Isle of Wight Islanders v Edinburgh Monarchs

At last we have secured a bonus point, and a deserved one too with an excellent performance on the Island.

This was in spite of losing Henrik Moller after a frightening heat 3 crash, though remarkably it seems there is no serious damage done.

We achieved the amazing feat of taking two successive 8-1 advantages in heats 11 and 12, though we would have taken the bonus without the additional 6 TR points.

Theo Pijper had his best away match of the season, starting with three sizzling wins, and new boy Daniele Tessari was very impressive.

We opened with a sensation Pijper win over Holder in a time just 0.3 secs outside the track record. Daniele was in third when Bunyan fell off.

Heat 2 was a 1-5, then we had a dreadful pileup in heat 3 as Doyle leant on Henrik, and they both ploughed into the fence. There was a long delay with Henrik carted off to hospital, later followed by Doyle who collapsed in the pits.

The rerun was a 1-5, we lost another 2-4 in heat 4 and with Henrik gone it looked like being a tough night.

However Theo again produced an incredible ride in heat 5, cutting between Stojanowski and Simmons leaving the second bend to win by a mile.

William did well in a three way battle in heat 6, finishing behind Bunyan but defeating the formidable Holder.

Matthew took second in heat 7, then we enjoyed an exciting, fast ride by Daniele to win heat 8 from Bunyan.

Heat 9 was a home 5-1 and Heat 10 looked like going the same was but Matthew, riding a wider line and not conceding defeat, snatched second from Bunyan on the line. Bunyan was not happy.

At 21-39, 3 up on aggregate, you would not have put money on a bonus. But again Theo flew from the traps to take 6 points from heat 11, backed by a great ride by Daniele who got the better of an "elbows" battle with Holder - who we had now restricted to 4 from 3 rides!

What is more heat 12 was another 8-1! Matthew fell at the first bend but was allowed in the rerun. Up till now Derek had gated well but lacked the speed to achieve anything; this time he was away well and kept it going to beat the home reserves and back Matthew to another 8-1!

Amazingly we were now 4 down, and that was enough for the bonus even though the last 3 heats went to the Islanders by 4-14. With news coming through that Henrik hadn't broken anything, we felt in buoyant mood after this match. We've got a bonus!