Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

REPORT Friday 15th April 2011, 10:00pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs led by twelve with five heats left, but too many of the vital points over the closing stages were lost, allowing Bandits to grab a point they probably didn?t expect.

The highlights of the night from a home point of view was the riding of Kevin Wolbert, astride a new motor supplied by Peter Carr. He was confident and he was brilliant, pulling off another last gasp pass in the final race to complete a 15 point maximum.

Matthew Wethers, Andrew Tully and Craig Cook all did mostly very well, but Kalle Katajisto?s struggles continued as he fights for form and confidence. There was no faulting the effort, but heats 5 (in which he list second place) and 9 (on a paid win when he fell) spoilt his scoresheet and the team total.

At reserve, Jay Herne struggled though he had a decent heat 8 ride to pass Mudgway, and Adam McKinna disastrously fell while well ahead in heat 2.

For the Bandits Charlie Gjedde took a ride to settle, then took two wins before finding Wolbert unstoppable in heats 13 and 15.

Other than that they plugged away, and Scottish Open champ Franc came to life in heats 14 and 15 to score vital points.

The first heat took three attempts to get away. Wolbert and Wethers were clear the first time as both Stichauer and Gjedde came off ? the Bandits were fortunate to both make the rerun.

The second time something very similar happened, except that Gjedde was back on when the red lights came on. Stichauer was excluded, and finally the Monarchs pair took a comfortable 5-1.

Adam McKinna shot away to lead heat 2 with Herne passing Sike early. Positions looked set until bend 4 of lap 3 when Adam suddenly swung out to the fence, turning a 4-2 into a 2-4 and spoiling all his good work.

Cook and Katajisto didn?t combine well in heat 3 but nevertheless they soon got themselves out in front for another maximum.

Andrew Tully won heat 4 but Herne was an early faller as he got too close to Mudgway.

We led 15-9 and it should have been more ? but soon it was less as Cook and Katajisto again tangled, then Kalle drifted too wide trying to chase Gjedde and lost second place to Stichauer who held a good inside line.

Wolbert and Wethers soon restored the six point gap by easily heading the slow-looking Complin.

Kozza Smith went ahead on the first lap of heat 7 but a neat inside turn by Tully saw him come through inside off the fourth corner of the first lap, and after that he was away.

Matthew comfortably won heat 8 but at the back a key point was gained by Jay Herne, whose outside runs eventually paid off with a pass of Mudgway.

Cook had Katajisto at the fence down the back straight of heat 9 but eventually they sorted themselves out with Craig Cook leading. Complin sensed a chance against Katajisto and chased hard, but it was Kalle?s error which let the Bandits in ? he went into a turn too hard and lost it, crashing against the fence.

So we still held an 8-point lead but chances to go further ahead had been missed. When Kevin Wolbert and Matthew Wethers raced to their third 5-1 of the night in heat 10, that put us 12 up but handed Gjedde a TR chance in heat 11.

Tully got a flier at the first attempt but was pulled back. He was close the second time too but Gjedde just had the edge, and in spite of a typical Tully chase he held on with Stichauer making it a 7-2.

Kalle was away well in heat 12 but he swung too wide and Smith spotted it early enough to turn under Katajisto. The Finn tried his trademark outside swoops but none came off, and with Mudgway easily beating Herne this time we were down to 40-35.

Wolbert off gate 2 burst into the first turn to head Gjedde in heat 13, and Tully caught Complin off the second bend of heat 13 for the point.

That put Monarchs 7 up and they looked to Craig Cook in heat 14, but he made a dreadful start and had to pass Mudgway for second. He could not catch Franc which meant Monarchs needed a last heat advantage to take all three points.

Bandits had the momentum though and they held a 4-2 for much of the race. Wolbert was trying all sorts of lines to put pressure on Gjedde while Wethers was trying hard to gain ground on Franc.

Off the last turn, Wolbert did it again with a great burst to win the heat by inches. Wethers though was a yard short and Bandits had their point.

Full Result Details