Edinburgh Monarchs racing extends to go-karts as well as speedway track

Lasse Fredriksen says he's getting to know his Edinburgh Monarchs team-mates better every day and is loving the competitiveness on not just two – but four wheels.

The Norwegian speedway rider enjoyed a memorable debut for the Capital septet in last week's Championship curtain-raiser against the Berwick Bandits, registering his first heat win in blue and gold as the Monarchs triumphed 50-40 at Armadale.

And although it proved a difficult night at Shielfield Park as the Bandits exacted revenge 24 hours later, Fredriksen produced another heat win in the 49-41 victory over the Newcastle Diamonds in the first leg of their KO Cup quarter-final clash on Sunday.

Ahead of the return leg in West Lothian tonight, 24-year-old Fredriksen says he is feeling at home in Edinburgh which has seen that competitiveness in the Monarchs team spill over onto the go-kart track.

"I can't speak highly enough of the guys in the team," Fredriksen told the Evening News. "The riding is one thing but also in the pits everyone helps each other out as we all want to win. We've been go-karting twice now too and it's been a lot of fun. The competition is pretty intense between us but It's nice to get to know the guys on a personal level and talk about things other than speedway.

"I managed to get a couple of heat wins last week so it's given me something to build on. It's good to contribute to the team winning as well, which is the most important thing.

"If you can get it going from the start then it's a huge help. I can imagine if you don't get that win then it might affect your confidence. I just want to score more points now. We had tough meetings against Berwick last week. They were really up for it at their place and they gave us a good beating. I'd never seen a track like theirs but that's what I'm here to do – to learn and get better as a speedway rider.

"We can't take anything for granted tonight even if we do have an eight-point lead. We go again from scratch - Newcastle have a few riders who go well at Armadale but we're determined to beat them again."