Edinburgh Monarchs dump Glasgow Tigers to reach BSN Series semi-finals
Edinburgh Monarchs co-promoter Alex Harkess hopes the glorious 49-41 victory over arch-rivals the Glasgow Tigers shows British speedway's Championship the Capital club means business this year.
It proved quite the afternoon for all those connected with the Blue and Gold, a superb team performance ensuring the Monarchs finish top of the Scottish section and qualification for the semi-finals of the BSN Series, where they'll meet the Poole Pirates or Redcar Bears.
It was do-or-die for the Monarchs, who knew only a win at Ashfield would be enough to see them through to the last four. And boy did they deliver.
Quite the contrast from the disappointing outcome at Shielfield Park on Saturday where the Monarchs were convincingly beaten by hosts the Berwick Bandits.
Kye Thomson was once again on another level, dropping just a single point to Chris Harris, while Dan Thompson, who missed the Monarchs' defeat at Berwick, showed all the credentials of a No.1.
But this was a team effort with all seven riders chipping in, reserve Jordy Loftus, in particular, looking fast and growing in confidence to deliver a season best of five, paid seven.
Harkess admitted it has been a slow start to the 2026 campaign with victory over Glasgow just the club's second win of the season,
However, he believes the team have taken a giant leap forward and can only go from strength to strength.
"We have started the season a bit slow for one reason or another but, there's no reason not to be confident moving forward," Harkess said afterwards. "I think we've proved once we get going we'll take a bit of stopping. They did very well, and everyone chipped in. I felt we were on the end of a couple of rough decisions, Jonatan Grahn was unlucky to be excluded, and Dan suffered from some very hard riding, but they never let that bother them and did the job. We're absolutely thrilled to bits, to be truthful.
"Saturday's result at Berwick wasn't as important because we were always going to have to come to Glasgow and win. So we always felt there was a real possibility if everyone produced. What a difference that makes. The reserves are starting to score and as long as they keep chipping in, no one will want to face us.
"Kye has been tremendous, but you can see the difference having Dan there. When you have heat leaders that are scoring, it drives everyone on so there's that team spirit where nobody wants to let anyone else down.
"It's a great boost for everyone. Nobody in this league will every say they are going to go to Glasgow and are going to win. Absolutely nobody. But we shouldn't fear anyone in this league."