Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

After a shock start Monarchs went on to give another powerful home performance and easily beat the Bandits.

Scorers ranging between 6 and 12+2 displayed the usual team performance as we moved back level with Somerset at the top of the table.

With Magosi missing, apparently departed, Bandits used rider replacement, and Paul Clews came in to the opening heat. While Rymel gated, Clews cut past the floundering Monarchs' pair and the Bandits comfortably took a 5-1.

That was some start but it was no great surprise as our reserve pair dominated the first corner in heat 2 and pulled almost half a lap clear of the Bandits' pair.

Thomas Jonasson won heat 3 under close attention from Makovsky, while Matthew Wethers had to work extremely hard to hold on to the point against Clews.

Aaron Summers had a problem before the start of heat 4 and earned a 2-minute exclusion. Derek Sneddon loaned a bike but rather than send Summers of 15 metres, Monarchs brought in Andrew Tully. His inclusion alongside Fisher was much too strong for Aarnio and Smith though the Finn kept himself reasonably close to Fisher.

Another fast start by Rymel brought him his second win in heat 5, then Monarchs regained the 5-1 habit.

Sneddon/Lemon beat Aarnio in heat 6, then while Tully easily won heat 7, Fisher came from a long way back to pull off a remarkable pass on the final turn with an audacious dive.

Makovsky took the rider replacement in heat 8 but with Sneddon leading, Summers wore down and passed Makovsky who fell trying to regain position.

Heat 9 should have been the fourth succesive 5-1 but Jonasson lost a footrest early in the heat and limped home third. Aarnio had been excluded after a first bend tumble.

Makovsky made his best start of the night to win heat 10 from Lemon while Clews got the better of Sneddon to give the Bandits their second heat advantage.

They promptly took another in Rymel's TR heat though it actually should have been a home 5-1!

Firstly Ryan Fisher touched the tapes and went off 15 metres. Rymel gated but Tully passed with ease off the second bend and he was gone.

Rymel had baulked Aarnio on the second bend and Fisher was soon past him and hunting down Rymel. Tully unfortunately stopped, but with Rymel making a couple of errors Fisher siezed his chance to drive to the front for an extraordinary victory.

Summers won heat 12 after a brilliant outside move on the first corner, with Makovsky second ahead of Jonasson.

Aarnio was excluded after a first bend fall in heat 13, perhaps a little unluckily, though Rymel was fortunate as he had fallen at the end of lap one - just after the red lights went on.

Although Rymel gated again in the rerun he got the first bend all wrong and both Fisher and Lemon sailed through for an easy 5-1.

Wethers and Tully scored 5 in heat 14 after Clews made a really poor start. Clews had scored just 5+1 though he certainly rode better than that.

Rymel made his fifth start in heat 15 and Makovsky forced Fisher wide off the second corner. This allowed Summers up the inside and when the pair arrived at the third turn, down came Makovsky.

This is always a hard decision for the referee from his viewpoint, and he decided Makovsky should be ruled out.

Following this Aaron Summers was the victim of a cowardly assualt in the pits, during which his ?400 helmet was smashed.

Nevertheless he came out for the rerun, in which inevitably Rymel made the start. Fisher was quickly into second place but unfortunately pulled his cutout with his racejacket strap and dropped well back before getting going again.

So Monarchs didn't quite reach 60 but they had still performed extremely well. The pits incident during heat 15 left a really sour taste and may have repercussions.

HERMISTON MONARCH OF THE MATCH: Andrew Tully.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

Berwick are the visitors this week in a Premier League match having already ridden at Armadale this season in the Premier Trophy and Knockout Cup.

Normally a visit from the Bandits results in a comfortable home win for the Monarchs but it would be a mistake to underestimate the current Berwick squad. OK it would be quite a sensation if they managed to plunder the points at a track which must be one of their least favourites judging by past results but they have in their ranks riders well suited to scoring well at the Dale.

Adrian Rymel is one of the top riders in the league on current form and has run up huge scores at nearly every track he has visited. The robust Michal Makovsky at one time was hardly a force to be reckoned with but in his two matches at Armadale this season he has rattled up no less than 23 points for the Bandits. Paul Clews, who recently moved into the Berwick 1-5, is another with quite a record at the Armadale track. He last rode there for the Monarchs in September and October last year scoring 12+2 against Glasgow and 11+1 against Somerset! Paul is a rider who is more than capable at passing from the back which makes him quite a threat. Tero Aarnio has managed a heat win at the Dale and, although not a prolific scorer in his two matches there this season, he has improved a lot since then.

The Bandits? Achilles heel is at reserve where Guglielmo Franchetti has no happy memories of the track having fallen and injured himself on both his appearances. Scott Smith always looks completely at sea on the tight bends so it would be a surprise if this pair added much to the Berwick total. That leaves Norbert Magosi. The question with him is ? will he be there? Rumour has it that he has left the bandits who now have a 28 day facility for him but we will need to see whether that is the case or not. If Berwick use Rider Replacement in his place all of their team will be eligible for a R/R ride with the exception of Rymel.

Edinburgh are on the usual lines even to having Mark Lemon as a guest for William Lawson. Thomas H Jonasson is back after missing the two weekend meetings last week because of his duties as a track reserve at the GP meeting in Sweden last Saturday night. Andrew Tully continues at reserve until the 1st September when he comes back into the 1-5 with Matthew Wethers dropping to reserve to partner Aaron Summers. It?s important for the Monarchs to take both points before a testing week coming up with home and away matches against Somerset followed by a trip to Stoke.

Likely line-ups:

Edinburgh: Mark Lemon (G), Derek Sneddon (captain), Thomas H Jonasson, Matthew Wethers, Ryan Fisher, Andrew Tully, Aaron Summers

Berwick: Adrian Rymel, Norbert Magosi (or R/R), Michal Makovsky, Paul Clews, Tero Aarnio, Guglielmo Franchetti, Scott Smith.

May the better team win.