Edinburgh went out of the National Fours tournament at Peterborough at the semi-final stage for the second successive year.
Monarchs started badly with Kevin Little finishing last behind Mark Simmons, Paul Bentley, and Adam Shields. Then Ross Brady took third ahead of Graeme Gordon but behind Danny Bird and David Meldrum.
Things improved slightly when Peter Carr took second behind Scott Smith and ahead of Michael Coles and Scott Swain in heat 3. Robert Eriksson took second in heat 4 behind Alan Mogridge ahead of Ray Morton and Roger Lobb.
At the half way point, Berwick were running away with it on 10 point but Edinburgh were join second on 5 points with the Isle of Wight ahead of Exeter on 4.
In heat 5, Ross Brady was beaten into third by Isle of Wight reserve Richard Juul behind Alan Mogridge with Mark Simmons last. Peter Carr then lifted Monarchs into pole position to take the seond qualifying place behind Berwick by winning heat 6 ahead of Paul Bentley, Danny Bird and Roger Lobb.
The Isle of Wight overcame this narrow one-point margin in the last two heat. Adam Shield won heat 7 from Coles, Eriksson and Meldrum. Ray Morton then clinched things with a heat 8 win over Scott Smith and Graeme Gordon with Little again trailing.
Berwick (17 points) and the Isle of Wight (14 points) qualified while Edinburgh (10 points) and Exeter (7 points) went out.
Swindon (14 points) and Sheffield (13 points) went through from the other sem-final at the expense of Workington (9 points) and Newcastle (12 points).
The final was a bit flat as Sheffield ran out very easy winners collecting 30 points out of a possible 36. The Isle of Wight were second with 16 points, Swindon third on 14 and Berwick last on 14.
Berwick, top scorers in the semi-finals, made a disastrous start with two falls and an engine failure in their first three heats. They never recovered as Sheffield won eight of the twelve heats and produced two seconds and two third places. The Isle of Wight produced three heat wins but were never really in touch with Sheffield. Swindon managed a solitary heat win but did take third ahead of Berwick.
Edinburgh's performance was not unexpected given recent form at Peterborough and the dreaden yellow/black helmets. However eight-heat semi-final can be a bit of a lottery and may hinge on a couple of missed starts.
To restore the prestige of this event consideration should be given to holding it as a genuine four team tournament over 16 heats. The four qualifiers to come from regional qualification groups. The current system of using August Green Sheet averages is biased against teams who have ridden a lot of away matches and who have not been to Exeter by the cut-off date.
Also the event should be moved away from Peterborough to a decent racing track with good visiblity for spectators.
If changes are not made, the future of the fours looks in doubt.