Barrett fliesWL banner in final four Monarchs lose out to bitter rivals
The Edinburgh Border Roofing Monarchs suffered their first home league defeat of the season in the 2016 finale as they went down 55-38 to Glasgow Tigers.
The contest between the two bitter rivals brought the curtains down on the 20th season of speedway at the Armadale Stadium.
It was always going to be a tough clash for the hosts, who ended the season in fourth place in the Premier League table, as four of the usual starting line-up were missing. Sam Masters, who was riding in the Australian Grand Prix, Ryan Fisher, Max Clegg and Dan Bewley were all unavailable with Steve Worrall the only replacement to impress as he scored 13 points.
The German trio of Kevin Wolbert and brothers Erik and Mark Riss were all a bit rusty having not raced for three weeks since the last match was raced at Armadale, so a defeat against the Tigers was to be expected.
It brings to an end a particularly frustrating campaign for Edinburgh who made major changes over the winter having won back-to-back Premier League titles. That led to inconsistent results and performances during the early stages of the season, before a long winning streak saw them climb into fourth spot and clinch a play-off berth before being defeated by Ipswich.
Ten home matches were called off either due to weather or, in the case of the originally scheduled clash with Glasgow, floodlight failure.
The club bosses will now take up the task of putting together a team for the 2017 season.
One man who certainly won’t be with the Monarchs is American ace Fisher, who has retired from the sport.