A Bit Better at Berwick

Monarchs will have been aware that they needed a substantially improved performance to regain credibility after the disappointment of the Scunthorpe defeat the night before. To an extent they achieved that, at least with a better score of 36 against a Berwick side which is as strong as anyone in the league on their own circuit.

For Jordy Loftus these two away matches have not brought big scores but have eased him back into action after 19 days off with concussion. He said "I feel much better now having had that time off. 100% fit. I do struggle a bit at Berwick to find a setup. But I now have two NDL matches and we are all hungry to win the Playoffs. Monarchs are an amazing club, all very nice and welcoming and I'm very happy to be here."

Monarchs actually made a startling start, with more than a little assistance from the Bandits. In the opening race Peter Kildemand sent Dan Thompson flying and earned an exclusion, an incident which did Dan no good physically or mechanically. Then Mitch Clff pulled a shock out of the bag with a win over Reid Battye in heat two.

If that wasn't a big enough surprise then heat 3 certainly was! Etheridge and Jenkins led for three laps, but Jonatan Grahn was bold enough to use the outside of the second turn on lap four to ease alongside and past Jenkins. At that point on the final turn, both Bandits fell off!

Grahn therefore took the win while Justin Sedgmen who had been viewing the heat from a distant fourth position (after a good start) took a paid win! So Monarchs led 12-5.

Bandits hit back with a 5-1 and 4-2 but thanks to a second place from Dan Thompson and a good win for Kye Thomson over Kildemand and Etheridge, we hung on to a 1-point lead until heat 7. Realistically the main target at that stage had to be the bonus point, we had too many riders not willing to attack the outside lines.

Mitch Cluff was competitive in the early stages of heat 8 before dropping back, then Kye Thomson showed his mettle once again to win heat 9 with a committed ride round the boards. Oh that others were willing to join him.

Kye had another good ride chasing Nick Morris two heats later, and excelled himself in winning heat 13 against the very formidable Kildemand-Morris pairing.

But he could not do it all on his own and eventually the bonus point also disappeared over the horizon as well as Bandits took the last two heats by 5-1.

Of course Paco was missing, and rider replacement gained 1 point. It's not really a Paco track but he might have managed more. On the other hand Berwick more than covered for Victor Palovaara who has not had a great season in the borders. When you see Nick Morris coming in for Victor, you know you've got problems.

It's been a dismal finish to the league programme in which earlier the team achieved quite a bit, including an unbeaten home record. Time for a regrouping and a much better performance in the Playoffs. Meanwhile Berwick must wonder how they did not qualify, but they do have cup competitions up ahead.

Monarchs on the road this weekend

Edinburgh Monarchs will wrap up their 2026 Cab Direct Championship regular season with a weekend road trip that will take them to Scunthorpe on Friday and Berwick on Saturday.

Play-off place secure – but which position?

Last Friday's home win over Berwick guaranteed the Monarchs a top-four finish and a spot in the play-offs, but which spot? Poole Pirates clinched the top slot with a big 59-31 home win over Plymouth on Wednesday and will face the 4th-placed team in the play-off semi-finals.

Edinburgh currently sit 3rd with 22 points, behind Glasgow who are second with 23 points but just ahead of Friday night hosts Scunthorpe who are fourth on 21 points. All three teams have two matches remaining but only the Monarchs have no home fixtures left. The Tigers are at Redcar on Friday to defend a 6-point aggregate lead and Scunthorpe will visit Glasgow on September 4th with an 8-point lead.

At this point, it would be fair to say that the name of the game is Poole avoidance, at least for the first round, as the Pirates look especially ominous after recruiting Slater Lightcap and are difficult to beat around their home track.

Must win at Scunthorpe?

Both of this weekend's opponents are unbeaten at home in the league so far. A win for the Scorpions on Friday around their own Eddie Wright Raceway would automatically secure the aggregate bonus point after their 45-all draw at Armadale in June, on a night that Nick Morris' 14+2 in blue & gold was especially important. That would put the Scorpions onto 24 points and leave the Monarchs needing a surprise win at Shielfield to retain hope of steering clear of the Pirates.

