Monarchs win a hard fought thriller

REPORT Saturday 9th May 2026, 0:01am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs got off to a winning start tonight in this year's Championship campaign with a 49-41 win over a tenacious Workington side in an enthralling match.

Both teams had a key man missing. Injured Monarchs' number one Dan Thompson was replaced by guest rider Nick Morris who gave an absolutely committed performance and produced some of the most exciting moments of the match.

Comets were without Craig Cook but his rider replacement rides scored 11 from 4 heats, with the trio of remaining Comets' big guns Jeppesen, Batchelor and Zischke being well juggled by manager James Denham – they just kept coming at the Monarchs.

Home team manager Alex Harkess said "It got a bit tight in the end for me after we had been fairly comfortable at the start. They had riders who gated very well and made life difficult for us. With rider replacement and tac sub they always seemed to have at least one strong rider in the heat.

"Heat 13 was crucial because they were on a 5-1 but Nick Morris and Kye Thomson fought very hard to turn it into a 3-3. I'd like to have had it sewn up before the last heat but we didn't; however Justin Sedgmen and Kye Thomson combined brilliantly in that. That made it look like an easy win but it wasn't."

Early highlights included another heat 1 win for Jonatan Grahn backed by Nick Morris passing Jonas Jeppesen for a 5-1. Mitch Cluff got his first race win for Monarchs in heat 2, also an advantage and even though Batchelor and Jeppesen won heats, Monarchs' lead was stretched to 10 with a win for Jordy Loftus in heat 8 backed by Grahn again.

However Comets top three were all riding well, confirmed by a 5-1 for Zischke and Batchelor over Morris in heat 10, and when Loftus fell trying a bold move on Ritchings in heat 12 Monarchs led 39-33 and we were in for a grandstand finish.

Hero of heat 13 was really Morris who turned back under Batchelor and passed him, making space at the last gasp for Thomson to also grab a point in a race won by Jeppesen. Loftus tried so hard to get the match winning point in heat 14 but he came off, and with Zischke comfortably beating Castagna in the rerun it was 44-40 going into the last heat.

Comets had three strong men to choose from and it seemed a little surprising that they didn't choose Jeppesen who had easily won heat 13. But in any case it was Sedgmen to the front from the tapes, with a superb sweep round everyone by Thomson taking him past everyone to set up a march to victory by the home pair. "I knew he'd be there!" said Monarch of the Match Sedgmen confirming that the pair had planned the heat exactly as it turned out.

Full Result Details