Edinburgh Monarchs v Peterborough Panthers

Edinburgh had two points to pull back against the Panthers and expected a tough fight – but the good news was that they had their full seven riders back on track.

That meant a return to a more familiar display after the disappointment of the previous week, and in the end a pretty comfortable passage to their third successive Premier Playoff Final.

In truth Peterborough were disappointing, with only two race wins and some disappointing performances. Michael Palm Toft rode well throughout while Ben Barker, pretty aggressive, managed four successive second places. That was about the extent of their opposition with perhaps one decent ride for each of their other team performers.

Anders Thomsen was especially disappointing although perhaps his wrist injury was causing him problems. He has shown promise here in the past and with improved equipment was expected to be a major threat.

His fellow Dane at reserve Emil Grondal also struggled and Panthers certainly needed points from him.

Most of the home men were somewhere near their best form. Cook was by far the outstanding rider in the meeting, returning four times under 55 seconds and never being challenged after the second bend. Rohan Tungate did try to force him wide in heat 13 but Cook brushed off the challenge.

Kevin Wolbert was fast and smooth and dropped his only point to Tungate who looked quick in heat 5 when he got his nose in front.

Justin Sedgmen was passed by Palm Toft in heat one, then was beaten by Barker, but he covered heat 8 and passed Thomsen in heat 10 to finish strongly.

Sam Masters has been struggling with illness and injury but did well in heat 4 to keep rounding the hard-charging Barker who pressed strongly for the first couple of laps. Masters then had to chase down Simon Lambert who had surely jumped the start in heat 7. He added three points thereafter for a fairly satisfactory night.

Erik Riss also won two heats, and Max Clegg had a pretty good night, passing Rafal Konopka to win heat 2 and then rounding Simon Lambert for a paid win in heat 14.

Monarchs were mathematically through by heat 13 but it was a virtual certainty much earlier than that.