24 points to make up

The Monarchs gave it all they had at Poole in the first leg of the Championship Playoff semi-final, but could not prevent the Poole Pirates taking a 57-33 lead to bring up to Armadale.

Team manager John Campbell before setting off on the long trip home was keen to praise the efforts of his team. He said "I'm very proud of what the team did. It's very hard for visitors to find the setup with the way the track is here. Our riders were so determined, and they've still got that determination. Of course it will take a superhuman effort on Friday, but their heads are not down and they believe they can still do something. You never know."

Frustratingly often, Monarchs' riders gated well only to find that the home men found the lines inside or out from the second turn to squeeze past down the back straight. Both Kye Thomson in heat 1 and Mitch Cluff in heat 2 suffered in that way after gating well and that put the home side 10-2 ahead at that early stage.

Monarchs fought back with three consecutive race winners. Paco Castagna led the way in heat 3 and was joined by Justin Sedgmen who passed Cooper Rushen to record a 5-1.

Dan Thompson won heat 4 and Kye Thomson heat 5, and at 17-13 we were pretty happy even though we had four last places out of 5. Last places were a bit of a problem all night.

The next two heats were both home 4-2s but we should have reversed one of these in heat 8 with Mitch Cluff leading for almost 3 laps in heat 8 – until he came down on the freshly watered third bend under pressure from Newman.

Dan took his second win in heat 9 and our middle pair shared heat 10 behind Lawson. A 10 point deficit at that point was still not bad, if we could match the Pirates in the closing stages.

However it was not to be. We were often close to gaining good positions in these closing heats, but four of the last five races wound up as home 5-1s. Heat 14 would have been a 4-2 but Lightcap packed up in front and we took the 4-2.

Captain Paco had put everything into it on and off the track and at least he was voted Enchanted Rider of the Night. So we can ask him what the contents of the bag are! Roll on Friday.

A Shot at Glory

Before the start of the season, quite a few self-appointed 'experts' predicted that the 2026 Edinburgh Monarchs had no chance of achieving anything this season. Five months later, the Monarchs will go into this Friday's Play-off semi-final second-leg at Armadale defending their hard-fought unbeaten home record and in with a chance of beating champions Poole to reach the play-off final.

Poole beaten twice already at Armadale this year

Before that, the Monarchs need to go to Poole on Wednesday for the first-leg and they will be hoping to improve on their two previous performances in Dorset this season. Formidable as the Pirates are, Berwick showed what can be done when they knocked Poole out of the cup earlier this year, easily over-turning a four-point deficit in their home leg.

Edinburgh have beaten the Pirates twice at Armadale this season after a couple of superbly entertaining matches. In May, an exciting late comeback saw the Monarchs take the last two heats by 9-3 to snatch a 46-44 win in the BSN Series. In August, Edinburgh did even better in the league match, winning by 47-43 despite being without Jordy Loftus. Halfway through that match, the Monarchs took a ten-point lead and were in with a real chance of over-turning the 14-point aggregate deficit from the away fixture at Poole. A last heat 1-5 from Richard Lawson and Zach Cook made the scoreline look better for Poole in the end.

How can Monarchs do better at Poole?

The league encounter at Wimborne Road last month went the way of the Pirates by 52-38. Mitch Cluff put on a memorable show for the Monarchs but Jonatan Grahn and Jordy Loftus both had difficult nights. Despite losing by 14 points, it would not take much of an uptick in scoring for the Monarchs to give themselves a chance, although it will need to be a seven-man effort. Dan Thompson totalled 10 in the Championship Pairs at Poole this month – a score Paco Castagna managed in the 2025 league match there – but every point will be vital and it might just take a couple of vintage Sedgmen race wins and for Kye Thomson to match his performances everywhere else for Edinburgh to post a decent target of around ten points or better?

The Pirates will have something to say about that obviously. Cook and Lawson are impressive but they will have been disappointed not to claim Championship Pairs glory at their home track recently. The Pirates already had the cream of the league's superstars-in-waiting in Will Cairns and Cooper Rushen, before adding US SGP2 star Slater Lightcap recently. Play-off speedway may be a test for the youngsters' temperament though, especially around Armadale. They will certainly provide some excitement, but it might just be the unsung heroes of the team, Lewis Kerr and Kyle Newman, who make the difference.

Bringing it home

The exceptionally well-prepared track at Armadale will provide a platform for all of the riders to show their talents on Friday. All of the Monarchs have race wins in them, not least Jonatan Grahn who has maintained his record of winning at least one race every match at home. Jordy Loftus seems to be back to his best after his concussion absence, so Friday would be a great time for him and Mitch Cluff to both have a good match at the same time.

Dan Thompson and Kye Thomson have had long seasons and raced a lot of laps doubling-up with their Premiership sides. Dan and Kye will swap places in the line-up this week with Kye moving to number one as the Monarch with the highest average this month. Dan has taken a few knocks recently, but as a pair they are a match for anyone in West Lothian, especially in the late heats. If Paco Castagna and Justin Sedgmen can pull out their best form too, the Monarchs will be hard to beat on the night.

Poole have proven to be the best team over the course of the season but this is play-off speedway. The Monarchs might not be favourites but they have earned their chance and it should be an epic contest. One of these teams will face Glasgow or Scunthorpe in the final and there is only one way to find out which one.

Wednesday 16th & Friday 18th August: Edinburgh Monarchs v Poole Pirates, Cab Direct Championship Play-off semi-finals.

ROSS ECO TECHNOLOGIES MONARCHS: Kye Thomson, Jonatan Grahn, Justin Sedgmen, Paco Castagna (captain), Dan Thompson, Mitch Cluff, Jordy Loftus.

POOLE WESSEX MARINE PIRATES: Richard Lawson, William Cairns, Lewis Kerr, Cooper Rushen, Zach Cook (captain), Slater Lightcap, Kyle Newman.

Tickets for Friday's home match are on sale now:

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All matches in the Play-offs will be streamed live by British Speedway Network.

Not racing but still a big week for the Edinburgh Academy

Two big home wins last week have put the Edinburgh Academy in a commanding position in the WSRA National Development League title race. The Academy still await confirmation of dates for their last two away matches, but all the pressure has now transferred to Leicester Lion Cubs, who have three must-win away fixtures at King's Lynn, Middlesbrough and Buxton this week.

Edinburgh have already amassed an unbeaten 19 points ahead of their final matches at Oxford and Leicester. If we are bold enough to assume that the aggregate point at Leicester is virtually assured after last week's 65-25 Armadale win for the Academy, the target for the Lion Cubs is a minimum of 20 and that is only achievable if they win all five of their remaining fixtures, including at home to Edinburgh, and collect the other three aggregate points available to them. If they slip up, they might hand the title to Edinburgh so the heat is on.

Loftus siblings in GB U19 final

Jordy and Anika Loftus will represent Edinburgh in the Great Britain Under-19 Championship at Plymouth next Saturday. The 'Welsh' brother and sister will race against favourites including defending champion Luke Harrison and Poole's Will Cairns and Cooper Rushen. Jody Scott will also be fancied.

New British Youth Champion Stene Pijper is in the field too, and Edinburgh fans might also have a soft spot for Ashton Vale, who performed so well guesting in blue & gold last week.

Jordy scored 8+1 at Plymouth in the league earlier and will hope to be in the mix for the rostrum places.