FIREWORKS illuminated the sky at Armadale last night but Edinburgh Scotwaste Monarchs failed to produce any on the track against Belle Vue Aces in the second leg of their promotion/relegation race-off.
In a score many will find hard to believe, the Manchester side swamped Monarchs 68-21 to preserve their Elite League status by a crushing 127-53 margin on aggregate.
The Aces smashed Monarchs' unbeaten home record and the Capital speedway outfit a
lso failed to win a single heat, and that must be some kind of record.
Rain once again made riding conditions very difficult but the Aces squad made light of this. They kept their throttles wide open as they thundered into the first corner. But some of the Monarchs team were a lot more reticent and held back.
As a graphic illustration' Aces Polish star Kryzysztof Kasprzak was out of the gate like grease lightning in the first race and took the chequered flag in a time of 54.8, which is just outside the track record. Kasprzak and team-mate Patrick Hougaard effortlessly racked up 15-point maximums and reserve Ulrich Ostergaard matched their score – but from six rides.
Monarchs deserve some sympathy as both Andrew Tully and Kalle Katajisto withdrew from the meeting after their first and second rides respectively.
Katajisto tumbled off in heat two and damaged his knee cap and Tully, after two engine failures, also jacked it in after complaining of a neck injury which he sustained at King's Lynn in midweek.
It has to be noted, though, that Tully looked totally disinterested and, considering he didn't complete four laps in his two outings, it's hard to imagine that this triggered his discomfort.
Monarchs drafted in former Monarch Rusty Harrison as a guest for Michal Rajkowski and Harrison, to his credit, applied a great deal of effort to his performance and certainly deserved more than four points.
Ryan Fisher was made to look pretty ordinary in exultant top-flight company and never really got going after an engine failure in his first ride.
But Monarchs boss John Campbell urged fans not to judge the team on one bad performance.
He said: "It was probably a meeting too far for us, just a very bad day at the office. The difference between the sides was from the tapes to the first corner, and Belle Vue showed why they are in the Elite League and why we are in the Premier League.
"We under performed in the first leg in Manchester on Monday and we under performed at home tonight."
Belle Vue team manager Chris Morton praised Monarchs efforts over the two legs and said: "It's a shame that Edinburgh had so many rider problems, it was great for us to win and make it look easy but it was disappointing the meeting wasn't more of a contest. For, although the score didn't represent it, Edinburgh did put up a good show at our place.
"For an Elite League team to race against a Premier League team you have got to look like an Elite League side.
"And that's what we did, our riders conducted themselves in the way I hoped they would."
Morton had chided his team for not scoring 60 round their own track, but admitted: "It didn't matter as it turned out but you cannot make assumptions.
"I had looked at Edinburgh's scores at Armadale all season and no Premier side has got near them.
"Had the conditions been better and Edinburgh were able to track a full team, I think the scores would have been closer.
"But we enjoyed coming to Armadale and would like to come again but in different circumstances."
Monarchs reserve Aaron Summers had to take extra rides to cover for Tully and Katajisto, but the Australian, perhaps jaded after a long season, couldn't scale any great heights and five points from seven starts underlines he has a lot of work to do between now and next season, whoever he is with, to put himself back in the shop window.
Skipper Matthew Wethers also picked up five and commented: "It wasn't nice out there, it was tricky, but it was the same for everyone, you couldn't really attack the track because you also had to stay on your bike."
Monarchs: Fisher 7, Wethers 5, Summers 5, Harrison 4, Tully 0, Katajisto 0.
Belle Vue Aces: Hougaard 15, Kasprzak 15, Ostergaard 15, Wright 11, Lemon 6, Sneddon 6.
