Berwick Bandits v Edinburgh Monarchs

Berwick were unfortunate to be without Ricky Ashworth, and it was up to the Scotwaste Monarchs to cash in as we raced our first League Cup match.

It was quite a tight match, and the track was initially difficult, but we had the edge for most of the night. Our big two of Craig Cook and Claus Vissing made no mistake in the vital heats 13 and 15.

Craig was caught out in the opening race, having problems turning his bike on the grippy surface. We were on a 5-1 for much of the heat but David Bellego was the first to really master conditions, and flew past both our boys.

It was the home riders who found the track difficult in heat 2, and while Marcel Helfer turned in one of his occasional flying rides to win easily, it was Jozsef’s turn to do the passing as Barrett and Edberg floundered.

At this point we had all the tractors out grading, as there had clearly been some comments. When we resumed things were better, though our four-point lead was wiped out in heat 3 with Smith and Wethers.

Claus Vissing blasted through any track concerns to win heat 4 with Jozsef third, and we extended the lead in heat 5, in which Derek was caught by Matthew.

The 4-2s were being swapped, Theo won heat 7 but Derek was probably our least comfortable rider as he finished at the back in heat 8. Jozsef passed Nicky Barrett in this one to keep us ahead.

Claus won heat 9 from the dangerous Smith/Wethers pair but we lost the lead in heat 10, a 5-1 from Smith and Bellego over Theo. The Frenchman was unbeaten after three rides.

Thereafter we reacted strongly. Craig and Jozsef took an easy 5-1, Theo won heat 12, and the big two wrapped up the big races, being admittedly happy to be coming of gates 2 and 4 both times. In between we lost a 5-1 but a 6-point win was more than satisfactory.