The Edinburgh Falcons got their 2016 campaign underway against their greatest of friends from Northumrbia. The Vikings arrived with a sore and energy sapped Gavin Parr who deserved a longer break given his heroics the previous day. The Falcons were missing Kamil Greszla and Lee Lawrence who both are on the sidelines until May due to injury. Dougie Morgan jumped on the bike for the first time this season in a 1 match only return and Dode Mitchell made his senior team debut.

An early trio of shared heats was broken by the Falcons in Heat 4 and 3  heat advantages followed. A heat maximum for Czarkowski & Newsome in Heat 7 extended the lead and by the interval it was 51-39 with Edinburgh providing the 9 heat winners. The second half started in the same way as the first with some shared heats, this time the stalemate lasted 5 races with Northumbria picking up heat wins from Keith and the Parr Brothers. Edinburgh finished strongly with Hewitson grabbing his 20 point maximum whilst as expected the Northumbria charity ride duo of Wharrier & Parr were feeling the miles of the previous 24 hours.

The division 2 fixture went to the visitors by 77 to to 72 which handed Edinburgh their first home defeat in 2 years. For the Falcons the main man was Taylor Murray racing his first match in a year and only his third ever whilst Northumbria man Dan Readshaw went undefeated. The division 3 fixture was a joy to watch with 8 youngsters on track, Edinburgh ran out victorious by 42-37, top scorers being Riley Dinnes in his first match for Edinburgh and the excellent Lee Readshaw for Northumbria.

Edinburgh now travel to Stockport on Sunday 20th March where they have tasted heavy defeat on the last 4 occasions, Jason Burke will make his debut however the void of Greszla & Lawrence will give team manager Stevie Gilroy a selection headache.