Scorpions out to clinch play-off place
ATTIS INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions head to Redcar in league action tomorrow (Friday) at 7.30pm, knowing that a win would clinch their place in the Championship play-offs.
Scorpions are currently in sixth place, the final play-off position, two points ahead of Redcar Bears, and both teams have two fixtures left. A victory tomorrow would place Scunthorpe straight into the play-offs. But, failing that, there’s also a further match for Scorpions at Berwick on Saturday that could also provide them with the necessary points, although it then becomes more complicated, since it’s also dependent on how Redcar perform at Plymouth next Tuesday.
Scunthorpe will be without both Ryan Douglas and Tero Aarnio. Douglas aggravated his injured shoulder in a horrific crash in the final of the Championship League Riders’ Championship at Poole last night (Wednesday), just when it looked when he would prevail and win the meeting. Meanwhile, Aarnio suffered internal injuries in a crash in Sweden that also took place last night.
For tomorrow at Redcar, Scorpions have booked Richard Lawson as a guest at No 1, who recently scored 16 points in a guest booking for the club at Leicester, while rider replacement will be in operation for Aarnio. Everyone expect Lawson will be able to take a R/R ride.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We think Ryan will be out for about a week, while we’ll have to wait for further news on Tero. We wish them both a speedy recovery.
“I was gutted for Ryan at Poole, because he had it in the bag. He’d made the start and was pulling ahead in the first corner, when he got knocked off his bike. The CLRC is a prestigious meeting and he deserved to win it and I’m gutted for him – he’d done all the hard work. Fair play to Sam Masters who was also brought down and was able to take his place in the re-run and win the meeting.
“Ryan went all the way though the fence onto the dog track, so he was a bit lucky that his injuries were not worse and that nothing was broken. In the end, he’s just hurt the same shoulder again.
“We lost Ryan and Tero within minutes of each other. It means our backs are against the wall, but that reminds me of 2012, when we went to Edinburgh with riders missing and got the result that got us into the play-off final.
“I notice Redcar have already written off our chances of beating them on their website, but that just makes us all the more determined to go up there and get the result we need. We’re not going down without a fight, although I don’t think we’re going down at all – I believe we will win.
“The boys are really up for this and I’d confident that we can do it. There are various permutations and there’s two opportunities for us this weekend, but by far the simplest way is for us to win at Redcar – that places us straight into the play-offs.”
Expected teams for tomorrow (Friday):
Redcar Bears: 1. Charles Wright, 2. Jason Edwards, 3. Rider replacement for Erik Riss, 4. Kasper Andersen, 5. Lewis Kerr, 6. Kyle Newman, 7. Jordan Jenkins.
Attis Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Richard Lawson (guest), 2. Simon Lambert (captain), 3. James Wright, 4. Jake Allen, 5. Rider replacement for Tero Aarnio, 6. Adam Roynon, 7. Anders Rowe.
