Drawn Match in the wind and rain

REPORT Friday 12th June 2026, 11:56pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

On a wintry night at Armadale, Monarchs made up lost ground after a disastrous start and finished level with an impressive Scunthorpe side. The match ended with four drawn races, including a nail-biting heat 15, and there were quite a few talking points throughout the evening.

The evening may be remembered most clearly for the weather – it's mid June and we had freezing wind and rain when we deserved better. The dominant riders on the night were Josh Pickering, outstanding for the Scorpions on his Armadale return, and for the home side guest Nick Morris put in an outstanding shift right down to his hard work assisting Kye Thomson to take third ahead of Michael Palm Toft in heat 15. Morris was the only home rider to beat Pickering.

Kye Thomson had to work hard in heats 13 and 15 to subdue Michael Palm Toft, and he said "I thought in mid-meeting we were doing enough to get the win. Conditions certainly made it difficult. We had a good guest in Nick Morris who did an awesome job.

"Dan Thompson was very hard done by with the exclusion in heat 6, it's probably the worst decision I've seen in my time in speedway. But we've got Dan back now and we can kick on from this."

There had already been heavy rain in the afternoon and the track was difficult from the off, with the visitors taking a 5-1 in the opening race, which was followed by further rain. There was another Scunny 5-1 in the reserves' heat, with the home pair all at sea. Morris and Justin Sedgmen managed to reverse one of these, and Kye Thomson took an excellent heat 4 win from the back over Palm Toft.

There was some serious ill fortune over the next two heats for the Monarchs. Sedgmen and Morris gated on a 5-1 over Pickering in heat 5, only for Sedgmen to start slowing down the back straight. Morris did maintain the lead but Sedgmen got slower as the race went on and was pipped for third on the line by Connor Mountain.

Even worse followed as Dayle Wood came down into the fence on bend two of heat 6. Dan Thompson had been nowhere near him but somehow the referee managed to rule that Thompson was to blame and excluded him.

That was a double-edged sword though as it allowed Monarchs to use Morris as a tactical sub, resulting in a 5-1 with Thomson. Equally important was a win for Jonatan Grahn in heat 8, but for the Scorpions Palm Toft took a key victory in heat 9.

Monarchs finally got in front for the only time in the meeting with a 5-1 from Grahn and Thompson in heat 10, but the excellent Pickering-Mountain pair levelled up with a 4-2 over Thomson. So it was level with four heats remaining and was clearly going down to the wire.

Sedgmen won heat 12, then Pickering heat 13 as the home pair squeezed out Palm Toft. Morris came up with a highlight in heat 14, recovering from a bad start to pull off an exceptional double overtake through the middle of Mountain and Nathan Ablitt.

So it was 42-42 going in to heat 15, and Pickering was soon at the front with Palm Toft closely following. Morris got himself into second and spent the rest of the race trying to assist his partner to come in to third, which he eventually succeeded with. Monarchs were certainly indebted to their guest.

Home reserve pair Cluff and Loftus have been improving recently but they didn't cope well with the conditions, and were outscored 13-1 by the visiting reserves. That made life very hard for the home top five but no-one would begrudge Scunthorpe their draw.

Full Result Details