Scorpions step in to hold British Under-19 Final

SCUNTHORPE’S Eddie Wright Raceway, the home of the Attis Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions, will host the British Under-19 Final on Friday, September 17th at 7.30pm.

The meeting was awarded to Mildenhall this season, but the staging at West Row on August 22 was abandoned after five races. The Mildenhall promotion added a statement to their website during the week that explained that they do not wish to hold the re-staging of the meeting.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey, who is also the chairman of British Speedway, explains: “The British Under-19 Final was Mildenhall’s meeting, since it was allocated to them for this season. When it was called off, Mildenhall still had first refusal on the re-staging.

“But once the Mildenhall promotion revealed they no longer wished to hold it, I stepped in to bring it to Scunthorpe, since we have a free date on September 17, plus this is a prestigious meeting that has been held every year since 2004, when it was the British Under-18 Championship, and it’s important it’s still held this season.

“As people may recall, we also held the meeting during Covid-hit 2020. It was a cracking meeting that was the pick of the three meetings we held here last season under Covid restrictions. Drew Kemp pipped Dan Gilkes to the title, while our own Jordan Palin recovered from a first race exclusion to win a run-off for third place.

“The meeting will again boast a line-up of the top British prospects and it will contain some thrilling racing; I have no doubt about it.

“It’s quite a coup for any winner to add their name to the list of winners for this championship.

“The list of winners includes Tai Woffinden, a lad born in this town, who won it twice in 2007 and 2008. I don’t really need to remind folks from around this way that Tai has gone on to become a treble World Champion, because they’re as proud of his achievements as I am.”

ROLL OF HONOUR

2004: Wolverhampton 1 Daniel King 2 James Wright 3 Edward Kennett
2005: Wolverhampton 1 William Lawson 2 Lewis Bridger 3 Jack Hargreaves
2006: Wolverhampton 1 Lewis Bridger 2 Tai Woffinden 3 Ben Barker
2007: Wolverhampton 1 Tai Woffinden 2 Lewis Bridger 3 Joe Haines
2008: Scunthorpe 1 Tai Woffinden 2 Josh Auty 3 Jerran Hart
2009: Scunthorpe 1 Jerran Hart 2 Kyle Howarth 3 Kyle Newman
2010: Somerset 1 Brendan Johnson 2 Joe Jacobs 3 Kyle Howarth
2011: Rye House 1 Jason Garrity 2 Shane Hazelden 3 Ben Morley
2012: Sheffield 1 Stefan Nielsen 2 Ashley Morris 3 Joe Jacobs
2013: Coventry 1 Stefan Nielsen 2 Ashley Morris 3 Ben Morley
2014: Kent 1 Oliver Greenwood 2 Josh Bates 3 Jack Kingston
2015: Berwick 1 Josh Bates 2 Max Clegg 3 Danny Phillips
2016: Birmingham 1 Max Clegg 2 Ellis Perks 3 Jack Smith
2017: Plymouth 1 Zach Wajtknecht 2 Dan Bewley 3 Kyle Bickley
2018: Ipswich 1 Dan Bewley 2 Tom Brennan 3 Leon Flint
2019: Redcar 1 Drew Kemp 2 Jason Edwards 3 Anders Rowe
2020: Scunthorpe 1 Drew Kemp 2 Dan Gilkes 3 Jordan Palin

(British Under-18 Championship in 2004-2010, became British Under-19 Championship in 2011).

PHOTO: The top three from 2020 (pic by IAN RISPIN).