Derby delight for Edinburgh Monarchs as Josh Pickering prepares to light up Poland
Australian speedway sensation Josh Pickering has called time on his Edinburgh Monarchs career after a whirlwind eight years.
The 27-year-old came agonisingly close to the perfect send off at Armadale last night after registering 14 points as the Capital club sent the Glasgow Tigers packing 49-41 - a result that all but ended their arch-rivals' slim play-off hopes.
The victory also ensures Monarchs leapfrog both Berwick and Plymouth into seventh in the Championship standings, but doesn't deflect from what has largely been a disappointing 2024 for the Blue and Gold.
The club do still have one last throw of the dice in pursuit of silverware, but will need to overturn a nine-point deficit in the second leg of their BSN Series semi-final clash at Scunthorpe if they are to progress.
So, what does the future hold for the Capital septet? Supporters will have a better idea of the line-up in the coming months. However, one man who won't be back in Monarchs colours in 2025 is Pickering. The affable Aussie, who arrived on these shores in 2017, revealed he won't be riding in British speedway's second tier next year as he looks to progress his career with Unia Leszno in Poland.
We’ve used up every superlative in the book to describe this all-action entertainer who has been a great servant to Edinburgh and will be sorely missed.
"Everyone knows how much this place means to me, but there comes a time in your career when you need to spread your wings," Pickering explained. "I've got the opportunity to race for Leszno next year and I definitely can't be travelling from down the bottom of England on a Thursday for the long haul up here on a Friday to then drive to London to fly out (to Poland) at stupid o'clock. I do want to take this opportunity with both hands, but I want to thank everyone who has stuck by me.
"It's the best club in British speedway hands down and probably one of the best in the world and I've been more than happy to spend the eight years that I've been here. John (Campbell) and Alex (Harkess), I've always a good relationship with them and we've let each other know how we feel in all situations, whether it be good or bad.
"People like Mike Hunter, Ronnie Anderson and all the other volunteers that are involved, it's just incredible and it's going to be majorly missed. But for now I'm just going to try to continue to progress. It's not going to be for ever and if I do decide to come back to the Championship, I wouldn't race anywhere else."
Skipper Paco Castagna believes Monarchs can emerge from their semi-final second leg with the Scorpions victorious, but believes many things have conspired against the team this season.
"It's not done yet, we've still got faith in the semi-final second leg," the Italian said. "I've always had faith in this team, we just didn't click all at the same time. We've always had someone injured or ill so it's been a bit of an unlucky season. I suppose it's just how it goes. Personally I think I've improved quite a bit this year which I'm very happy about. I'm so happy the club gave me another opportunity this year so let's see what the future holds. I would be happy to be back next season."
Co-promoter Alex Harkess has made it clear he fully intends to assemble a team over the winter that will see Edinburgh competing for trophies once more when the new season gets underway next April.
He said: "It's been a very difficult season I must admit. I'm not very good losing here at Armadale and it makes me pretty miserable some Friday nights driving home when I feel we've not done as well as we should have. It's happened too many times really, hence the reason why we're not in the play-offs.
"As far as I'm concerned we have the best supporters in British speedway who have kept this club alive for an incredible length of time. I just want to get Edinburgh back to the top of the pile again and for that reason we will be operating again next year at Armadale where we want to be top of the league. We intend to put the best possible team together, it's difficult at the moment because we don't know what the averages will be and that's what makes the Championship a very difficult situation, but our aim will be the same as it always is."
As for ‘Picko’, it's not goodbye legend, more like see you later.