Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

Edinburgh were never in any difficulty in this match and spent most of the evening piling up the points.

Berwick’s Armadale record is infamous but in spite of that, all of their riders other than the no. 7 have scored double figures here in the past.

The Berwick riders gated well enough at times, but the home men generally had the quality take control in the early stages of the races.

Justin Sedgmen was immaculate in recording a paid maximum, and he is gating better than his illustrious partner at the moment. Craig Cook was at the back in heat 1 for a while but dived in amongst the Bandits’ pair and worked his way past.

Sam Masters won all of his four races but had to borrow Sedgmen’s bike for heat 13, in which Cook also had a major machine problem and didn’t leave the start.

Kevin Wolbert started brilliantly once again but a couple of poor gates restricted his scoring later on. He only grabbed second in heat 12 on the last bend, and he didn’t score in the final race.

Once again there was much attention on Erik Riss, and he precisely repeat his scorechart of one week earlier. He is looking very promising.

For Bandits, Ben Barker looked ill-prepared and it was left to Kevin Doolan and Thomas Jorgensen to plug away and get what they could, with occasional assistance from Alex Edberg.

They even managed to mess up their heat 7 TR when Doolan was back in third waiting for a chance to go ahead of his partner Jorgensen. Max Clegg had stayed close enough to make it awkward, and sure enough he dashed through at the finish to take a paid win. That brought the roar of the night.

Edinburgh Monarchs v Berwick Bandits

Edinburgh will be looking to complete the home and away double over this Friday's visitors, the Berwick Dixon Building Bandits, having returned with all four League Cup points from Shielfield Park last Saturday.

This was the third straight defeat for the Bandits after a convincing opening night win against the Newcastle Diamonds. They probably feel themselves unlucky to be part of a section that includes a very strong Glasgow team and Monarchs who have managed to retain much of the power of last year's triumphant side.

Captain Craig Cook was back to his mean, moody and magnificent best at Berwick and only dropped one point for Belle Vue in midweek. At No.1 for Berwick is a rival of Craig's for a GB place, Truro-born Ben Barker, who seems to have replaced James Grieves as the 'pantomime villain' of the Armadale fans.

Justin Sedgmen should be literally much more at home after picking up, for him, a very modest four points from four rides at Shielfield. His opposite number is Michael Palm-Toft, a Danish rider who is impressing with Peterborough and is guesting for the injured newcomer to the UK, Matic Voldrih.

Kevin Wolbert seemed to have the engine power to match his determination last Friday and followed this up with an excellent score the following night. At No. 3 for the Bandits is their popular and vastly experienced Australian captain, Kevin Doolan, now entering his fifteenth full UK season.

Erik Riss showed more than a glimpse of his huge potential in posting his first two heat wins when making the starts against Workington. This week he faces Berwick's No.4 , the young Danish prospect Thomas Jorgensen who has a league championship medal and a couple of seasons' head start on the flying young German.

Sam Masters had a fantastic double in the blue and gold last week, losing only one single point to an opponent on each of two nights. Berwick's No.5 , Claus Vissing is missing for this fixture and his rides can be covered by any of the other six Bandits, which could prove to be an advantage to the visitors.

Young Max Clegg is really throwing everything into his riding this year to the extent that his impatience can occasionally be his downfall. It should be a good test for him this week against Berwick's No.6, Alex Edberg from Sweden whose promising early career has been dogged by injuries.

Tenacious Rob Branford is certainly on his way to making himself a favourite with the Monarchs fans, some of whom were skeptical of his signing. He could prove to be trump card in this fixture where he faces Berwick's No.7, Luke Crang from Darlington who captains the Coventry Blaze in the National League.

Edinburgh needed to be on top of their game last week – and they were. It will have to be a similar story this Friday since these Bandits are expected to travel much better than some previous Berwick sides because they have a number of riders who have posted big scores at Armadale in the past.

All eyes in the Northern Section will be on this fixture, not least because Monarchs must try to match or better every win the revitalised Glasgow Tigers achieve. Berwick may have a strong top four, but Monarchs showed last week that they too have a very strong top quartet.

Even with the guest facility and rider replacement offering a possible edge to the Bandits, Edinburgh will start as favourites due to home advantage if nothing else. But one or two early slip-ups could make the match very exciting, so make sure you get along to support your heroes. Tapes up at 7.30.

Likely line-ups:

EDINBURGH BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Craig Cook (capt.), Justin Sedgmen, Kevin Wolbert, Erik Riss, Sam Masters, Max Clegg, Rob Branford.

BERWICK DIXON BUILDING BANDITS: Ben Barker, Michael Palm Toft (guest), Kevin Doolan (capt), Thomas Jorgensen, R/R for Claus Vissing, Alex Edberg, Luke Crang.