Relentless Poole End Monarchs BSN Series Hopes

Edinburgh Monarchs went down to a heavy defeat at Poole on Wednesday bowing out of the BSN Series semi final on a night where nothing went right.

You have to be at your best to have any chance against the Pirates such is their strength and things started poorly and got worse from there as stand in boss Gordon Campbell explains, 'The Pirates got away from us early on and that was decisive. We battled to stem the flow but it was an uphill struggle.

'If we can take one positive from tonight it was the return of Dan Thompson who came back well on a track that thoroughly tested his collarbone.

'Poole are a tough nut to crack but it is one we must crack to have success this season. We will learn from tonight and ensure that we come back stronger here next time.

'We return to Championship action now. We have been strong so far this season and look to continue that against Scunthorpe on Friday.'

None of this is to take anything away from a rampant home team who had the bit between their teeth from the off.

Richard Lawson who raced to an immaculate maximum taking the spoils in heat one in the fastest time of the season albeit with the Monarchs pair including returning number one Dan Thompson packing in behind him.

This was to be about as good a position as the Monarchs would be in as a trio of 5-1 heat maximums would follow before Thompson took one of only two heat wins in the night in the fifth.

Justin Sedgmen would take the checkered flag two races later but that would be the last time an away rider would see this on the night.

The race action would improve as the night progressed with Lawson showing his class as he went from third to first in heat ten followed by a lively first lap in the next race that saw home man Will Cairns go from last to second back to last all in the first lap.

Heat twelve would see another home maximum this meaning mathematically the tie was over and it is congratulations to the Pirates who now await Berwick or Redcar in the final.

Dan Back, Paco Out as Final Place Up For Grabs

The team news is bittersweet for Edinburgh Monarchs as they head south to Poole on Wednesday to take on the Pirates in the second leg of the BSN Series semi final with a two point lead to defend.

The good news is the return of number one Dan Thompson, the young Englishman has been much missed since breaking his collarbone at the start of May and his return is a real boost to all.

Tempering the excitement of Dan's return is the news that captain Paco Castagna faces at least a couple of weeks on the sideline as our Italian talisman has been forced to admit defeat in trying to ride through a thumb injury that has now been diagnosed as ligament damage and a spell of rest and rehab is required.

The Monarchs will still have a full septet to call on though as Dan's twin brother Joe Thompson steps in to guest for Paco in this one.

Elsewhere the team is as expected after a little bit of a break for the British Grand Prix weekend at Manchester albeit there has been track action for Jordy Loftus with a strong 5th place finish in the British U21 final and Jonatan Grahn in his native Sweden.

The hosts are of course many people's favourites to sweep the board in the Championship this year so the task at hand is great but optimism can be taken from recent performances at Wimborne Road, where each of the Monarchs can point to promising individual results that if all of these can be put together could lead to a challenge to the Pirates home dominance.

There are a couple of changes to the home line-up also since the first leg at Armadale at the end of May with Fraser Bowes declared fit to return from rib and lung injuries and winner of that British Under 21 final Cooper Rushen now having ridden enough meetings to achieve a true average, the 16-year-old with a remarkable 6.17 figure so far having started the year on a 2.00.

This line-up shuffle would not appear to have caused any diluting of the Pirates team as experienced Kyle Newman drops to reserve with a 5 point plus average so through no lack of his own form.

Richard Lawson, Lewi Kerr and Zach Cook lead the Pirates charge all capable of going through the card in any meeting and with fellow hotshot Will Cairns still at reserve there is no apparent weakness in this Poole outfit.

The Monarchs are in fine fettle also though and this has all the makings of a tight battle with both teams looking to be the first to mark their name in a competition final this year.

Tapes-up is 7:30pm with all of the action available on the Pirates TV stream available here:

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Live updates available on the Monarchs website throughout also.