first TR.

It looked like Bandits had got it the wrong way round as Franc held second behind Wolbert with Clews at the back. Unusually though Pepe lost it on the pits bend and crashed.

Clews tried hard in the rerun but he still didn't manage to split the Monarchs, and so didn't gain any extra points.

Burza chased Rajkowski hard in heat 8 but could do no better than second, and the score now stood at 36-12.

Heat 9 looked like another 5-1 but Tully stopped, apparently with a cutout problem.

Heat 10 saw a strange ride by Ryan Fisher. He was leading the heat but suddenly started two-wheeling across the turns. He dropped back to third and gifted a heat win to Clews. It looked like a mechanical problem for Fisher.

We were back on the 5-1 trail over Makovsky in heat 11, but Clews showed that he was in the groove by winning heat 12 from Tully.

Tamas Sike was at the back in this one, but he should be given an honourable mention for getting round quite well on his Armadale debut.

Burza become the third Bandits race winner in heat 13, looking very quick as the track got slicker.

Matthew took the winning margin to 30 by romping home in heat 14, and finally Ryan Fisher showed that he had sorted his problem with a heat 15 win. Wolbert crashed in this one, trying too hard to find a passing line on the outside and clattering the fence.

Full Result Details