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Well done to Cookie...great to see him enjoying his racing again. Still a legend (even when wearing red & white). And congrats to Erik Riss on making the final. Great entertainment! I don't get the argument that GP riders shouldn't be in the Championship - I'm happy to see the best riders possible in the league that I watch my speedway. Craig is good enough to compete at SGP level, he just needs to believe in himself a bit more. I hope he does himself justice in a GP before the season is out.

Made the trip west more in hope than expectation and that appeared to be dashed as early as heat 2, with Coty left at the starting line and a machine malfunction causing Josh to fall when comfortably in the lead. Things got worse in the next race with Max taking a very awkward fall which put him out of the meeting - hope he recovers quickly. The racing in the early stages was poor due to the dry and dusty track, so was wishing I hadn't bothered. The racing started to improve from heat 7, which featured a fine battle between Worrall, Pickering and Thomas. Monarchs fortunes and scoring started to improve from heat 8 when Joel made a lightning start and was joined by Josh for an unexpected 5-1. Heat 10 was a standout with Harris and M Riss passing and repassing several times. Mark was probably a little fortunate to get back into heat 12 at the first attempt, but definitely not the second, but showed great determination in the 3rd staging to get the win with Josh picking up a good 3rd place by getting past Sarjeant. Tigers were unlucky in heat 13 as they gated on a 5-1 only for Chris Harris to rear violently across bends 1 & 2 and fall, and it was the Monarchs pairing who gated in the re-run. It looked like the victory would be clinched in heat 14 with Coty and Josh ahead until Josh, unsure whether to stick or twist, allowed Paul Starke back on level terms and in trying to block him had another machine malfunction which also allowed Thomas to pass him just before the line. Josh could easily have got double his score - he was definitely Mr Entertainment. So Monarchs needed a shared heat for an aggregate victory and we needn't have worried as our top boys Ricky and Erik, who were rock solid all afternoon, raced away for an easy 5-1. Now back home - tired, sunburnt & covered in dust but very happy!

Okay, fair enough, we'll agree to disagree. I don't think anyone is suggesting Edinburgh fans will desert Armadale en masse, or that even one Edinburgh fan will go to Ashfield rather than Armadale. However they will lose the Glasgow fans that currently attend regularly and perhaps some neutral fans. A move to Friday by Glasgow will certainly not add to attendances at Armadale, so I think it is quite reasonable for the Edinburgh management to oppose it. From a personal point of view I would miss standing with my Glasgow friends every Friday (and occasional Sunday). I am concerned with the aggressive and intimidating behaviour you and others have described. It has no place in speedway. Other than the odd shout across the terraces, I did not witness any on either Friday or Saturday night and I have to say I have never felt intimidated at a speedway meeting (and I have been attending for a very long time). Hopefully it was just a few isolated cases. On Saturday we had the biggest ever crowd at Armadale for a tense important local derby with no crowd segregation, no police and no stewards, and, from where I was standing at least, no trouble. Long may it continue.

Hey, it was a message not a letter So maybe it should be: Don't push me cause I'm close to the edge I'm trying not to lose my head...

