SCOTLAND1314

What a dramatic night with the underdog hanging in there and somehow producing an astonishing win... but enough about the mighty Scotland v Croatia... Well done to Redcar who took their chance after hanging onto Edinburgh earlier in the match. Bad night at the office from Claus but hopefully he'll turn this around soon. Every cloud and all that... well the silver lining for the Blue and Gold was the performance of young Max Fricke who excelled last night.

I thought Scott Nicholls summarising was great very articulate given the circumstances. I can see a cheeky wee TV career on the horizon when he hangs up his kevlars.

Glasgow announce James Wright has asked to leave club and will be taking a break from speedway.... (via Glasgow Twitter account)

Any rumours re who could be going out and coming in? The old favourite rumour 'The Fish' was mentioned last weekend. He'd certainly bring entertainment.... although given he has a gig in Poland I guess this could rule it out (although I don't know how often he rides in Poland).

Sadly Edinburgh Monarchs may have spoke too soon. They are now reporting that Mitchell Davey broke his wrist today and will be out for 5 weeks. Gutted for the big man.

Courtesy of Edinburgh Monarchs speedway http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/news/article.asp?id=1344

Oooft what happened there? On the face of things Glasgow Tigers took a beating to beat all beatings. With every Edinburgh rider winning a race and all putting in good scores with special mentions to Derek 'Paid max' Sneddon and Max 'best score of the season' Fricke. But as ever there are two teams on show but most of the home men were riding as if they'd already been given their jotters... Hopefully Glasgow can turn this around soon, as as nice it is to beat your local rivals it wasn't much of a contest today. On the plus side the Glasgow track does appear to have more passing opportunities on it. Plus the bar is looking good. It was good to have the pleasure of George.m's company today and nice to say hello to PC and Co.

I'm looking forward to seeing the new improved Ashfield circuit, assuming of course we negotiate all the traffic.... Here's to a good match and hopefully the Blue and Gold can take advantage of the Glasgow promotion potential ticket reduction after Sunday's meeting...

Courtesy of Edinburgh Monarchs speedway http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/home.asp

The Edinburgh Monarchs took an early strangle hold of this match and were too powerful for a somewhat disappointing Scunny team performance. Much was expected of Auty and Howe but their performances didn't match those good scores of their previous visits. The stand out performer for the visitors was Ashley Birks who rode well all night. (15+1) For the home men Cook with the exception of a bit of an awkward team ride with Claus that resulted in Cookie having to pip Auty on the line for 2nd was a country mile ahead of everyone. Class. (14+1) Pijper another excellent return for the Dutchman. (13+1) Sneddon put in his best return of the season to date. (8+2) Claus looked to be struggling with his set up but still grafted hard for a good return. (8) Joe Tabaka wasn't trapping that well but scored a solid return with a few passes (8+1) Max had a strange evening looking to gate well in his first heat only to be clipped by Toft and this may have had a knock on effect to the rest of his evening as he retired in the re-run whilst in 2nd behind his team mate. He battled on and his points (2+1) came in the form of a paid win. Mitchell hung in there for a decent score (3+1). Hats off to the track staff who turned around a track that rutted up early to bring it back to being very smooth. Looked a decent sized crowd and hats off to the Glasgow promotion with a rather unique potential discount to Monarchs fans after this weekend.... Nae bother Heat 8 I noted 56.8

Heat 14 Blackbird, Birks, Davey, Fricke Heat 15 Cook, Pijper, Auty, Birks (F)

Won't be the first time...nor the last

Any Scunthorpe fans coming up for this one? Sky still blue and gold for your arrival....

Weather report.... blue and gold sky That is all...

Courtesy of Edinburgh Monarchs speedway http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/news/article.asp?id=1340

This could be a cracker of a meeting with Scunny, as the Tiggers No.2 fan pointed out ;-), have a few riders that go well around the Scottish San Siro of speedway. Weather is looking good. Ticket has been bought. Roll on Friday.....

