Leicester provide opening test at EWR
SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS will start their 2022 home fixtures, with the visit of Leicester Lions to the Eddie Wright Raceway on Good Friday (April 15th) at 5pm.
Before that, the North Lincolnshire venue will stage the very first meeting of the British season, when Josh Auty hosts his testimonial at the EWR on Saturday, March 19th (also 5pm).
Most of Scorpions’ subsequent home fixtures take place on a Friday at 7.30pm. Other than the two meetings stated above, the other two exceptions are the Platinum Jubilee Bank Holiday Friday meeting against Redcar (June 3rd) and the Sunday meeting against Edinburgh (July 3rd) – both of which have a 5pm start-time.
There are plenty of mouth-watering fixtures to look forward, including the first visit of Oxford Cheetahs to the EWR since 2007 on Friday, May 13th. Cheetahs have joined the Championship this year, with the track re-opening after being shut for 14 years.
Scorpions will also be involved in Oxford’s first official meeting of the season at Cowley on Wednesday, April 13th. It’s a piece of symmetry since Scunthorpe also provided the last official competition for Cheetahs, in the two legs of the 2007 Conference League play-off final, which Scorpions won by 108-73 on aggregate.
A new competition, the Summer Trophy, has been introduced in 2022. Scorpions are in a four-strong Northern Group also containing Leicester, Redcar and Newcastle. The three regional group winners in this competition progress to a one-off, three-team final to be held over 18 heats on neutral territory at Sheffield.
In the Knockout Cup, Scorpions have received a bye to the second round, where they will face the winners of a Leicester v Birmingham first round tie.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey reckons a great season is ahead. He said: “There are going to be so many highlights at the Eddie Wright Raceway in 2022.
“We have the very first meeting of the British season here with Josh Auty’s testimonial. Josh is around halfway through announcing his line-up and I think the fans can already tell that it’s a meeting not to be missed.
“After that, we start our home Championship campaign with a match against the Leicester Lions. Leicester got the better of us at the Eddie Wright Raceway last year, but this season we have Ryan Douglas riding for Scorpions instead for Lions and I’m expecting a different story.
“I’m also looking forward to seeing the first visit of Oxford to the EWR since 2007. They are a big name in speedway and it’s great to have them back.
“You can then pick out the visit of Poole, the league champions, who didn’t show their best at our place last season and they will be looking to improve on that, while we wouldn’t mind the same result again!
“But, to be honest, the Championship is a very competitive league and every meeting has the potential to be a thriller.
“You only have to look at the meeting against Berwick last season, who finished well down the league table, but we really had to pull out all the stops to win our home meeting against them.
“The league is going to be like that again and that’s good for speedway to have such a competitive league. It’s going to be such an exciting season and I can’t wait for it, and I think the fans feel the same.”
2022 FIXTURES:
MARCH
Saturday 19 (H) JOSH AUTY TESTIMONIAL 5pm
APRIL
Saturday 2 (A) Leicester (League)
Wednesday 13 (A) Oxford (League)
Good Friday 15 (H) LEICESTER (League) 5pm
Friday 22 (H) BIRMINGHAM (League) 7.30pm
Tuesday 26 (A) Plymouth (League)
Friday 29 (H) PLYMOUTH (League) 7.30pm
MAY
Wednesday 4 (A) Birmingham (League)
Friday 13 (H) OXFORD (League) 7.30pm
Sunday 15 (A) Newcastle (League)
Friday 20 (H) NEWCASTLE (League) 7.30pm
Wednesday 25 (A) Birmingham (provisional) (Cup)
Friday 27 (H) BIRMINGHAM or LEICESTER (Cup) 7.30pm
Saturday 28 (A) Leicester (provisional) (Cup)
JUNE
Bank Holiday Friday 3 (H) REDCAR (League) 5pm
Sunday 5 (A) Redcar (League)
Friday 10 (H) GLASGOW (League) 7.30pm
Sunday 12 (A) Glasgow (League)
Friday 17 (H) POOLE (League) 7.30pm
Friday 24 (H) RESERVED 7.30pm
Saturday 25 (A) Berwick (League)
JULY
Friday 1 (A) Edinburgh (League)
Sunday 3 (H) EDINBURGH (League) 5pm
Friday 8 (H) NEWCASTLE (Summer) 7.30pm
Wednesday 20 (A) Poole (League)
Friday 22 (H) LEICESTER (Summer) 7.30pm
Sunday 24 (A) Newcastle (Summer)
Friday 29 (H) REDCAR (Summer) 7.30pm
AUGUST
Friday 5 (A) Redcar (Summer)
Saturday 6 (A) Leicester (Summer)
Friday 19 (H) BERWICK (League) 7.30pm
Friday 26 (H) RESERVED 7.30pm
Fridays at the Eddie Wright Raceway throughout September and October are reserved for play-off meetings and for the later rounds of the Knock-Out Cup.
KEY: League = Championship, Cup = Knockout Cup, Summer = Summer Trophy.
