Scunthorpe Speedway

16.09.11: Fans patience rewarded

The fans patience was rewarded at the Eddie Wright Raceway when, after an eighty minute delay due to rain, they were treated to a first class race meeting. Sadly, track conditions meant the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions home track advantage was negated and after holding a three point lead with four races to go the visiting Leicester Lions rattled off three 5-1 heat advantages to win the tie 50-43.

Former Scorpions’ Captain Magnus Karlsson was the star of the show rattling off five race wins including one on a tactical ride as the Lions were 20-10 behind after just five races. Combining with another former Scorpion who revels in wet conditions, Jan Graversen, for an 8-1 they brought the deficit back to three points. From then on the teams were never more than five points apart until a Scorpions’ 4-2 in heat 14 set up a last heat decider. With usual candidate, David Howe, having a torrid night and Michael Palm Toft having ridden his full quota of seven rides Team Manager Richard Hollingsworth gave Richard Hall and Tero Aarnio the challenge of stopping Karlsson and another Lion who seem to perform well in wet conditions, Henning Bager, in Heat 15. Although it seemed Bager had moved at the start the race was allowed to continue and there was no way back for the Scorpions pairing.

After the meeting Promoter Rob Godfrey paid tribute to the team that got the meeting on “It just goes to show what can be done here after the rain stops. We owed it to a decent-sized crowd to try and get the meeting on and we managed it. Not only did we manage it but there was some great racing throughout. The quality of the racing was a real tribute to the track and everyone who helped clear the water. Thank you to all the fans who waited patiently. I’m just sorry the rain also took away our home advantage, making it ride like a slick track, and for the second time this season we’ve lost at home on a wet track”.

“I’m pretty gutted to say the least as on a grippy track we should beat anyone around here. I guess the big positive to take out of tonight was Michael Palm Toft. He was outstanding but everyone else was hit and miss whilst David (Howe) had a nightmare with his machinery. He blew an engine in one bike and then had trouble with his second. It’s sods law that it happens when your up against it. We can’t do much about it now. We’ve just got to make sure we win our next one, against Newport next week. That’s a big meeting because they’re a club who could climb the table with a couple of away wins and we have to make sure they don’t get one against us”.

The Scorpions next meeting, against Newport at the Eddie Wright Raceway, is next Friday, 23rd September, at the usual start time of 7.30pm before the teams do battle in South Wales the day after (7pm start).

Full scorers:
Scunthorpe Scorpions 43 – David Howe 1 (3 rides), Thomas Jørgensen 5+2 (4), Richard Hall 9 (5), Tero Aarnio 9+1 (6), Michael Palm Toft 14+2 (7), Steve Worrall 5 (5)

Leicester Lions 50 – Kauko Nieminen 2+1 (4 rides), Viktor Bergström 5+1 (4), Ilya Bondarenko 3 (3), Henning Bager 9+2 (5), Magnus Karlsson 18 (5 rides including a six point tactical ride), Jan Graversen 8+2 (5), Jason Garrity 5 (4)

1 Aarnio, Bergström, Howe, Nieminen (engine failure), 60.42 (4-2)

2 Graversen, Worrall, Toft, Garrity, 60.58 (3-3) (7-5)

3 Hall, Jørgensen, Bager, Bondarenko (engine failure), 60.95 (5-1) (12-6)

4 Karlsson, Worrall, Aarnio, Garrity, 61.76 (3-3) (15-9)

5 Hall, Jørgensen, Bergström, Nieminen (engine failure), 62.01 (5-1) (20-10)

6 Karlsson (tactical ride), Graversen, Worrall, Howe (engine failure),
62.80 (1-8) (21-18)

Steve Worrall pushes home for a point in heat 6

7 Bager, Toft, Bondarenko, Aarnio, 61.36 (2-4) (23-22)

Michael Palm Toft (blue) and Henning Bager (yellow) in heat 7

8 Toft, Garrity, Bergström, Worrall, 61.96 (3-3) (26-25)

9 Karlsson, Hall, Graversen, Jørgensen, 61.46 (2-4) (28-29)

10 Toft, Bondarenko, Bager, Howe, 61.15 (3-3) (31-32)

11 Aarnio, Toft, Bergström, Nieminen, 61.98 (5-1) (36-33)

Tero Aarnio (red), Michael Palm Toft (blue) and Viktor Bergstrom (yellow) in heat 11

12 Garrity, Graversen, Jørgensen, Worrall, 61.96 (1-5) (37-38)

13 Karlsson, Nieminen, Aarnio, Toft, 61.82 (1-5) (38-43)

14 Toft, Bager, Hall, Graversen, 61.80 (4-2) (42-45)

15 Karlsson, Bager, Aarnio, Hall, 61.92 (1-5) (43-50)

League Points: Scunthorpe 0 Leicester 4

Magnus Karlsson