And would you believe it that engineering work is being planned at Falkirk High on Sunday (perhaps Saturday as well) so trains will be diverted via Falkirk Grahamston and Cumbernauld to Queen Street. So whilst it may not mean you won't get there just expect delays (I'd guess).

Courtesy of Edinburgh Monarchs speedway http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/news/article.asp?id=1337

Stunning win. Excellent team performance by the Blue & Gold. Sounds like Max excelled tonight.

Indeed Chops. He put in a good shift last night.

What a display of speedway riding from Cookie this evening. He looked so very sharp, fast and controlled he was a joy to watch tonight. Few in the PL could have lived with him tonight. Even when he was headed by Mark Lemon he calmly went about stalking his prey and swooping passed in truly majestic style. Mark looked to be sporting in his praise towards Cookie after the race. Pijper was equally outstanding with his starts and first turns proving different class. Wee Joe Tabaka continues to impress from the reserve berth with only a puncture defeating him this evening. His thundering pass of Mark Lemon and Todd Kurtz was stunning. Joe's team riding skills were also in evidence tonight... truly beautiful to watch. Derek scored well after picking himself up from the deck in heat 1 to score a decent amount of points. Claus after a poor opening ride went unbeaten by an opponent. His efforts are almost going unnoticed. But to say that his scores have rarely been below 8 at home is tremendous given this is his first season at Armadale. Max had a tough night tonight but didn't look off the pace. Mitchell Davey should be proud of his efforts tonight. He looked like a very different rider to the one that appeared for the Tiggers a couple of seasons ago. Well done on a night where you must have been quite nervous. Of the visitors. Ty Proctor looked very lively with little reward. Although I wonder how his evening would have turned out should he have not fallen in heat 1. Gathercole was lively early doors but faded. Lemon was ok but he has scored much better around the Dale on previous visits. Todd Kurtz put on a good show. It was very pleasing to see a bright and warm night up at the Dale and this looked like it had encouraged families to attend in large numbers in response to the promotions efforts. Courtesy of Edinburgh Monarchs Speedway http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/news/article.asp?id=1336

Welcome to Mitchell. Enjoy your stay with the Blue & Gold.

Anyway back to the meeting in question. I thought considering the very late heavy shower of rain the track staff did a great job in producing a nice racing strip. The racing was pretty decent all things considered. From a Monarchs perspective Cookie was as good as ever with only one blip on his scorecard. Wee Joe was unstoppable and is very much a trump card at reserve. Theo produced a solid score despite an uncharacteristic looking 2nd ride. Claus chipped in with a tidy score and considering he'd have been riding with the aftermath of an injury did very well. Derek got off to a good start riding to a 5-1 over Screen but thereafter didn't have the best of scores. Max continued in his steady progress and scored in every heat including his part in a tidy 5-1 in heat 14. Marcel scored a couple of gift points and looks to be struggling. Hopefully he can improve soon. For the Tigers Joe Screen rode well and put in a decent score. Ringwood did ok but was very hit or miss. Wright with the exception of one ride looked like a shadow of his former self. Bager was poor. Grieves didn't perform that well. Horwood was very poor. Jacobs was very disappointing given his recent form. The crowd looked reasonable in size.

It is a huge learning curve for Max. The young man has taken a big step coming over to the UK to kick start his racing career. The lad is still growing and as he develops physically his racing will benefit. That said Max has a very smooth style and rarely looks out of control on the Armadale circuit no mean achievement given many more experienced riders cannot cope with the skill requirement of the Armadale circuit. Could his scores be better? Of course they could but the lad is learning to adjust his racing style to the type of racing required over here as well as sharpening up aspects of his talent e.g gating. This season in general will be a huge learning experience both on and off track for Max, but if history tells us anything about Max is that he has always found a way to win when he has been against the odds e.g. going into the backyard of Arthur Sissis to win a state championship and the backyard of others to win the Aussie under 21 title.

Is that one not reserved by your 'other' team ;-) ?