Last year, a very solid team effort saw the Monarchs win by ten points at Scunthorpe, so a repeat would be very welcome. Only Connor Mountain and Luke Harrison remain from last year's Scunthorpe team, although Edinburgh's then-top scorer Michael Palm Toft is now in Scorpions' colours.

Young Harrison has made good progress this year and was a team-mate of Dan Thompson as Great Britain claimed bronze medals at the European U24 Team Championships recently. Former Monarch Jacob Hook had belatedly found a place in the Scorpions team recently but a broken collar bone rules him out for Friday, and he will be replaced by Jordan Jenkins as a guest.

The big name for Scunthorpe is our old friend Josh Pickering at number one. The sensational Aussie's declared opening average of 11.64 took up nearly 30% of the team's limit at the start of the season. By comparison, that is only 0.05 below the otherwise incomparable Jack Young's final Division Two average for Edinburgh in 1951 – the year he was crowned world champion. Although his current average is "only" a league-leading 10.39, Pickering has been outstanding value in terms of scoring and entertainment this year and will be a hot favourite to regain his CLRC title at Sheffield next month.

Full strength for one night only

The Monarchs will be delighted to track a full-strength side for the first time in a few weeks, even if it is for just one night. Jordy Loftus has been restored to the side after his enforced concussion lay off and the young star will be fired up to improve on last year's nil points when he returns to Scunthorpe.

Paco Castagna will miss the trip to Shielfield on Saturday as he will be in Lonigo attempting to retain his lead in the Italian Championship title race. If a suitable guest cannot be found, Monarchs will use Rider Replacement, as will Berwick in the injury absence of Victor Palovaara.

Jonatan and Kye getting even better

Jonatan Grahn will switch to number four for Berwick only. The classy Swede scored 10 points from reserve at Scunthorpe last season and he has impressed everyone with the improvement in his scoring this year despite moving up to the difficult number two position.

Whilst the Monarchs have had some success at Berwick in previous years, 33 points was a dismal return from their BSN Series visit in May, especially as Kye Thomson accounted for nearly half of that with his superb 16-point return. It is a measure of Kye's progress in his sixth year in blue & gold that we know he will be number one in the Monarchs' official averages for the first time from September 1st.

Travelling Monarchs fans can look forward to Kye's tussles with Bandits heat leaders Nick Morris and Peter Kildemand. This will be the Dane's last appearance against the Monarchs after the announcement that he will be retiring at the end of this season, potentially ending his time in UK Championship speedway after the Bandits' KO Cup final against Plymouth.

Berwick will be determined to complete a perfect home league record for the season but Edinburgh will hope to at least defend the eight-point advantage they fought hard to establish last Friday at Armadale.

There will be play-off speedway at Armadale this year and this weekend may go a long way to establishing who the first opponents for Monarchs might be.

Friday 28th August: Scunthorpe Scorpions v Edinburgh Monarchs

ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS: Josh Pickering (captain), Connor Mountain, Jordan Jenkins (guest), Michael Palm Toft, Luke Harrison, Ryan Ingram, Nathan Ablitt.

ROSS ECO TECHNOLOGIES MONARCHS: Dan Thompson, Jonatan Grahn, Justin Sedgmen, Paco Castagna (captain), Kye Thomson, Mitch Cluff, Jordy Loftus.

Saturday 29th August: Berwick Bandits v Edinburgh Monarchs

BERWICK R.E.D. BANDITS: Peter Kildemand, Jye Etheridge (captain), Victor Palovaara R/R, Jordan Jenkins, Nick Morris, Jack Smith, Reid Battye.

ROSS ECO TECHNOLOGIES MONARCHS: Dan Thompson, Paco Castagna R/R or guest TBC, Justin Sedgmen, Jonatan Grahn, Kye Thomson, Mitch Cluff, Jordy Loftus.