I stand with a Glasgow fan who is a season ticket holder at both venues, and there are usually a few other Glasgow fans in our group on nights when Glasgow are not the visitors. So it would definitely affect attendances but by how many is difficult to say. At a guess I would say 25 to 30. If Glasgow were to go Elite (not beyond the realms of possibility) then, in addition to these 25 to 30, a further number of more neutral speedway fans might be tempted west to see the top stars in action. I understand that the Glasgow owners have done their research and think they can maximise their attendances by running on a Friday night - so that's what they want to do. I also understand that Edinburgh don't want to lose even 30 people attending on a Friday night - so they are opposed to this happening. As things stand there appears to be a rule that allows them to object to this, so naturally that is what they are going to do. And, although I'm not party to any conversations between them, I am surprised that the Glasgow owners were (hugely) surprised that this would be Edinburgh's stance. The problem with 'the letter' is that the Glasgow owners basically call the Edinburgh promotion liars and say they do not believe the reasons given for opposing the move. Instead they conclude that "the Monarchs are seeking to hinder our financial income, restrict our fan base growth and limit our ability to sign top riders who race abroad on a Sunday". Wow, that's some conclusion to jump to when all they've said is they don't want you to race on the same night as them. The Glasgow owners then compound this by going on to say they "feel compelled to announce that we will no longer be attending meetings at Armadale, as we don't want to help fund Edinburgh with one penny of our money now that it is clear they have decided to affect our income and growth." This comes across to me as childish, petulant and highly unprofessional. The timing of the message being issued also seemed to be deliberately trying to affect the attendance of Glasgow supporters at Armadale on the Saturday night (having already banked the admission money of the large Edinburgh contingent at Ashfield). This must surely have put a dampener on Glasgow fans excitement at being in the middle of a huge Premier League play-off with their local rivals. Unsure, if by going to support their team in their biggest match for decades, they might be displeasing the owners. I have been hugely impressed by what has happened at Glasgow since the Facenna brothers took over and a lot of goodwill towards Glasgow has been built up over that period. Some of that has been lost by the issuing of this message and I hope it's not too late for them to apologise for some of their comments and sort out the issue in an adult way by discussion with the Edinburgh promotion and going through whatever process is necessary with the BSPA.

Well done to Glasgow - look forward to meeting you in the final. I was hoping to make it through today but couldn't - looks like I missed a cracker! Spud riding superbly at the moment and it looks like James Sarjeant proved to be your match-winner today. Here's hoping for two close exciting meetings in front of massive crowds to bring down the curtain on the 2015 season. May the best team win!

http://www.speedwaygb.co/15results/edinburgh_02.10.15_res.pdf

Congratulations to Somerset - well deserved winners! After holding them close on Tuesday and wiping out the lead in two heats it looked like a straightforward win. Rebels had other ideas - Paul Starke, Richie Worrall and (latterly) Rasmus Jensen were excellent and Josh and Charles kept chipping in with solid points. Great tactics to replace Kurtz with Chessell in heat 13 to allow Worrall & Jensen to clinch the tie in heat 14. We definitely missed Kevin,​ and Sam is not looking as quick as he was before his injury. So glad to see Erik walk away from an awful heat 14 spill - he and the reserves were hit and miss all night and Max did not look fully fit. Sedgy was unlucky to blow an engine when on a 5-1 in heat 10. Cookie was majestic and his performances in 7 finals over the last 8 days have been truly phenomenal. I have been privileged to watch 4 of these live and 2 on the telly - only missed the one where he got a 15 point max and broke the track record! However, one man can't win a trophy on his own - even with a 30 point maximum. Well done again to the Rebels and their small dedicated band of fans who were applauded by the home support as they made their way round from the 3rd bend to see the presentation to their team.

Well that was thoroughly enjoyable. Congratulations to Poole on winning but also congratulations to Belle Vue on putting up a great fight and just missing out. I was supporting BV because of their Edinburgh connections but I have a lot of time for Poole and how they promote speedway there. So pleased that Cookie showed his true talent on the big stage (although worried it might persuade him to leave the PL) - he was the top rider over the two legs. Also thought Scott Nicholls performed magnificently in both legs. Matej Zager was brilliant in the first leg and tried his heart out tonight for little reward. For Poole Maciej was magic tonight and played a captain's role to get his team over the line. I think if the BV track had been prepared as normal they would have taken a reasonable lead to Poole and might just have won the title. I don't think there's anything in 'gogglegate'. I'm sure not many fans knew it was illegal (I certainly didn't) and I thought it was very brave of Kyle to ride without goggles rather than get excluded for time (for those that don't know, it's much more difficult to race speedway without goggles than with them). Two great meetings in front of two big crowds that came over very well on TV. Well done to all involved.

Very enjoyable meeting. Great to watch - from an Edinburgh fan's point of view at least. Sure it didn't have the classic racing of the Monarchs' last televised victory at Somerset, but there was still lots to admire. From Cookie & Sedgy's synchronised team riding in heat 1 to a pulsating heat 13 with Craig performing miracles to protect Erik and stay in front of Brady & Josh. Speedway for the connoisseur! Great determined fast intelligent riding from the top 4 - with Erik at last fulfilling his potential (take a bow, son). Even the reserves did their job by ensuring they finished in front of Greenwood in heat 2. This was a full strength Rebels at home getting a 6 point tactical ride and still losing by 9. Brilliant performance by Monarchs.

