UNPREDICTABLE BANDITS COME TO TOWN

NEWS Tuesday 18th March 2008, 2:41pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Scotwaste Monarchs had a great opening weekend to the season with two wins, and are looking forward to another two matches this weekend.

This starts with the visit of Berwick to Armadale on Friday in the Premier Trophy.

The Bandits as usual have been in the news ? they won away at Newcastle in their first away match, and threw away what seemed a certain victory at Glasgow on Sunday! So with two Armadale debutants and SIX nationalities in the visiting side, it might be unwise to predict too much about what they might do.

TEAMS FOR THE PREMIER TROPHY MATCH AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 21st March (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are:

EDINBURGH SCOTWASTE MONARCHS: Ryan Fisher, Derek Sneddon (captain), Thomas Jonasson, William Lawson, Matthew Wethers, Aaron Summers, Andrew Tully.

BERWICK ANDERSON'S QUALITY BUTCHERS BANDITS: Adrian Rymel (captain), Gugliemo Franchetti, Michal Makovsky, Tero Aarnio, Manuel Hauzinger, Norbert Magosi, Adam McKinna.

THE MULTINATIONALS: Few teams have introduced as many continental riders to British Speedway as have Berwick ? and they have done it again this year.

Signs are favourable that the quartet of NORBERT MAGOSI (Hungary), GUGLIELMO FRANCHETTI (Italy), MANUEL HAUZINGER (Austria) and TERO AARNIO (Finland) will make a good contribution to their team.

Magosi has scored very well so far with two double figure scores from reserve already.

Aarnio is very steady, while Franchetti is a throttle-basher who will entertain in a hair-raising manner!

And the information is that Manuel Hauzinger will finally make his Bandits' debut on Friday!

The Austrian did very well at Birmingham last season and could be the right man to complete a solid Bandits' seven.

Bandits will no doubt feel that had he ridden last weekend, they would now be sitting on two Premier Trophy victories!

SPRING TROPHY ON SUNDAY: Monarchs' visit to Glasgow on Sunday will be the second leg of the Spring Trophy (in which Monarchs lead by 13) rather than the scheduled Premier Trophy tie.

This appears to suit Tigers quite well as they will be able to employ a guest replacement for the injured Ross Brady, who should be fit by the time Monarchs go through for the Premier Trophy on 27th April.

SPONSOR ON FRIDAY: Sponsors of the Armadale meeting on Friday will be the Agents of the Monarchs' Grand Draw, Speedway's most successful fundraiser ? by far.

BANDITS ? AWAY SPECIALISTS?: Berwick's remarkable start to the year has seen them take two home defeats ? but record one away win and very nearly a second!

They won at Newcastle by two points, then led by 6 at Glasgow with three heats remaining. Only a completely unexpected 5-1 for Glasgow in heat 14 reversed the situation, with Glasgow winning 47-43.

The Bandits' star man so far has been Adrian Rymel, back with the club after missing most of the past two seasons. He is a fine all-round rider.

Michal Makovsky is always a battler and the highest scorer amongst their newcomers has been the Hungarian Magosi, a quick gater.

And assuming Hauzinger does make his Bandits' debut, Berwick fans will be delighted to see a good 7 man side wearing their colours at last.

THREE POINTS FROM BERWICK: Monarchs did well to win 48-42 at Berwick last Saturday and so became the first team to benefit under the new ruling which awards three points for an away win! Their top scorers were the old guard ? Matthew Wethers (10), William Lawson (10), Derek Sneddon (9).

If Monarchs win this Friday they will only gain 2 points ? there is no aggregate bonus point this season.

NEXT WEEK'S MEETING: One of the key matches in the Premier Trophy will be Workington's visit to Armadale on Friday 28th March. The Comets have a powerful top three of Daniel Nermark, Carl Stonehewer and Kauko Nieminen and are rated one of the league's strongest outfits.