Loss of Paco proves too much

REPORT Saturday 25th April 2026, 0:03am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

What a disappointing night it was at Armadale for the Monarchs, whose hopes of closing the 12 point gap on Redcar Bears in their knockout cup tie were hugely affected by the loss of Paco Castagna in heat 3. The home captain was helpless as Jordan Jenkins on his inside couldn't get turned going into the bend, resulting in both Castagna and Justin Sedgmen crashing as well as Jenkins.

Paco flew through the air and landed on the other side of the air fence. It was suggested that he was keen to come out for the rerun (and no doubt he was) but it did not prove possible. Injured ankles is the early diagnosis.

We can speculate all we like about what might have been with Castagna there, but injury rider replacement did not prove suitable compensation for Paco contributing four points with only Kye Thomson beating an opposition rider from a Castagna ride.

After an excellent personal performance Kye said "It was a shame what happened tonight with the captain going over the fence, that was nasty. I'm just glad he's on his feet even though they don't work so good at the moment. It put a bit of a damper on the team but we fought hard, it just wasn't enough and Redcar came on strong towards the end."

Of his own excellent form for both Monarchs and new Premiership side Northampton he added "It's a few years I've been here now and I've finally gathered up enough financial support to buy good equipment. It's really paying off and I'm enjoying being part of both leagues, I want to keep it going."

The top three home men were exemplary scoring 36 between them. Kye Thomson's first two rides featured the best overtaking of the night as he chased and passed first Jason Edwards and then Jake Allen, finishing the night by passing Allen again to back Dan Thompson for the match-saving 5-1 in heat 15.

Dan Thompson was everything that could be asked of a number one, losing only to fast Dane Klindt in heat 13, and Justin Sedgmen won three of his four races in smooth style.

There just wasn't enough in backup. Jonatan Grahn won heat 1 then faded and was unable to cover key heats 8 and 14, while the reserves were badly outgunned by the Redcar duo with a tally of 15-3 to the visitors from 9 rides each.

Redcar were extremely solid even though they provided just 5 heat winners to Monarchs' 10. Young guns Ace Pijper, Jody Scott and captain Jason Edwards were all impressive as was Jake Allen and it didn't matter too much that their top average man Nicolai Klindt was mediocre prior to heat 13.

Full Result Details