Fighting third for Scorpions in fours

FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions finished in a fine third place in the Premier League Fours at Peterborough yesterday afternoon (Sunday), after a battling performance at the East Of England Showground.

It represents Scunthorpe’s best-ever finish in the competition, surpassing a fourth place in 2008.

The Scorpions went into the meeting minus two of the top three riders in their averages, with both Josh Auty (recovering from having his appendix removed) and Nicolai Klindt (unavailable) missing from their line-up.

In their semi-final, Scunthorpe looked dead and buried with just four points after four races. But inspired by a brilliant from-the-back win from Thomas Jorgensen in Heat 5, the Scorpions staged a late comeback, with a place in the final secured with a second place from Ashley Birks (pictured) in the decisive Heat 8.

The Scorpions finished their semi-final on 13 points, just a point behind Somerset (14). They eliminated hosts Peterborough (11) and Newcastle (10).

In the final, wins for David Howe (Heat 2) and Ashley Birks (Heat 4) helped the Scorpions into an early three-point lead after four races.

With track conditions ever changing, the Scorpions dropped back in the next set of four races.

Ryan Douglas gave some hope with a never-say-die win in Heat 9, after overhauling both Justin Sedgmen and Charles Wright. But last places in Heats 10 & 11 scuppered Scunthorpe’s chances of victory, with ex-Scorpion Nick Morris clinching first place for Somerset with a win in Heat 11.

However, a second place for David Howe in Heat 12, plus a fall for Edinburgh’s Sam Masters, saw the Scorpions grab third place from the Monarchs. Both team finished on 15 points, but the Scorpions took the place on countback, with three race wins to Edinburgh’s none.

Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “I couldn’t ask for anything more from our riders, they gave it everything and battled for every point. I’m really proud of them, it was a first class performance.

“With the way our team is built, any four out of our top six could do this meeting. You could certainly argue we were without two of our top four today, but the lads still went out and did us proud.

“We actually didn’t start the semi-final that well. We had a quick word with the riders and said: ‘Hey, we’re better than this.’ We asked them to go out and show what we are capable of, and they certainly went and did that.

“In the final, we were running away with it in the first four heats. But the track changed completely for the next four races, and it caught us out. We then had to dig deep to make sure we ended up with third place ahead of Edinburgh.”

Results:

GROUP A:
SOMERSET 14: Olly Allen 5, Nick Morris 4, Pontus Aspgren 3, Brady Kurtz 2.
SCUNTHORPE 13: Thomas Jorgensen 5, Ryan Douglas 4, David Howe 2, Ashley Birks 2.
PETERBOROUGH 11: Lasse Bjerre 3, Ulrich Ostergaard 3, Lewis Blackbird 3, Ales Dryml 2.
NEWCASTLE 10: Danny King 5, Lewis Kerr 2, Stuart Robson 2, Ludvig Lindgren 1.
Somerset and Scunthorpe qualify for final.

GROUP B:
EDINBURGH 14: Sam Masters 5, Justin Sedgmen (res) 5, Craig Cook 4, Steve Worrall 0, Max Fricke dnr.
WORKINGTON 14: Josh Grajczonek 5, Ricky Wells 3, Rene Bach 3, Kyle Howarth 2, Mason Campton (res) 1.
REDCAR 11: Richard Lawson 4, Carl Wilkinson 3, Aaron Summers 2, Hugh Skidmore 2.
BERWICK 9: David Bellego 3, Matej Kus (res) 3, Kevin Doolan 2, Claus Vissing 1, Matthew Wethers 0.
Edinburgh and Workington qualify for final.

FINAL:
1 SOMERSET 24: Olly Allen 8, Nick Morris 7, Pontus Aspgren 5, Charles Wright (res) 4, Brady Kurtz 0.
2 WORKINGTON 18: Josh Grajczonek 7, Rene Bach 6, Kyle Howarth 4, Ricky Wells 1.
3 SCUNTHORPE 15: David Howe 6, Ryan Douglas 4, Ashley Birks 3, Thomas Jorgensen 2.
4 EDINBURGH 15: Steve Worrall 5, Justin Sedgmen (res) 4, Sam Masters 3, Craig Cook 3, Max Fricke dnr.

* THE FluidAir Power Scorpions travel to Glasgow for a tonight (Monday, 7.15pm), chasing vital Premier League points. Nicolai Klindt will return to action for Scunthorpe at No 1, while the Scorpions will use rider replacement for Josh Auty.