Victor to the fore as Monarchs win

The Stellar Monarchs successfully defeated Oxford after a match which was tight for much of the night, and once again Victor Palovaara had much to do with the win, scoring 20 points in his last match at reserve. Incoming signing Michael Palm Toft made a pretty satisfactory start with 5 points having had no bike action since last summer.

The Dane displayed his usual neat and tidy style and was the only home rider other than Palovaara to take the chequered flag. He said afterwards "It was a bit of a funny day, ups and downs, finding my groove. I said from the start I just needed a couple of meetings and we'll get back into it.

"I was there or thereabouts. You always know what you are going to get from Sam when he comes back here, and they had loads of other riders who have ridden this track before, so it was a good win".

Even Palovaara wasn't the best man on the night this time though, because former Monarch Sam Masters rode brilliantly to win all of his six races. In the only heat in which he was required to come from the back (heat 11) he decisively swept past Justin Sedgmen with a perfect cutback. This race, the best of the night, was twice stopped and restarted.

There was some frustration in the voice of team manager Alex Harkess as he announced his last heat pairing, even though for once the match victory had already been secured. Once again he felt that his inconsistent charges (Palovaara excluded) are too commonly mixing up good rides and poor ones in their evening collection.

Cheetahs fielded an unusual side due to the demands of various Grand Prix qualifiers over the weekend, plus injury to Cameron Heeps. They tracked three former Monarchs (and Heeps also of course is an ex-Monarch), with Jacob Hook and Lasse Fredriksen picking up decent scores in backup to Masters.

The visitors took two early 4-2 advantages and Harkess had to call on Palovaara to team up with Sedgmen and level the scores in heat 4. 5-1 advantages in heats 6 and 7 gave them a lead but heat 8 was a disappointment as Sedgmen floundered in third place behind Masters and Hook.

Jordan Jenkins won heat 9 and Monarchs' lead was a mere two up to heat 11 in which Jenkins came down heavily on the opening bend. Grahn and Palovaara headed Fredriksen in the twelfth heat to make it a six point lead and even though Masters easily won heats 13 and 15, he had no backup leaving Monarchs ten-point winners in the end.

That will give them a shot at the aggregate bonus in 12 days time when Monarchs head to Oxford to face a rather different looking Cheetahs side.