Eight points up but it might have been more

REPORT Friday 30th May 2025, 11:41pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

The Stellar Monarchs made a powerful start to tonight's KO Cup tie and were ten ahead after just four heats, so they may be a little disappointed to have only gained an 8-point advantage (49-41) in the end. Victor Palovaara was again responsible for a large percentage of Monarchs points - 20 this week – but the home side had only a single race winner in the heats Victor did not appear in.

Palovaara has scored an astonishing 78 points in his last four home meetings. He said afterwards "We are improving, we are getting there. Everyone is coming up with some good heats. Glasgow are a strong team especially when the track is a bit grippier as it was tonight so this is a good result. We had a good win at Glasgow before so I am confident we can go there are get a good result.

"With Michael (Palm Toft) coming in I might not get seven rides next week, maybe just four plus heat 15 if I am riding well enough, but the important thing is that the team does well."

The tall Swede gave another masterclass in fast gating and smooth riding, and never saw another rider after the first bend until Leon Flint nipped past leaving the second bend in heat 14. He was backed up in the early stages by Justin Sedgmen in heat 1 and Paco Castagna in heat 4 with excellent rides to peg both Harris and Howarth back to third places in their opening rides.

Kye Thomson did well to win heat 3 from the back after a mistake by Kemp, and Kye had another paid win in heat 8. The remainder of the side picked up most of the minor placings but it was hard not to feel that Monarchs missed a chance to take an even bigger win.

The Tigers' top two recovered from their early setbacks and it was the visitors who took a majority of the race winners. Harris was especially impressive, pulling off a couple of outrageous first bend cutbacks and topping these with a sensational heat 13 ride as he chased Sedgmen all the way, overcoming the home number one with a last lap outside overtake.

Kyle Howarth and Leon Flint won two heats each, and with his team facing a 12-point deficit going in to the last race Howarth was fortunate to get away with pretty clearly jumping the start. A restart should have been ordered though by that stage of the evening Harris especially was looking unstoppable. The 1-5 heat result pegged Monarchs back to an 8 point lead.

Freddy Hodder deserved praise for his 5-point score, twice grabbing third places ahead of Jonatan Grahn.

The disappointingly early call-off of tomorrow's match probably suits Glasgow as they will no doubt sort out their team problem at number two, and possibly welcome back Dan Thompson, whose shoes were not quite filled by Drew Kemp. And Victor Palovaara might not be at reserve for the restaging.

Full Result Details