Newcastle Diamonds 44: Edinburgh Monarchs 45
Premier National Trophy
Brough Park, Newcastle
Sunday 7th May 2000
Edinburgh came back into contention for the Northern Group of the Premier National Trophy with a single point win at Newcastle. Th match had parallels with the single point defeat at Glasgow a week earlier. The difference was that Edinburgh obtained the required 3-3 in the last heat decider at Brough Park.
The foundations of the win were laid by the consistency of Peter Carr and Robert Eriksson with support from Dixon, Brady, Scott, and Henry. Monarchs provided nine heat winners. This proved enough in a typically tight encounter at Brough Park.
Edinburgh were without former captain Kevin Little due to illness and used Martin Dixon as a guest. Neil Painter came in for the departed Brian Turner. Newcastle were without injury victim Jesper Olsen and had Neil Collins as guest.
Heat 1: Robert Eriksson, Bjarne Pedersen, Will Beveridge, Blair Scott [64.9]
Robert Eriksson was back in heat 1 at Brough Park where he achieved so many victories last year. He beat Pedersen and Beveridge with Scott last.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Darren Pearson, Christian Henry, Jamie Smith, Neil Painter [67.1]
Newcastle took the lead following a win by Darren Pearson ahead of Christian Henry and Jamie Smith. Neil Painter fell and restarted.
(4-2) (7-5)
Heat 3: Peter Carr, Stuart Swales, Ross Brady, Grant MacDonald [65.4]
Monarchs hit back to level with a heat advantage courtesy of Peter Carr and Ross Brady. The Monarchs pair led from the gate but Swales managed to split.
(4-2) (9-9)
Heat 4: Neil Collins, Martin Dixon [66.4]
Neil Collins beat his Swindon teammate Martin Dixon at the third attempt after Jamie Smith and Christian Henry had been excluded after falling in the first two attempts to run the heat.
(3-2) (12-11)
Heat 5: Robert Eriksson, Stuart Swales, Grant MacDonald, Blair Scott [65.4]
Robert Eriksson produced his second win but Swales and MacDonald filled the minor places to maintain the narrow Newcastle lead.
(3-3) (15-14)
Heat 6: Bjarne Pedersen, Will Beveridge, Martin Dixon, Neil Painter [66.1]
Martin Dixon suffered machine problems and ran wide on the fourth bend to let Beveridge pass. Newcastle broke the deadlock to move five points ahead.
(5-1) (20-15)
Heat 7: Peter Carr, Ross Brady, Neil Collins, Darren Pearson [65.6]
Monarchs came back with a 5-1 after Ross Brady withstood a sustained challenge from Neil Collins to back up Peter Carr.
(1-5) (21-20)
Heat 8: Blair Scott, Will Beveridge, Jamie Smith, Christian Henry [66.7]
Blair Scott led all the way to win another heat 8 ahead of Beveridge and Smith to keep Monarchs in contention.
(3-3) (24-23)
Heat 9: Martin Dixon, Grant MacDonald, Stuart Swales, Neil Painter [67.1]
Martin Dixon went out on Peter Carr's bike and won from MacDonald and Swales.
(3-3) (27-26)
Heat 10: Bjarne Pedersen, Peter Carr, Ross Brady [66.0]
Edinburgh were denied a 5-0 advantage by a dubious refereeing decision. The Edinburgh pair gated and Will Beveridge fell and was in the process of clearing his bike from the track when Pedersen shot past Brady and went straight into the fence. The referee claimed that he had already stopped the heat. This did not appear to have been done and would have been unnecessary anyway since the riders were still half a lap away from trouble and Beveridge was on his way off the track. Pedersen was allowed into the rerun and duly won the heat.
(3-3) (30-29)
Heat 11: Robert Eriksson, Neil Collins, Blair Scott, Darren Pearson [66.1]
Eriksson and Scott secured a heat advantage to put Edinburgh into the lead for the first time.
(2-4) (32-33)
Heat 12: Peter Carr, Stuart Swales, Jamie Smith, Christian Henry [62.4]
Edinburgh brought in Christian Henry for Neil Painter as a reserve change. Peter Carr won another tied heat to maintain the single point lead.
(3-3) (35-36)
Heat 13: Robert Eriksson, Bjarne Pedersen, Martin Dixon, Neil Collins [65.7]
Edinburgh stretched their lead to three points after Robert Eriksson defeated Pedersen once more and Dixon finished ahead of Neil Collins.
(2-4) (37-40)
Heat 14: Grant MacDonald, Christian Henry, Darren Pearson, Ross Brady [67.5]
Grant MacDonald won this heat from Christian Henry while Darren Pearson managed to pass Ross Brady to bring Newcastle right back into contention.
(4-2) (41-42)
Heat 15: Bjarne Pedersen, Peter Carr, Robert Eriksson, Stuart Swales [65.7]
Edinburgh needed a 3-3 to win the match and Carr and Eriksson delivered. Pedersen was allowed to go as Carr and Eriksson stayed clear of Swales to record Edinburgh's first away win of the season.
(3-3) (44-45)
|
Newcastle Diamonds |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Bjarne Pedersen |
2 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
13 |
|
Will Beveridge |
1* |
2* |
2 |
0 |
|
|
|
5+2 |
|
Stuart Swales |
2 |
2 |
1* |
2 |
0 |
|
|
7+1 |
|
Grant MacDonald |
0 |
1* |
2 |
3 |
|
|
|
6+1 |
|
Neil Collins |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
|
6 |
|
|
Darren Pearson |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
|
4 |
||
|
Jamie Smith |
1 |
0 |
1* |
1* |
|
|
|
3+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Robert Eriksson |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
1* |
|
|
13+1 |
|
Blair Scott |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
12 |
|
Ross Brady |
1 |
2* |
1* |
0 |
|
|
|
4+2 |
|
Martin Dixon |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
|
|
7 |
|
|
Neil Painter |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
|
0 |
|
Christian Henry |
2 |
X |
0 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
||
Peter Carr and Robert Eriksson, both former Newcastle riders were almost unstoppable. Bjarne Pedersen was the only home rider capable of challenging them. He did secure a dubious win in heat 10 and beat the pair of them in heat 15.
Martin Dixon as guest for Edinburgh went one better than teammate Neil Collins guesting for Newcastle. Blair Scott, Ross Brady and Christian Henry all contributed points towards the Edinburgh win.
Had Jesper Olsen been available, Monarchs would have probably found the going a bit tougher. Although Jesper is not the most consistent of riders, he would have been expected to score more than the six points Neil Collins scored. The seven points that Dixon scored is closer to what would have been expected from Kevin Little.
Man of the match: Peter Carr
Next meeting: v Newcastle, Premier National Trophy, Armadale on Friday 12th May 2000
John Lowe