A bizarre row between Monarchss promoter John Campbell and Scotland supremo Bert Harkins was revealed over the weekend.

This occurred after it appeared that Bert Harkins claimed to have no knowledge of the two Test Matches held over last weekend at Berwick and Newcastle. The series was originally set up as a three match series to be run in September, Berwick were not allocated a Test Match as there was doubt about them running at the time the decision was made. The second Test was allocated to Workington. When Berwick were reinstated in the Premier League under their new promotion they applied for and were granted a Test Match as were Newcastle. These two matches had to be scheduled in July.

Harkins claims that he had no knowledge of the additional matches when he was approached by the Berwick promotion asking him who would be in the team:

"I had no idea. It was news to me when I was told."

John Campbell was not convinced:

"I was astonished to hear Bert claim he had no knowledge about these matches. I asked him as early as last month when I saw him at Swindon what he was doing about them - and he told me they weren't on. This surprised me greatly because I happened to know that the Berwick match was definately taking place. So Bert has known about the situation for over a month. I simply do not know what has been going on."

"The British Speedway Promoters Association knew they were taking place. Yet Bert was clear in his own mind that they were not going ahead. I told Bert they were on. Bert should have checked but obviously he didn't."

Campbell also rejected suggestions that the BSPA tried to block the Berwick and Newcastle Tests:

"That was what Bert thought but from a Berwick point of view that was never the case at all. Their promoter Peter Waite never gave the slightest indication that the match would not take place. And Newcastle promoter George English also has documentation proving that the match was on."

Harkins said "I've got a letter dated in March confirming that there would be no additions to what was scheduled as a three match Test series. I did speak to John at Swindon but I did not check out what he told me. I hindsight, I should have done so."

With all this confusion it is as well that the Scotland team virtually picked itself. With two albeit fring riders David McAllan and Wesley Waite injured for some time, there were only eight Premier League riders to choose from. The late call off by James Grieves reduced this to seven!.

Scotland have a limited pool to choose from and suffered the blow of losing top rider James Grieves on top of the retirement of last year's captain Kenny McKinna. Scotland can be reasonably happy with the one-one score after the first two Tests.

Scotland have a fairly young squad. Scott Lamb, captain for this years' series is the oldest at 32. Kevin Little is 26 while Stewart McDonald and James Grieves are both 24. David Meldrum and Wesley Waite are 21. Blair Scott, Barry Campbell and David McAllan are nineteen with Ross Brady the youngest in the squad at 18. The squad should have a degree of stability over the next two or three years. There are a number of Conference League riders in the pipeline who may be available to augment to squad in the future.

There is still some way to go before Bert Harkins can get his wish to see Scotland readmitted to the World Team Cup. It is understtod that a formal application will shortly be submitted to the FIM.

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