Sloppy Monarchs risk being robbed by Bandits

JITTERY Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs will have to dig deep to elbow Berwick Bandits out of the Premier League Knockout Cup tonight after a rollercoaster 54-38 first round first-leg victory over the border outfit at Armadale last night.

At one stage Monarchs appeared to be coasting to a comfortable triumph and led by 20 points after nine races.

But things started to unravel-and the deciding clash at Shielfield Park now looks like going down to the wire.

But the Bandits, snatched a 6-3 advantage in Heat 13 courtesy of Michal Makovsky, who drove up the inside of Monarchs skipper Derek Sneddon without any resistance on the first bend, then threw a real spanner in the works when Tero Aarnio and Adam McKinna pulled off a jaw-dropping 5-1 over Thomas Jonasson in the penultimate race.

Monarchs lead was cut to just nine points and you could almost hear the alarm bells ringing in the home camp.

But Heat 15 produced even more drama and ultimately provided Monarchs with a points advantage which may just be enough to seal their passage to the next round.

Ryan Fisher and guest James Grieves squared up to Berwick's hard-edged Makovsky and Henning Bager, who had handed Grieves his only defeat three races earlier.

The Bandits duo were in a 5-1 position until Fisher split them before Bager nudged the Californian off on the second bend of the third lap and was excluded.

In the re-run all three riders came down on the first bend and another restart was ordered. Then Makovsky took Fisher out on the same bend and was excluded leaving the Monarchs pair to coast home for a 5-0.

But, incredibly, even though Fisher took the chequered flag, Grieves saw his bike die on him on the third lap and the former Glasgow ace was forced to push his machine home to clinch his two points.

Bandits boss Peter Waite, however, felt the two exclusions imposed on Bager and Makovsky were harsh.

He said: "We should have got a 5-1 in that last race. I think Bager's exclusion was unfair because he was on the inside.

"And Makovsky was just going for the corner, he wasn't trying to deliberately put anyone off. You have got to get into the first turn in front. Whoever gets there controls the race.

"But we are in with a shout. Had Adrian Rymel been riding I think we would have beaten Monarchs, that's the reality.

"I think we can pull a lot of the points back tonight. The tie is evenly balanced. We really should have scored 42 or 43 points but luck doesn't always go your way."

Monarchs ace Fisher didn't blame Bager for bringing him down but said Makovsky's actions were "inexcusable".

"Makovsky decided not to turn his bike going into the first bend", said Fisher. "He was intentionally trying to take me off but I always get revenge.

"Bager is a more fair rider and I can understand how that incident happened with conditions the way they were in the middle of the second bend. But what Makovsky did was inexcusable."

Fisher, who was Monarchs top scorer with 14, added: "Because of the rain, conditions were a little weird. But I was happy with my own performance. I changed my whole bike set up and I rode a lot better.

"Berwick rode well and didn't let their heads go down, it is definitely everything to play for."

Fisher's best support came from Grieves, who picked up 13 points. Sneddon had a poor evening and could only muster four points and Jonasson looked extremely uncomfortable on occasions and, in all honesty, should have beaten Aarnio and McKinna in that Heat 14 shocker.

Berwick used rider replacement for Rymel and only gleaned four points from it.

"We should at least double that round our own track," lamented Waite.

Meanwhile, Monarchs' heat leader William Lawson finished fifth with 11 points in the British Under-21 Final at Lakeside and now goes forward to the World rounds.

And club public relations man Mike Hunter has been named as Scotland's Sports Fan of the year in a competition sponsored by STV's 5.30 show. Hunter wins a prize of a £10,000 sporting jaunt of his choice.

Monarchs: Fisher 14, Grieves 13, Wethers 9, Jonasson 5, Dicken 5, Sneddon 4, Summers 4.

Berwick: Makovsky 14, Bager 11, Aarnio 5, Magosi 4, McKinna 3, Franchetti 1.