West Cumbria Richard Lawson, riding as a guest, and Berwick skipper Rory Schlein pulled off a dramatic last-heat 5-1 to secure victory over Edinburgh in the BSN Series.
The scores were level heading into the decider and the Monarchs tracked Josh Pickering, who had won his first five rides – but Schlein took it from tapes to flag whilst Lawson held off Pickering’s challenge to clinch a 47-43 victory.
But the win did come at a potential cost as the Bandits, already without broken ankle victim Lewis Kerr, had Bastian Borke taken to hospital with lower back and pelvis pain after a first-bend clash with Paco Castagna in Heat 14.
Schlein top-scored with 14 points from six rides while Lawson, who was guesting for the injured Kerr, notched 9 plus four bonus points. He had four seconds and a third.
Both teams had used a tactical substitute, and Pickering piled up 16 for the Monarchs.
Schlein: “We had to dig deep to beat a very good side. In the end we had to battle hard and show some real character to get over the line.”