For the second time this season Monarchs have bounced back from a home defeat with a brilliant away win. This time it was more difficult as no Sam & Erik - and it wasn't at Glasgow Cookie was class, Sedgy sensational & Wölbert wonderful - and well backed-up by our 3 reserves. Back at the top of the league! Will we still be there after tomorrow? Unlikely, but you never know with this team.

Well done to the Panthers - ably assisted by a couple of Comets. I thought this would be a tough match and so it proved. This was the wrong match for our reserves to both have an off night. They seemed to have a problem with the track and it did seem different tonight - it was not conducive to overtaking with only really one stand out race when Wells and Sedgy passed and re-passed in heat 8. The closeness of the scores kept it tense and exciting but it was ultimately disappointing for the home support in what looked a pretty good-sized crowd. Needing a heat advantage from the last heat to win, I thought we had no chance with Kevin going from Gate 4 against Lambert & Wells who were riding so well. I thought we should have put them the other way round or Kevin off 1 and Cookie off 3 if we had the pick (not sure if we did). Like the loss against Glasgow, our opponents lined up with a very strong opening pairing - maybe other teams will now try to copy that. We bounced back from the Glasgow defeat by going through to Ashfield and thumping the Tigers. I think it will be much more difficult to do that at Rye, Peterborough & Somerset over the next few days as we are still without Sam (& with an NL replacement for Erik at Rye). But you never know with this Monarchs team.

Great that we'll be seeing young Rob at Armadale for the first time - I think he'll take to it straight away. This now looks a very tough match for the Monarchs, who are still without Sam. Looking forward to it.

Well done to the Aces on a good win tonight. A solid team performance backing up a top-performing number 1. Scott returning to top form meant it was a fairly easy win in the end. Heat 6 was pivotal with the Monarchs Aces pairing negating a tac ride from the SGP stars. A special mention for Kevin for coming in as a late replacement and picking up a solid 6 paid 8 from 4. Must've been difficult for a lot of the riders after yesterday's events (thoughts are with Lewis). Huge respect for them all.

Trick track.....what trick track? With the exception of Berge (who seems to have a mental block about the place) none of the Glasgow riders seemed to be having any problems at all getting round the Armadale circuit tonight! Great crowd and atmosphere, and a close match fluctuating one way then the other (then back again) made this the best match of the season. The racing could've been better (track was a bit slick and dry) but the drama and excitement was high. Glasgow were obviously up for it from the start and rode with great determination. Richie W was a good guest and scored around the same as Morris would have - perhaps slightly less. Spud, Berge & Palovaara scored as expected and R/R picked up what you would have expected Kozza to score. Glasgow's win came from best ever Armadale performances from Richard Lawson & James Sarjeant. Sarjeant improving with every ride culminating in a heat 14 5-1 along with Lawson to pretty much secure the victory. Lawson then completed the job with a fine heat 15 win and you could see his obvious delight on the victory parade. For Edinburgh Cookie was top man, but even he coughed up a 1-5 in heat 11. Erik Riss continues to improve and had a fine heat 8 win (which he had to do twice) over Lawson. Sam, Kev & Sedgy were slightly below par and Rob and Max had nights to forget. I think Cookie needs to get his luminous yellow wheels and the no. 1 race jacket back for Edinburgh to feel more like they did last year - although they're definitely not as strong. Well done to Glasgow - the best team won. And I'm feeling slightly apprehensive about Sunday...

Very enjoyable viewing tonight, with some pretty good racing considering the weather. The place looked great on TV and it's hard to believe it's the same track I visited at the tail end of last season. The big crowd, great camera work and enthusiastic commentators (much maligned - unfairly in my opinion) made it exciting viewing. Perhaps it's because we don't see them very often, but Premier meetings always seem much better on TV than Elite ones. Anyway congratulations to all at Glasgow Speedway on all the improvements and putting on a great show tonight.

