Pickering Brilliant In Monarchs Defeat

The Stellar Monarchs were led brilliantly by Josh Pickering albeit in a losing effort as they went down by ten at Ashfield on Wednesday night.

Pickering was in absolutely imperious form racking up six wins out of seven only missing out on a 21 point maximum to home number one Chris Harris in the final heat.

Unfortunately for a Monarchs perspective with Justin Sedgmen missing and no guest options available the consistent back up wasn't quite on offer leaving team manager Alex Harkess to say after, 'It was a shame really we couldn't do more, the bottom line is we can't carry rider replacement away from home.

'Unfortunately, in this particular case we had a rider booked who called off late and we paid the penalty for that, I believe with a reasonable guest the score would have been a lot closer.

'Josh was exceptional as he tends to be, he carried the team and full marks to him.'

The Monarchs made a dream start as Pickering and Kye Thomson rocketed from the start to take a maximum 5-1.

This lead was quickly erased as the home men hit back with a pair of maximums of their own, first through reserve pair James Pearson and Tom Spencer then through Leon Flint and Matic Ivacic who had his best Ashfield match of his time so far with the Tigers.

With Harris, Flint, Ivacic and Pearson all with at least two wins or paid wins and the rest of the Tigers all with one it was a solid performance by the hosts and this meant there was no way back into it for the Monarchs.

The racing was close throughout albeit with passing at a premium in the early stages and it took till heat 11 for the track action to come to life.

Pickering and Thomson looked to have made the start only for Pearson to find an incredible line to rocket from last to first entering the third bend.

Pickering would not be denied though rounding his Australian compatriot on the third lap.

With the meeting wrapped up for the home men all eyes on the final heat fell on if Pickering could compete a remarkable maximum, Harris and Flint the opposition.

The Tigers gated best with Flint holding off the early charges, the Monarch would cut back off bend four on the penultimate lap to get into second but by this time Harris was out of sight.

Still, an unbelievable effort from the Monarchs number one and the gap is ten for when both meet again at Armadale whenever they may be.

Glasgow Tigers 50 : Harris 10+2, Smith 4, Flint 9+2, Ivacic 5+1, Rowe 7, Pearson 12, Spencer 3+2

Stellar Monarchs 40 : Pickering 20, Thomson 8+1, Fredriksen 5, Castagna 4+1, Wood 0, Coles 3+1

Midweek Derby Up Next

Another frustrating weekend for fans of the Stellar Edinburgh Monarchs as rain wreaked havoc on a Scottish derby clash for the fourth time this season.

This time the precipitation gods saw fit to allow seven heats of racing before Armadale was considered unsafe for the show to go on.

Things had gone swimmingly (not the best turn of phrase under the circumstances) up until that point with Edinburgh settling into a nine-point lead thanks mainly to some fine riding from Kye, Paco, Max and Connor in particular. But hey, such is life in the world of speedway - especially in these parts.

As far as the Monarchs' lingering hopes of grabbing that final play-off place we're concerned, their fate would be confirmed 48 hours later after 30 heats of speedway between Berwick and Workington ended with the five Championship points available going to the Comets, effectively leaving the Monarchs out of the running.

No real shock if truth be told, but disappointing nonetheless.

Finishing as far up the table to keep confidence high with the BSN Series semi final looking our last remaining objective as far as the league is concerned.

So, a positive result at Ashfield on Wednesday might go some way to achieving that aim.

Although Glasgow have a couple of meetings in hand over their great rivals, they are only two points better off in the table. In fact, it's so tight down at the bottom, only four points separate Edinburgh from Redcar in fifth spot. So, for the sake of pride, there's still a lot to play for yet.

For the trip to Ashfield, both teams will show a couple of changes to their respective line-ups.

For the Tigers, Anders Rowe, who has signed a 28-day mini contract with the club, comes in for Stevie Worrall, while Tom Spencer guests for Jason Garrad.

Justin Sedgmen has still to fully shake off his knee injury for the visitors and the No.5 race jacket was originally to be worn by Drew Kemp. Kemp now unable to fulfill the booking so other options are being explored.

Elsewhere in the Monarchs' line-up, Dayle Wood replaces Max James who is unavailable.

Tapes up is at 7.30pm with live updates available throughout on the Monarchs official website