Edinburgh swept aside a rather lame challenge by Hull to win and pick up the bonus point with ease. Edinburgh were secure enough to leave out Kenny McKinna was his last two possible rides and put out Paul Taylor and Blair Scott in his place.

 Edinburgh were unchanged with riders replacement continuing for Stefano Alfonso giving an extra ride to McKinna, Campbell, Scott and Gould. Paul Taylor was again Number 8. Following the return of Paul Thorp, Hull were at full strength apart from reserve John Wilson who was replaced by Armadale rookie Derek Sneddon.

 The track was rather slick and outside passing was very difficult once more. The crowd looked very healthy despite the demise of Monarchs' play off hopes. Edinburgh won the toss and opted for gates 1 and 3 in the first heat. It was probably a very good toss to win.

Heat 1: Kenny McKinna, Barry Campbell, Paul Thorp, Paul Lee [57.5]

McKinna was quickly away ahead of Thorp. Campbell went around the outside of Thorp on the second bend and withstood everything that was thrown at him. Towards the end Thorp made a slight error and this took the pressure off Campbell.

(5-1) (5-1)

Heat 2: Blair Scott, Paul Gould, Simon Cartwright, Derek Sneddon [59.3]

Scott and Cartwright were first away with Gould struggling from gate 4. Gould slipped inside Cartwright on the back straight to join Scott.

(5-1) (10-2)

Heat 3: Kevin Little, Barry Campbell, Paul Bentley, Alan Grahame [58.6]

Barry Campbell took the first rider replacement outing and made a great start to follow Little home and add the scalps of Paul Bentley and Alan Grahame to those of Thorp and Lee.

(5-1) (15-3)

Heat 4: Peter Carr, Lee Dicken, Paul Gould, Simon Cartwright [58.1]

This heat was re-run after Sneddon touched the tapes and was excluded. Lee Dicken made a great start although beaten to the first bend by Carr. Paul Gould could make no impression on Dicken.

(4-2) (19-5)

Heat 5: Kevin Little, Paul Thorp, Paul Lee, Blair Scott [58.8]

This looked to be another home maximum when rider replacement Blair Scott blasted around the outside from gate 4 to join Little in front. There was some good team riding by Hull with Thorp attacking Scott from the outsider and Lee challenging on the inside. Lee managed to push Scott off line and Thorp went past. Scott was now sandwiched and Lee was able to pick off the Monarchs youngster.

(3-3) (22-8)

Heat 6: Kenny McKinna, Barry Campbell, Lee Dicken, Derek Sneddon [59.4]

Derek Sneddon came in as a reserve change for Cartwright. McKinna was ahead from the start and never challenged. Lee Dicken was ahead of Campbell until he made a slip on the fourth bend allowing Campbell through for his third paid win out of six heats.

(5-1) (27-9)

Heat 7: Peter Carr, Paul Bentley, Blair Scott, Alan Grahame [58.8]

Blair Scott made another fast start from gate 4 to join Carr and yet another 5-1 seemed to be on the cards until Bentley managed to pull off a late overtake on Blair just before the line.

(4-2) (31-11)

Heat 8: Lee Dicken, Paul Lee, Paul Gould, Barry Campbell [60.4]

Lee Dicken replaced Sneddon as a tactical substitute and made a fast start from gate 1. Barry Campbell came around the outside from gate 4 to challenge but overdid things on the outside and Paul Lee slipped inside him. The Hull pair consolidated their lead as Campbell slowed down with engine trouble.

(1-5) (32-16)

Heat 9: Paul Thorp, Kevin Little, Paul Gould, Lee Dicken [59.2]

Paul Thorp came in as a tactical substitute in place of Cartwright. He managed to outgate Kevin Little and Hull seemed to be on course for another heat advantage with Dicken third. Paul Gould had other ideas and after tracking Dicken for a couple of laps and failing with outside passing attempts, drew level going into the third band of the last lap and edged ahead going to the line.

(3-3) (35-19)

Heat 10: Kenny McKinna, Paul Bentley, Alan Grahame, Barry Campbell [59.1]

No problems for McKinna in this heat but Campbell made his first bad start of the evening. He was never going to get back on terms.

(3-3) (38-22)

Heat 11: Peter Carr, Blair Scott, Paul Lee [60.1]

Paul Thorp stopped on the first lap and after that the interest centred on the, ultimately successful attempt by Blair Scott to pass Paul Lee for second place.

(5-1) (43-23)

Heat 12: Paul Bentley, Paul Gould [60.5]

This heat took three attempts to be run. The first was judged an unsatisfactory start and all four were back. In the second, Kevin Little was leading but under severe pressure from Bentley when he sun on the fourth bend. Some neat evasion work by Gould and especially Sneddon averted serious injury. The third attempt with Little excluded was won by Bentley from Gould with Sneddon dropping out after two laps.

(2-3) (45-26)

Heat 13: Peter Carr, Kenny McKinna, Paul Thorp, Lee Dicken [58.7]

This looked set for a routine heat 13 maximum until Paul Thorp slipped inside the wide riding McKinna. Kenny gave chase and after failing to get past on the outside switched his attention to the inside and pulled off a very late pass.

(5-1) (50-27)

Heat 14: Blair Scott, Alan Grahame, Simon Cartwright [60.4]

With the match over and the bonus point now virtually safe, Edinburgh opted to give Kenny McKinna's rider replacement outing to Paul Taylor. Hull surprisingly failed to bring in Bentley as a tactical substitute for Grahame. Blair Scott gated and held off Grahame while Taylor seemed to have the measure of Cartwright until he appeared to lose a chain and retired.

(3-3) (53-30)

Heat 15: Peter Carr, Paul Bentley, Paul Lee, Blair Scott [59.1]

Monarchs opted to give Blair Scott a rare heat 15 outing in place of McKinna while Hull similarly opted for Paul Lee ahead of Thorp. Carr completed a second success home maximum by winning with ease ahead of Bentley and Lee.

(3-3) (56-33)

Once more Carr and McKinna remained unbeaten although Kenny had to work a bit harder than Peter. Kevin Little was looking good until he spun and was excluded in his last ride.

Barry Campbell seemed on course for another paid maximum until he ran a couple of lasts. Blair Scott and Paul Gould answered their critics with storming performances. It was Blair's best display in weeks. Paul Taylor was unlucky not to get a point in his first outing for the Monarchs this season.

Hull only won three heats, one for each heat leader although two of those came when in as tactical substitutes. Paul Bentley was the best of the visitors although Paul Lee was good value at second string. The sad thing about Alan Grahame is that his score of 3+1 did not surprise anyone. This was coming from a rider who won his first four heats at Armadale last year. Predictably, neither Cartwright nor Sneddon were on the pace.

Man of the match: Peter Carr for a full maximum

 Most exciting rider: Paul Gould (third in a row) for determined passing.

Last meeting: Monarchs v Stoke Friday 2^nd October 1998 at Armadale.

John Lowe