Rain wrecks the Derby

Oh what an anti-climax, the much anticipated Monarchs v Tigers Championship clash was initially damaged and then finally wiped out by some horrible weather. The Stellar Monarchs had worked hard to gain a 25-16 lead in spite of serious problems for guest Erik Riss, but when the rain returned after heat 7 and showed no signs of passing, that had to be that.

Monarchs' captain Paco Castagna said "I can't get my head around the Scottish weather. We unloaded the van in the sunshine, then there was rain, then sun then rain. In was a shame because we were in a good spot but conditions were getting a little bit too dangerous."

It may have been that we could have reached heat 10 to allow the result to stand but for the delay caused by the incident in heat 4, all too reminiscent of the one recently in which Justin Sedgmen was injured when Sam McGurk lost control off gate 1. This time Matt Marson picked up and wiped out both Erik Riss and Connor Coles. Thankfully no injury but bike problems for both, with Riss losing a chain after gating in the rerun, then suffering a two-minute exclusion in his next heat.

There were some things to remember: for Monarchs, Josh Pickering slipping inside Chris Harris to join Kye Thomson in heat 1, Paco Castagna passing the Tigers pair off the second bend in heat 3, Lasse Fredriksen holding off Harris to complete a heat 5 5-1 with Castagna and best of all, a race win for Max James over Leon Flint just before the call off.

For Tigers, a big win for star reserve James Pearson in heat 2, and two wins for guest Anders Rowe.

It was all pretty rain-affected and the fixture will have to be restaged at some stage.

Derby Day At The Dale

It may have been put on the back burner by last Friday's heavy rain but Scottish derby business resumes this week with both legs to go ahead within the space of five days.

First up, the Allied Vehicle Tigers take the short trip to Armadale while the Stellar Monarchs repay the compliment at Ashfield on Wednesday.

The Tigers, who have three more meetings than their tartan rivals left to fulfil and sit two points further up the Championship table, would appear the better placed of the pair to snatch that final play-off place, although that won't necessarily dampen the Monarchs' resolve to see them off over the forthcoming double-header.

Something that the Monarchs managed in the BSN series where a comfortable home victory was paried with an enthralling super heat win at Ashfield.

A repeat of this double may still not be enough for playoff qualification with Redcar, Workington and the visitors this evening all looking better placed to join Poole, Scunthorpe and Oxford who would need collapses not to have a tilt at the title.

That won't take away from the excitement and tension that any derby brings and as always the battles between Chris Harris et al and the home heroes come with the usual sense of anticipation.

Failure to reach their aim won't be for the want of trying for the Monarchs. But even a finish outside the top four shouldn't desist from the desire for a strong finish to the season.

The matter of a BSN Series semi-final coming up and the importance of going into the tie with Scunthorpe in positive form cannot be taken lightly.

For Glasgow at Armadale on Friday though, Justin Sedgmen is almost there fitness-wise but misses out as a precaution. Former Monarchs' skipper Erik Riss returns as guest to replace the No.5.

For the Tigers, Anders Rowe and Matt Marson come in for Steve Worrall and Jason Gerard respectively.