Edinburgh Monarchs travel to early pace-setters Peterborough Panthers on Sunday (5pm) boosted by the performances of several of their riders in the Harrisons of Peebles-backed Scottish Open.
New Zealand-born Ricky Wells powered to 13 points in a quality field at Armadale on Friday.
He won three of his five heats and eventually finished runner-up to Aussie ace Rory Schlein in the prestige event.
Wells’ qualifying score was equalled by Mark Riss who emerged as a surprise contender winning four of his five races.
Sadly, Mark fell in the final but proved once again that he can race with the best.
His brother Eric, Monarchs skipper, claimed 12 points to make the semi-final but suffered engine failure on the start line in the race.
If the trio can find that form on Sunday then Monarchs may be in with a chance of picking up something on the road.
Why? Because Peterborough suffered a 57-33 home reverse to Workington Comets on Friday in the Championship.
That’s despite going into the meeting with confidence after a good start to the season which included a narrow 48-42 reverse at Edinburgh in the same competition.
Panthers manager Carl Johnson said it was an embarrassing performance.
And he added that he’ll be having a chat with some of the riders ahead of the visit of Edinburgh.
He said: “We’ve got to re-group for Sunday and hopefully put things right.”
Scott Nicholls, who powered to 17 points recently at Edinburgh, was their top scorer with eight points and former Glasgow Tigers racer Nike Lunna claimed four.
Workington’s best was former Edinburgh and Glasgow star Dan Bewley with 15 points with Ty Proctor claiming 13.
Meanwhile, Glasgow Tigers host a Comets (4pm) combine boosted by their performance at Peterborough on Friday.
This is a key fixture in the Borders Group if the Championship Shield with Glasgow topping the four-strong section with 11 points after four matches.
Workington are on six points but with a match in hand.
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