SCORPIONS TAKE FOURTH VICTORY OVER BEARS

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 53 REDCAR BEARS 37 (Cab Direct Championship)

ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL Scunthorpe Scorpions completed the double in the Cab Direct Championship over the Redcar Bears with a 53-37 victory at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).

Combined with two victories over the Bears in the BSN Series, it means Scorpions have won all four clashes against Bears so far this season.

The scoreline last night was close for the majority of the evening, with Scorpions building an early lead with a hat-trick of 4-2s in the opening three races, but Bears still just six points behind Scorpions after Heat 9.

After 12 races, the scoreline shifted to 40-32 in Scunthorpe’s favour, before two 5-1s in Heats 13 and 15 that left the home side with a 16-point victory, that also clinched an aggregate bonus point by 99-81, following a 46-44 victory at Redcar on May 3.

There was some cracking racing on display during the course of the evening, with Connor Mountain and Kyle Howarth coming through for a 5-1 in Heat 6, with race leader Ben Trigger discovering how quickly things can change at the EWR when he went from first to last in half a lap, despite a fine effort earlier in the race.

Charles Wright came into Heat 9 as a tactical substitute for Bears and won a ding-dong battle with Jake Allen including multiple overtakes between the two riders.

Heat 13 saw Wright on the receiving end, as Howarth and Michael Palm Toft combined to outfox the Redcar skipper in a three-way battle, as the Scorpions came through for a match-winning 5-1.

Allen showed total commitment on the outside line in Heat 14 to twice sweep around Jason Edwards in another fine race, and the Australian ace then passed Dan Gilkes to win the final race in Heat 15.

Allen top-scored with Scorpions on 13, while Howarth dropped his only points in Heat 1 on his way to 11+2. Mountain dropped a single point on 10+1, while Palm Toft was also paid for double figures on 9+1.

Jake Allen said: “It was a good night for myself, while a win over Redcar is always good, because they always seem to be quite strong around here. If we can keep up our home form and improve our away form, we can be a real threat later in the season.

“We know we need to be stronger away from home and that starts at Berwick. We had a blip there earlier in the season, and we’ll look to put that right. We’re going there full of confidence and hopefully we can pull off a win.”

SCUNTHORPE 53: Jake Allen 13, Kyle Howarth 11+2, Connor Mountain 10+1, Michael Palm Toft 9+1, Luke Harrison 5+2, Simon Lambert 4+1, Nathan Ablitt 1.

REDCAR 37: Charles Wright 10, Connor Bailey 8, Dan Gilkes 6, Jason Edwards 5+1, Tate Zischke 4, Jake Mulford 2+1, Ben Trigger 2.

* ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL Scunthorpe Scorpions’ fixtures in the Cab Direct Championship really ramp up, with visits at Berwick tonight (Saturday) and Oxford on Wednesday, before returning to the Eddie Wright Raceway to face Berwick next Friday (June 7) at 7.30pm. A re-arranged fixture then sees Oxford Cheetahs at the EWR on Friday, June 14. Scorpions are due to track an unchanged team at Berwick tonight.

PHOTO: Jake Allen ahead of Jason Edwards (pic: Steve Dixon)