Ryan stars in scorcher as Scorpions hit back

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 54 REDCAR BEARS 39 (PREMIER LEAGUE)

FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions hit back from a 10-point defeat at Redcar the previous evening to defeat the Redcar Bears 54-39 at the Eddie Wright Raceway on a glorious summer evening yesterday (Friday).

Track preparation is not easy at this time of year, but the Scunthorpe track staff produced a great track that allowed passing on both the inside and outside.

20-year-old Australian Ryan Douglas was at his brilliant best, scoring a number of his 17 points from behind.

With the Scorpions charging into an early 23-13 lead, Douglas swept inside tactical ride Carl Wilkinson on the fourth bend of the third lap in Heat 7, as the Scorpions thwarted of the Bears’ tactical moves.

The second tactical came in an eventual Heat 11 – the first after an enforced sun break. With Bears’ Richard Lawson donning the black & white helmet colour, Thomas Jorgensen suffered a strange exclusion for exceeding the two-minute allowance, despite being up at the tapes!

With Jorgensen penalised 15 metres, Hugh Skidmore raced into the lead, after flying around Douglas on the second bend. Douglas repaid the compliment a lap later on the second lap.

Meanwhile, Jorgensen quickly caught up Lawson and raced around him on lap 2. Jorgensen started to close in on Skidmore, but the Dane left a gap for Lawson on the fourth bend of lap 3 and Lawson moved back into third. Skidmore didn’t look behind until too late, and was unable to shut off quickly enough to allow his team-mate on double points into second place, as the race finished as an unusual 4-3 scoreline to the Bears.

Douglas’s only defeat came to Aaron Summers in Heat 13, when Summers rode a clever line to prevent the charging Douglas coming through on the final lap. But the 3 points from that race from Douglas and Nicolai Klindt were enough to secure all three points for the Scorpions.

Summers had earlier been involved in some cracking racing, but found himself on the wrong end of three 5-1 scorelines, including a fantastic Heat 9 that had seen Douglas, Ashley Birks and Summers three abreast at one point. Summers had also been victim of a great passing move by Klindt in Heat 6, after Klindt maintained his speed despite hugging the white all the way around the third and fourth bends.

Jorgensen was again a trump card at reserve for Scorpions and was unfortunate not to score even more than paid 12 from his seven rides, while Klindt, Birks and David Howe also all finished paid for double figures.

Scorpions’ top scorer Ryan Douglas said: “I’m definitely happy with that one. I had a pretty bad meeting at Redcar, but I’ve been riding well at home recently and I was confident I could have another good one tonight. It stated well and built from there.

“My gating wasn’t the best in some of my races, but I had a lot of speed on the track. The track was just slightly different tonight, but I adjusted to it pretty quickly, and found some lines that no-one else was using and it seemed to get me through.

“I was slightly gutted not to get the maximum. I was pushing Aaron (Summers) as hard as possible in Heat 13, but couldn’t get by. Fair play to Aaron for holding me off.

“We were pretty disappointed we didn’t get anything from the meeting at Redcar, so we wanted all the points from the home meeting. We’re been riding well here, and we were confident that we can take a comfortable win at home and that’s what we did.”

SCUNTHORPE 54: Ryan Douglas 17, Thomas Jorgensen 11+1, Ashley Birks 9+1, Nicolai Klindt 8+2, David Howe 8+2, Matt Williamson 1+1, Josh Auty r/r
REDCAR 39: Hugh Skidmore 9+1, Aaron Summers 8, Richard Lawson 6+2, Mark Lemon 6, Carl Wilkinson 6, Jan Graversen 2+2, Rafal Konopka 2

PHOTO: Ryan Douglas, after passing tactical ride Carl Wilkinson, in Heat 7.