Best Monarchs display for ages

REPORT Saturday 11th July 2026, 0:03am

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

This was the first home match Monarchs had raced for four weeks, and all pre-match expectations were that it would be a close fixture against an in-form visiting team. What transpired was quite different as the Armadale side gave their best performance, not just of this season but for some time before that, with a display that the Bears just had no answer to.

Monarchs took all three points on offer and remain in third spot right on the tail of Scunthorpe and Glasgow.

The score did not flatter Edinburgh, and it didn't appear that Redcar were riding especially badly. Monarchs gated exceptionally well, and when necessary pulled off some great overtakes in heats where they didn't make the start.

A very happy home captain Paco Castagna said "We discussed on the track walk that we had to start strong and we did it. It made me so proud of the boys. Redcar are a strong team, they are gaters and they know this track as well so it was good."

Paco himself has been having a difficult season but he was justified in feeling much happier with his personal form. "I decided to step down from King's Lynn recently, and we had a four week gap, I went back home to practise, practise, did all right at Redcar and Plymouth, gaining confidence and here we are, we're back.

"I felt confident tonight on a track where all year I've been struggling. It doesn't matter that I've been here for four or five years you need to have that confidence. It took a lot of pressure off my shoulders and it was unbelievable to see the young guys scoring well too – Jordy, Mitch finished on a high, Jonatan finished on a high. We all did our job, I'm very proud of the boys."

It was a memorable night for Jordy Loftus especially with three wins, and he was voted Monarch of the Match though there were several candidates for that! None of the Bears would be particularly happy with their score and yet they all rode well at times, not least Vinnie Foord who seemed faster and steadier than previously on this track.

With three 5-1s in the first five heats, Monarchs established their dominance and led 22-8 at that point. Best heat in the early stages was heat 4, a tapes to flag win for the fast gating \jordy Loftus but with Kye Thomson fighting throughout to overhaul the Bears, slicing past Jody Scott off the last corner and just failing to take Jake Allen as well.

Heat 5 was also an exciting chase as the very speedy Nicolai Klindt just failed to catch Sedgmen. Indeed throughout the meeting Klindt looked the quickest man on show but he was often not quite in the right place at the right time.

Kye Thomson's win in heat 7 nullified the use of Allen as a tactical sub, and if heat 8 looked on paper as if it could be a turning point, Loftus again put paid to that with another great start and ride.

Heat 9 was a thrilling tussle between Allen and Castagna, the home captain eventually succeeding with inside line passing at which he is so good on his day.

Dan Thompson is as high quality a rider as you will see in the Championship, and we saw him at his best when he rounded Jason Edwards in heat 10 to slot in behind partner Grahn who made a superb start in this one. Klindt finally won a race in heat 11, the first for his team and as it turned out the only race advantage for the Bears.

That made heat 13 intriguing as Klindt came out against the top home men. It was an excellent heat as Dan Thompson made the start, leaving Kye Thomson room for a successful outside sweep to the front. Klindt threw everything into his chase of Thompson but just missed out.

Heat 14 was a curious heat, which looked like a tapes-to-flag win for Mitch Cluff who till that point had not joined in the points spree. Cluff was announced as the winner, which seemed correct, but shortly after the result was altered to give Jason Edwards the victory.

A very enjoyable match finished with perhaps the best heat of all, Jake Allen leading stalked by Dan Thompson who also had to watch our for Klindt again looking very threatening behind him. Eventually Dan pulled off a great inside pass to complete his paid maximum.

There was much enthralling action in this fixture, and it suggests that Monarchs are turning into a very good side indeed.