Teams and write-up from Monarchs' website: The Border Roofing Monarchs will be trying to keep their good start to the Premier League going when they take on Newcastle Diamonds on Friday at Armadale (start time 7:30). The Diamonds were the last team to win at Armadale back in July 2013, and in fact they won twice that season and have been consistently successful visitors over the 19 seasons of the Armadale era. They gave last year’s triple champs their hardest home match of the season in September. TEAMS FOR THE PREMIER LEAGUE MATCH AT ARMADALE ON FRIDAY 8th May (start time 7.30, doors open 6.30) are: EDINBURGH BORDER ROOFING MONARCHS: Sam Masters, Erik Riss, Kevin Wolbert, Justin Sedgmen, Craig Cook (capt.), Max Clegg, Rob Branford. NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS: Lewis Kerr, rider replacement for Anton Rosen, Steve Worrall, Christian Henry, Ludvig Lindgren, Simon Nielsen, Josh Bates (guest). ERIK RISS: Erik is currently in the UK undergoing treatment for his broken collar bone. If successful he intends returning to the team on Friday. If not the rider replacement facility will be used again. TOP VISITORS: Newcastle are a team who always come to Armadale with a positive attitude and that’s probably why they have a better record than any other club with 8 victories. This year’s Geordie side is topped by Lewis Kerr at no. 1, a great English prospect who scored 13 last September as his team almost pulled off the shock of the season against the all-conquering Monarchs. Of course one of these very Monarchs was Steve Worrall, architect of much of the team’s success as his average increased by about 4.5 points! He will team up with another very capable ex-Monarch in Christian Henry. Sheffield’s Josh Bates, who has tasted success guesting for Monarchs, guests instead of Lewis Rose who is with his Elite team Swindon at Coventry.

Like most tracks the racing can sometimes be FTG at Armadale, but I think we get more than our fair share of good quality races. As you say George, mostly from Monarchs' riders missing the gate (and at the moment, with Cookie having mislaid his gating gloves, we're being royally entertained) but also occasionally from visitors. Two recent examples - Wells passing Masters last night http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/emtv/player.asp?id=100130 Heeps passing Sedgmen at the end of last season http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/emtv/player.asp?cat=Racing_2014&id=100107 Heading off to Berwick shortly and looking forward to this meeting. The racing is completely different to Armadale and it has to be said that passing after bend 2 is at a premium, but it is fast and spectacular and you are close to the action, so can be very enjoyable in its own way.

Here is that excellent heat 8....enjoy! http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/emtv/player.asp?id=100107

Congratulations to the Mighty Mons on their second trophy in as many weeks Have to say I was impressed with Ipswich who put up a good fight in an entertaining match. Cameron Heeps was exceptional - one of the best performances by a visiting rider this season. Heat 8 was fantastic - after being passed by Sedgy, Heeps threw everything at him then found a brilliant outside pass on the last bend. Take a bow, son! Richie Worrall and Adam Ellis were good value too, Hawkins was okay and Tungate had one good race. Risager was obviously unwell, which was a shame as he usually goes well round the 'dale. However, as in the first leg, they were blown away by the powerful Monarchs' top 4 - 46 (paid 50) between them this time. Too good!

I was a bit worried about this one. With our reserves struggling away from home and then Stevie pulling out (all the best to Stevie & family btw) and said reserves having to take two of his rides, I thought we might lose this one. Top 4 obviously decided they better step up to the mark, scoring 49 (paid 54) between them. Unreal

Wonderful performance from the Golden Child. Riding in a heat leader position away from home in the Elite League against Grand Prix stars and he scores paid 11 from 4. Take a bow Maxie boy Kyle Howarth doing very well as well!

A good number I should think. I'll be there - just got to dig out my passport

http://www.edinburghmonarchs.co/emtv/player.asp?cat=Racing_2014&id=100104 Super speedway at Overtaking Nirvana!

Thought the racing was better than usual tonight, although the Sky cameras probably made it look better than watching from the back straight. There were quite a few passes after bend 2 lap 1, the pick being Vissing inside Masters in heat 6. Monarchs did well to make a last heat decider out of that and probably deserved a point but, oh my word. what a horrible sickening crash in heat 14. Didn't really care about the score after that....best wishes to Matty & Aaron.