Monarchs beat a depleted Newcastle side to leapfrog their main rivals, Hull and Sheffield, for the second Premier National Trophy qualification place.
Monarchs were always in command and had the match virtually wrapped up before the half-way point. Newcastle used tactical substitutions and capitalized on lapses by the home team to give the scoreline a false look of respectability.
It was a trully dire performance by the Newcastle steam. Promoter George English came on the tannoy to apologise to the spectators for the poor show by his. He promomised that teams changes would soon be made and that Newcastle would be back with a competitive team in the Premier League encounter:
"I would like to apologise to Edinburgh for this display. We were atrocious and changes wil be made. By the time we return for the league fixture we will have a proper Newcastle team."
Ross Brady coped well in the number five spot despite a starting average of only just over four. He suffered a diabolical exclusion in heat 11 but came back to win heat 13 after Robert Eriksson was excluded for tape touching. Robert Eriksson and Peter Carr never really threatened until bike problems cost each of them a heat. The rest of the team scored steadily. Ross was very unhappy with Cramlington referee Will Hunter over his exclusion:
"He was a dodgy referee and I felt I should have had more points. I let my first race slip away. I should really have won it. But we'll see how it goes from here."
Robert Eriksson missed out on the chance of a maximum after clutch problems resulted in him taping in heat 13. He commented:
"It was a pretty easy win for us. And our qualification hopes will depend on how we do at Hull and Sheffield next week. These will be difficult matches. Apart from that (the clutch problems), things are going pretty well for me this season."
Jon Swales made a surprise appearance in place of David McAllan and looked quite useful on his new laydown bike.
The three points gained put Monarchs back up to third place within one points of second placed Berwick. Monarchs have two home and one away match in hand on Berwick. It looks very tight between Hull, Sheffield and Edinburgh for the final qualification place. This sets things up for Monarchs Yorkshire mini-tour next week against the two main rivals.
Peter Carr commented on his final heat retirement after forgeting to switch his fuel on:
"It was just one of those things. Overall, I was happy with the way we rode and we now have a genuine chance of getting to the semi-finals if we can do something on our travels. It's a big week coming up for us."
Current results and tables are as follows:
Premier National Trophy Results
Premier National Trophy League Tables