Dan is back and Picko too

NEWS Thursday 11th June 2026, 2:22pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

Championship League speedway returns to Armadale this Friday with a visit from Scunthorpe Scorpions, perhaps the shock team of the season, and that of course means that former Monarchs' star Josh Pickering has his first match back at Armadale since he last wore Monarchs' colours in 2024.

Monarchs will be welcoming back Dan Thompson after five weeks out with his broken collar bone, and he returned and top scored in the away loss at Poole in midweek. Just as Dan comes back, captain Paco Castagna is forced to take a break to allow his hand injury to heal, and Monarchs bring in Nick Morris as a more than decent guest replacement.

Scunthorpe brought Josh Pickering back in to the Championship at a time when his plans to race in Poland were temporarily on hold, and they accepted his assessed average of well over 11 in order to do that. In return the Aussie has been hitting sky-high scores home and away, although he is in no way the only card in the Scorpions' pack.

They have a solid squad backing him up and an away win at Redcar had eyebrows raised, disproving predictions that Scunthorpe would be tail-enders in the league this year. They followed that splendid effort with a very narrow loss at Workington the following day. Their challenge is certainly not hampered by the inclusion of Monarchs' Academy star Dayle Wood as guest replacement for starlet Ryan Ingram who is taking an exam.

Team Manager Alex Harkess acknowledges that Scunthorpe deserve respect. "To go to Redcar and win was brilliant, and they went very close at Workington as well. Obviously Josh has been scoring maximums or very close to it, which gives then a good start, but that doesn't win matches on its own. You have to have other people performing as well and obviously they've been doing very well. However it's a match I am expecting us to do well in.

"Josh coming back is no different from Sam Masters coming back, We know they are capable of scoring loads of points but we've just got to make sure we don't give too many points to the others and also take some points from him!"

Friday's match will be Live Streamed for those who cannot attend, details on www.edinburghmonarchs.co.uk.

FRIDAY'S MATCH:

Friday 12th June: Edinburgh Monarchs v Scunthorpe Scorpions (Championship, Armadale, 7:30pm)

ROSS ECO TECHNOLOGIES MONARCHS: Dan Thompson, Jonatan Grahn, Justin Sedgmen (capt.), Nick Morris (guest), Kye Thomson, Mitch Cluff, Jordy Loftus.

ELLIE ROSE SCORPIONS: Josh Pickering (capt.), Connor Mountain, Luke Harrison, rider replacement for Dan Gilkes, Michael Palm Toft, Dayle Wood, Nathan Ablitt.