Edinburgh is to stage a round of the World Individual Speedway Championship for the first time since 1963. The Final of the British Under-21 Championship has been awarded to Edinburgh. It will is not known when the meeting will be staged. Monarchs have a free date on Friday 28th April but this will be too late since the first Continental Round of the World Under-21 Championship will be held on May 1st. Some rearrangement of fixtures looks inevitable.
The last time that Edinburgh staged a World Championship round was when the Provincial Final was held at Old Meadowbank. In 1971, the Nordic/British Final was held at Hampden Park.
The British Under-21 Final provides a qualification route to the World Under-21 Championship and hence to the 2001 Grand Prix.
The Final is likely to attract a strong field including current World Under-21 Champion Lee Richardson and David Howe of Peterborough. The Premier League hopefuls include the Sheffield pairing of Simon Stean and Paul Lee as well as Danny Bird of the Isle of Wight. Local interest could be provided by Ross Brady, Blair Scott and David McAllan of Edinburgh plus Barry Campbell of Workington and Glasgow riders Aiden Collins and Scott Courtney.
John Campbell argued in Speedway Star:
"I'm sure Scottish supporters will appreciate this event, especially if some Edinburgh and Glasgow riders qualify, as they should do."
"It's an honour for Armadale and shows how far we've come in the time we've been here."
On possible problem is that as yet no tracks have come forward to stage a semi-final. Last year there were two semi-finals. The qualifiers were joined in the final by riders seeded directly through and one wild card. Blair Scott won the Workington semi-final and went through to the final with Ross Brady who was awarded the wild card place.
If no track(s) come forward there is a danger that 16 riders will have to be seeded to the Armadale final. This will devalue the event somewhat. While the Edinburgh promotion were sceptical about the possibility of a track taking on what was seen as a loss-making event, the BSPA were confident that a track would be named within the next few days.
With holder Scott Nicholls no longer eligible, Lee Richardson and David Howe probably will start as favourites. However, Richardson has a patchy record at Armadale in the past and David Howe has never ridden at Armadale. Ross Brady and Blair Scott are both in with a shout. Blair recorded a win over Richardson for Scotland in 1998 while Ross had a couple of wins over Howe in internationals last year.
Blair has proved formidable around Armadale over last season and has his best ever chance to win the event in his last year in the Under-21 competition. Ross has now learned how to ride the track and with his gating ability will certainly take some stopping. He has a further chance in the Under-21 final in 2001.