A Bit Better at Berwick

REPORT Saturday 29th August 2026, 10:40pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

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.