First Friday night fixture at Eddie Wright Raceway
FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions stage their first Friday evening fixture of the season this week, entertaining 2011 Premier League champions Glasgow Tigers at the Eddie Wright Raceway (7.30pm).
It will be the Scorpions’ second meeting in 24 hours, since they are also in action at local rivals Sheffield tonight (Thursday).
New signing Nicolai Klindt will finally make his 2014 debut for the Scorpions on Friday. The Dane was due to ride at both Berwick and Peterborough in the last week, but both were rained off.
Klindt is unavailable for the match at Sheffield, due to a Danish Final commitment, so Edinburgh’s Sam Masters will guest for the injured Anders Mellgren. Meanwhile, Australian Ty Proctor is set to make his long-awaited debut for Sheffield.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We’re after points from both meetings. We’ve dispensed with rider replacement and we have seven men for each meeting.
“We will do everything we can to try to win at Sheffield. We took an excellent 53-41 victory there in the League Cup, on a night that Josh Auty reigned supreme. The Tigers are a decent side themselves, and will be out to avenge that result.
“We have riders who go well at Sheffield, and it would great to win at their place again. But, as a minimum, we need a point out of that meeting – we need to start picking up away points from our league matches.”
Glasgow’s Anders Thomsen was injured in a race-curtailed meeting in Scotland on Sunday, and the Tigers bring in a familiar face as a guest at No 7 – Scunthorpe Stags’ captain Steve Jones.
Godfrey added: “Against Glasgow, we need to take all three league points.
“We’re not under-estimating Glasgow, by any means. But we’ve already dropped four points at home and we need to start scoring the maximum points from our meetings at the Eddie Wright Raceway.
“Nicolai (Klindt) got used to riding at Scunthorpe last season, and this year I’m convinced he will hit the ground running. He can gate and he is a quality addition to the side. It will be good to track seven of our own riders again.”
There are 24 heats of action in total on Friday night, with the nine-heat second half including a Midland Development League match between Castleford and Milton Keynes, featuring Stags’ Liam Sanderson and Sam Chapman.
Admission prices for Friday:
Adult: £15.00
Student/OAP: £13.00
Child (10 – 17): £5.00
Child (0 – 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult)
Family Ticket £35 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-17)
Match Programme: £1.00
Expected teams for Friday (English unless stated):
FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Josh Auty, 2. David Howe, 3. Nicolai Klindt (Denmark), 4. Ashley Birks, 5. Ryan Douglas (Australia), 6. Matt Williamson, 7. Thomas Jørgensen (Denmark)
Glasgow Tigers: 1. Kevin Wolbert (Germany), 2. R/R for Dimitri Berge (France), 3. Mark Lemon (Australia), 4. Theo Pijper (The Netherlands), 5 Rusty Harrison (Australia), 6. Kasper Lykke Nielsen (Denmark), 7. Steven Jones.
Midland Development League teams:
Castleford: 1 .Danny Phillips, 2.Tom Bacon, 3. Michael Neale, 4. Liam Sanderson.
Milton Keynes: 1.Sam Chapman, 2. Jack Hall, 3. Jez Pestell, 4. Shaun Tedham.
Glasgow Tigers at EWR
Ave Ave Best
Name Lge M R Pts BP (no BP) (w BP) Performance
Rusty Harrison PL 7 24 29 3 4.83 5.33 9 from 5 rides (2012)
Mark Lemon PL 8 40 77 4 7.70 8.10 18 + 1 from 6 rides (inc 6 pts T/R (2009))
Kasper Lykke PL 2 11 10 4 3.64 5.09 7 + 3 from 6 rides (2013)
Theo Pijper PL 5 23 30 4 5.22 5.91 10 + 2 from 5 rides (inc 4 pts T/R (2012))
Kevin Wolbert PL 5 22 34 2 6.18 6.55 9 + 2 from 5 rides (2011)
GUEST RIDER
Steven Jones DEBUT PL MEETING @ EWR
Other Notes
Rusty Harrison
2003 South Australian State Champion.
2001 Australian Under-21 Champion.
Member of Workington’s Premier League Fours Winning Teams in 2001, 2004 and 2006.
Member of Workington’s Young Shield Winning Team in 2010.
Member of Belle Vue’s Elite League KO Cup Winning Team in 2005.
Mark Lemon
Member of Exeter’s Premier Trophy Winning Team in 2004.
Member of Newcastle’s Premier Trophy and Play-Off Winning Teams in 2010.
Member of Newcastle’s Premier Shield Winning Team in 2011.
Kasper Lykke
Made his Premier League debut for Rye House at Leicester in 2012.
Helped his Country reach the 2011 European Under-19 Team Championship.
Theo Pijper
Member of Edinburgh’s Premier League Championship Winning Team in 2003.
Member of Glasgow’s Premier League Championship Winning Team in 2011.
Member of Swindon’s Elite Shield Winning Team in 2009.
Kevin Wolbert
Twice German National Champion (2008, 2011)
Has most recently rode in the Elite League in this Country for Poole, King’s Lynn and Belle Vue.
Rode as a member of the Poole Pirates Team that won the Elite League and KO Cup in 2011.
GUEST – Steven Jones
Current captain of the Scunthorpe Stags’ 2014 National League Team.
Has previously rode for both Edinburgh and Newcastle at Premier League level.
Glasgow Tigers’ Results at EWR
25 August 2008 PL L Scunthorpe 54 Glasgow 39
21 August 2009 PL L Scunthorpe 50 Glasgow 40
03 September 2010 PL L Scunthorpe 62 Glasgow 30
29 July 2011 PL L Scunthorpe 54 Glasgow 36
30 September 2011 PL(Ph 2) L Scunthorpe 57 Glasgow 38
11 May 2012 LC L Scunthorpe 40 Glasgow 34
21 September 2012 PL L Scunthorpe 54 Glasgow 37
28 June 2013 PL L Scunthorpe 59 Glasgow 35
* PLEASE note that the Premier League Knockout Cup clash between Peterborough Panthers and FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions will be re-staged next Tuesday (May 20).
