Edinburgh take this weekend off their attempts to win the Premier League, the Premier National Trophy and the Premier League Cup. The four legs of the Northern Qualification Group of the Premier League National Fours competition are held this weekend. The Armadale leg is on Friday, Berwick is on Saturday, while there is a Glasgow and Newcastle double header on Sunday.
Apart from the injured Paul Bentley missing out for Glasgow, all four teams are at full strength with Robert Eriksson due to make a surprise comeback for Newcastle. The teams listed are as follows:
EDINBURGH MONARCHS: Peter Carr, Kevin Little, Ross Brady, James Grieves. Reserve Stewart McDonald.
GLASGOW TIGERS: Mick Powell, Emiliano Sanchez, Will Beveridge, Sean Courtney. Reserve Brian Turner.
NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS: David Walsh, Paul Gould, Jesper Olsen, Robert Eriksson. Reserve Derrol Keats.
BERWICK BANDITS: Scott Lamb, David Meldrum, Tom P Madsen, Alan Mogridge. Reserve Claus Kristensen.
The top two teams from each of the three Groups will qualify for the finals at Peterborough. The two best placed teams failing to finish up in the top two will also qualify to make up the numbers to eight.
In addition, the winning team of the Edinburgh leg of the Fours will be presented with the George Hunter Memorial Trophy by George Cummings.
Monarchs have an outstanding record in the Fours throughout the 1990s. They have qualified every year from 1991 onwards apart from the Scottish Monarchs year in 1996. That year, Monarchs, operating out of Shawfield, were in a strong first division group including Bradford and Hull (Berwick, Glasgow, and Newcastle were not running) and failed to qualify.
Monarchs won the Fours in 1993, and finished runners-up in 1991 behind Arena Essex. They also were second in 1992 behind Peterborough, in 1997 behind Long Eaton, and in 1998 behind Peterborough once more. Monarchs were fourth in 1994 behind Oxford. In 1995 they narrowly failed to qualify for the top four of the first division competition in the Semi-Finals at Peterborough. The competition was won by Cradley Heath in 1995.
This year the finals are held at Peterborough on Sunday 8th August. The competition will be much fairer than for previous years with Peterborough not competing.
The finals will comprise two eight-heat Semi-Finals and a twelve-heat Final. Monarchs certainly start favourites for the 1999 Four Team Tournament given their record and the strength of their top five. Monarchs also have Peterborough track specialists in Pete Carr, Kevin Little and especially Ross Brady. Sheffield could also be useful having ex-Peterborough riders Simon Stead and Paul Lee in their top five.