Berwick Bullets shot down after chaotic night of speedway racing that included a bike fire and injuries

The meeting took its toll on both men and machines with mechanical failures, rider error and fire all part of a hugely entertaining, if at times utterly chaotic, encounter.

In Adam Roynon and hugely impressive reserve Dayle Wood, the Monarchs had two big scoring match-winners.

In contrast, the lightning-fast gating of Connor Coles was the Bullets’ main weapon and he only received sporadic support.

Bullets captain Greg Blair’s evening ended after he threw the kitchen sink at Roynon in heat seven which saw him suffering concussion and a damaged shoulder after he thumped into the barrier on the fourth bend.

He joined Monarchs’ Kyran Lyden – who dislocated his shoulder when falling in heat one – and Mickie Simpson in withdrawing from the meeting.

Teenager Simpson failed to get away from the tapes in heat two and could only watch aghast as his bike caught fire.

Even worse for the ex-Leicester rider, methanol had soaked into the lower part of his kevlars and then caught alight leaving him with burns to his lower leg and foot.

Jason Garrad’s first heat fall caused a stoppage to heat one with Coles comfortably ahead of Max Clegg and there was an inevitability about the fact that in the re-run it was the Monarch who took the chequered flag.

Mason Watson then slid into the first bend fence while comfortably leading two, Wood and Simpson taking a 5-1 in the re-run.

Jamie Halder then blew an engine to smithereens in four when comfortably placed.

That cost Berwick a point but the next engine to let go was far more costly, Coles was apparently en-route to victory when a manifold failure left him cruising around the final two bends without power, first Jacob Hook and then Wood catching and passing him, the Monarchs’ reserve by a tyre knobble on the line.

Following Blair’s evening-ending crash, Edinburgh held what looked like a decisive 17-point lead after seven heats, but the Bullets’ refused to give up.

Danny Phillips and Halder won a re-run heat after Hook was excluded before Coles became the only man to take a point off Roynon, and, with Garrad winning the battle of the additional rider, the home side had pulled back eight points.

And they looked good again in 11, Watson and Halder leaving Clegg in their wake and on their way to a 5-1 when Halder’s seat broke, forcing him to slow and letting Clegg through.

Coles was left trailing in 13 but he managed to power past Clegg and then Hook, the Bandit in Monarchs’ clothing suffering an engine failure which allowed Kieran Douglas to collect his third point of the night and close the deficit to seven points.

Any hopes of an incredible comeback ended when Watson and Halder lost heat 14.

Team manager Kevin Little said: “It was a night when you couldn’t afford to take your eyes off the action for a minute.”