Huge disappointment for Scorpions

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 40 POOLE PIRATES 50 (Cab Direct Championship Play-Off)

ATTIS INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions’ hopes of reaching the final of Cab Direct Championship play-offs were all but crushed when they lost 40-50 at home to reigning champions Poole Pirates in their third and penultimate Group A match at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).

Hopes were high after a brilliant 45-45 scoreline for Scorpions on the South Coast last week… but it wasn’t to be.

Scunthorpe can go back top of their three-team group with a victory at Edinburgh tonight (Saturday), but Pirates would then only need one victory out of two over the Monarchs to clinch top spot.

It was a night where things simply didn’t go right for Scorpions. Jake Allen suffered an engine failure in Heat 3 while on a comfortable 5-1 with skipper Simon Lambert, while Michael Palm Toft picked up an exclusion in Heat 11 for a second warning for moving at the start – replays showed how marginal that movement was.

The scoreline had been very close early on, with Scorpions taking a 4-2 in Heat 1, a race in which Poole’s Anders Rowe crashed out with concussion, while Scunthorpe’s Connor Mountain was arguably lucky to get back into the re-run. Poole levelled with a 4-2 in Heat 3, and Pirates edged ahead with a 4-2 in Heat 6.

It was still tight at 28-26 to the Pirates after nine races, while Poole collected a 4-2 in Heat 10, and then after the exclusion of Palm Toft, took a 5-1 in Heat 11.

Heat 12 almost a terminal blow to Scunthorpe’s chances. Tactical substitute Ryan Douglas and Lambert held a 5-1, until a ruthless dive up the inside by Ben Cook on the third bend of the third lap. Lambert took avoiding action to avoid a major pile-up and was very unlucky to be excluded.

Poole then shared the next two races to clinch all three points, including the aggregate bonus point, which automatically went to the victors after the 45-45 first leg.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “Congratulations to Poole on their victory tonight – there were deserving winners.

“You have to be on your A Game to beat Poole and we simply weren’t tonight. We had one of those nights where things just went against us – in his opening ride, Jake Allen blew his engine up and it shattered to pieces. We weren’t quire there as a team tonight, which is sad, because we were at Poole.

“We had torrential rain during the day and worked hard with the track but it wasn’t how we wanted it to be – but I can’t it take away from Poole. All we can do is win at Edinburgh and then hope for a miracle – stranger things have happened in speedway!”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF GROUP A
SCUNTHORPE 40: Ryan Douglas 15, Simon Lambert 6+1, Michael Palm Toft 6, Jake Allen 5+1, Drew Kemp 4+1, Connor Mountain 4, Nathan Ablitt 0.
POOLE 50: Steve Worrall 12+1, Richard Lawson 11+1, Zach Cook 8+2, Joe Thompson 7+3, Ben Cook 7, Kyle Newman 5+1, Anders Rowe 0.
Poole win the aggregate point by 95-85.

* ATTIS INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions travel to Edinburgh tonight (Saturday) for their concluding play-off meeting. The next action at the Eddie Wirght Raceway is the first leg of the Knockout Cup semi-final clash with Redcar – it will take place at the EWR next Friday (September 29) at 7.30pm.