Two Championship points gained

REPORT Saturday 25th July 2026, 8:51pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Monarchs took two Championship points from Workington this evening, after a 45-45 draw and a comfortable 8-point win on aggregate for the bonus. It's a good result, but tinged with disappointment as the team led the way from heat 4 to heat 14 before losing a 5-1 in heat 15.

Team manager John Campbell said "I think we've got to be very pleased with picking up another two league points. Anything we can get away from home is a bonus. Nicolai Klindt of course made all the difference, Jeppesen may not have scored a maximum.

"But I'm very pleased we got the draw and the bonus. We had some exceptional performances."

It's a track Monarchs haven't yet won on, having previously drawn last year in a cup tie. We had four men in paid double figures today, excellent battling performances by Jordy Loftus, Jonatan Grahn and Kye Thomson who were all on paid 13, plus Justin Sedgmen with paid 10 from four rides.

Unfortunately it was an off day for Dan Thompson, who has been so good for us this season, though he did manage an important second place in heat 13 after switching bikes. Earlier he had appeared to lack speed.

Comets did have the benefit of an unbeatable performance from their guest Nicolai Klindt who scored an 18 point maximum, though to be fair Jonas Jeppessen their own number one is also good there. It made no difference whether Klindt made the start or not, no-one could touch him.

After losing two 4-2s to start with, Monarchs hit back with two 5-1s, heat 3 being a bit fortunate as Tate Zischke had a motor blow-up and baulked his partner Kemp, allowing Grahn to join Sedgmen up front. Jordy Loftus was already to the fore with a great win in heat 4, with Kye passing Batchelor to join him.

The pattern of scoring was then repeated, two lost 4-2s followed by two Monarchs' 5-1s! Heat 6 saw Kye Thomson get as close as anyone did to Klindt. Sedgmen and Grahn out-fought Batchelor in heat 7, and Jordy pulled off another classic to join Kye after a battle with Vinnie Foord. So we led 28-20 after heat 8.

Heat 9 was an excellent race as Zischke made up ground to pass Kye, whose choice of the wide line for once didn't prove correct. Comets were six down at heat 11 which inevitably meant a Klindt tac sub ride, and he romped off for a 5-1 with Batchelor over Dan and Jordy.

Battle was well and truly joined and we held on to the narrow two point lead over the next two shared heats. Dan and Kye worked so hard to squeeze Batchelor out of the points in heat 13.

We then took an advantage in heat 14 with Jonatan just holding on to pip Zischke, which meant the draw was virtually certain leading 44-40 going in to the final race.

All sorts of possibilities in that one both for who to use and which gates to select. However there was again no holding Klindt off the worst gate 4, and Kemp just managed to gain the advantage over Jonatan and Kye.