Monarchs Lose but Concern Is For Josh

REPORT Saturday 22nd April 2023, 9:40pm

by Graham Muncie

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Stellar Monarchs battled manfully after losing no1 Josh Pickering in the opening race eventually going down 51-39 at Berwick on Saturday night.

The diagnosis for Josh is still to be confirmed but early fears are a shoulder injury that will see a spell on the sidelines.

This meant the rest of the Monarchs all had extra rides to take with a clearly exhausted Lasse Fredriksen saying after

'We lose Josh in the first heat so we all had to take extra heats and that's tough at Berwick.

'We got better as we went on I thought, although we got beat and at least we should all know the track when we come back in the league.'

The Monarchs were able to hold on in the early stages with Craig Cook in imperious form taking the checkered flag in heats 1 (as a replacement for Pickering) 4 and 6 but as he ran out of steam the match moved away.

That's not to say there weren't moments of promise as Fredriksen, Paco Castagna and Jacob Hook all had their best matches around Shielfield.

As the night went on though the undermanned Monarchs tired and the Bandits excellently led by captain Leon Flint who raced to a paid maximum were able to take advantage.

The Berwick lead was only 6 going into heat 13 but after Fredriksen couldn't hold on to a strong gate the Bandits hit a 5-1 that confirmed the 3 points for the home men.

A further maximum in heat 15 made it a comfy looking win or the Bandits but in reality both teams will know they were in a match.

The Monarchs now need to dust themselves off once again as they head into a KO cup home and away against Oxford starting Wednesday with Pickering likely missing.

Full Result Details