Thomas stars, as battling Scorpions triumph at Redcar

REDCAR BEARS 44 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 46 (PREMIER LEAGUE)

PHEW! Speedway meetings don’t come any more tightly contested than the 46-44 victory for the FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions at Redcar last night (Thursday).

Just 24 hours after a narrow 46-43 home win over Redcar, the Scorpions again pipped the Bears in a tightly contested meeting, therefore giving their chances of qualifying for the play-offs a huge boost.

It will now require a massive effort from both Peterborough and Workington to deny Scunthorpe a place in the play-offs, and the Scorpions have it very much in their own hands – with their next four fixtures against those two teams.

Redcar took an early-four point lead with a 5-1 in Heat 2, after David Howe came to grief attempting to go around second-placed Rafal Konopka on the final bend.

Scorpions levelled the scores in Heat 3, after Howe (in for Ashley Birks, who nudged the tapes) and Josh Auty took a 5-1, with Auty moving from fourth to second with an excellent run around the inside on the opening lap.

For the rest of the evening, there were never more than two points between the teams with the lead changing a remarkable SEVEN times:

1. A tapes-to-flag 5-1 for fast trappers Nicolai Klindt and Thomas Jorgensen in Heat 5 moving the Scorpions into a 16-14 lead.

2. A second successive 4-2 for Redcar in Heat 7, with Aaron Summers winning his second race, and Auty edging out Rafal Konopka on the opening lap to avoid a 5-1 to the Bears.

3. A no-nonsense 5-1 from Jorgensen and Howe in Heat 8, bringing Scunthorpe back in front by two points, a lead that was maintained when Ryan Douglas won a re-run Heat 9 after the exclusion of faller Matt Williamson.

4. The race of the evening in Heat 10. With Birks in second, Auty trust himself inside Richard Lawson on the second lap to take third place. However, Lawson then produced a burst of speed to go around both Auty and Birks to join Hugh Skidmore for a 5-1 and allow the Bears to take a 31-29 lead into the interval.

5. A big race in Heat 11, with the clash of unbeaten riders Jorgensen and Summers. Klindt (gate 2) beat Summers (gate 1) to the first turn, and the Scorpions pulled away to a 5-1.

6. Redcar big guns Lawson and Summers taking a 5-1 in Heat 13. Advantage 40-38 to the Bears.

7. David Howe and Josh Auty taking a 5-1 from Heat 14, after Auty bustled his way past Jan Graversen on the third bend of the opening lap. Howe punched the air as he crossed the line – a sign that the Scorpions’ camp were well fired up for this meeting. The Scorpions two ahead with one to go!

After all that to-ing and fro-ing, what the Scorpions didn’t want is another change of lead in Heat 15. Fortunately, it didn’t happen.

Klindt & the previously unbeaten Jorgensen were given the nod. Klindt led early on, but Redcar No 1 Richard Lawson came around him on the second lap. With Jorgensen in second and Klindt in third, Aaron Summers closed in, but Klindt just held him off on the line, much to the delight of the travelling support stood by the start-line.

Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “We have come away with a win, which is good for us, because we have a lot of meetings coming up and we are only going to get stronger with the team riding on a regular basis.

“Last time we came here we felt we were unlucky, so we knew if we had the better rub of the green, we would have a chance.

“We got the result in the end, which I think was fully deserved. There wasn’t much passing, so in the last heat I needed two trappers, which is why I picked Thomas (Jorgensen) and Nicolai (Klindt).

“The gates completely changed during the course of the night. Gate 4 was a graveyard early on, but after the interval, gates 2 & 4 were the best gates, so I picked those for the last race.

“Thomas was so composed. Sometimes he overthinks things. But he just went out there and rode; he was relaxed and it paid off. He’s got it all – the speed, the ability and the skill.

“The result stands us in good stead going into the Workington and Peterborough matches. We have to take points from those teams as they are chasing us and have fixtures in hand.

“It is still in our own hands and that top six position is ours to lose. However, I am not thinking about the other teams, but about taking as many points as we can from our remaining matches.”

Top-scorer Thomas Jorgensen said: “Both Nicolai (Klindt) and myself were gating well. It meant we could plan our races. We were talking about them in the pits beforehand. We got a couple of 5-1s between us and both got selected for Heat 15.

“We knew that second and third would be enough. I wasn’t quite sure if Aaron Summers had passed Nicolai because it was getting close, but Nicolai got it.

“It’s a good result. Our away form has been a bit up-and-down, so it was good for us to win the meeting. It’s an important result for us.

“I just felt so quick. We made some changes halfway through and that just made me even quicker. I would like to thank my mechanic Steve ‘The Saint’ Tideswell.”

REDCAR BEARS 44
1. Richard Lawson 1* 3 2* 2* 3 (11+3)
2. Hugh Skidmore 2 1 1 3 (7)
3. Mark Lemon 0 0 2 3 (5)
4. Carl Wilkinson 1 1 1* 0 (3+1)
5. Aaron Summers 3 3 1 3 0 (10)
6. Jan Graversen 3 0 0 1 (4)
7. Rafal Konopka 2* 1 1 0 (4+1)

FLUIDAIR POWER SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 46
1. Nicolai Klindt 0 3 2* 1 1* (7+2)
2. Thomas Jorgensen 3 2* 3 3 2 (13+1)
3. Ashley Birks TX 0 R 2 (2)
4. Josh Auty 2* 2 1 2* (7+2)
5. Ryan Douglas R 2 3 0 (5)
6. Matt Williamson 1 0 FX (1)
7. David Howe F 3 2 2* 1* 3 (11+2)

1: Jorgensen, Skidmore, Lawson, Klindt, 54.5 (3-3) (3-3).
2: Graversen, Konopka, Williamson, Howe, 56.2 (5-1) (8-4).
3: (Re-run) Howe, Auty, Wilkinson, Lemon, Birks (excluded, tape touching), 55.6 (1-5) (9-9).
4: Summers, Howe, Konopka, Douglas (ret), 55.3 (4-2) (13-11).
5: Klindt, Jorgensen, Wilkinson, Lemon, 54.7 (1-5) (14-16).
6: Lawson, Douglas, Skidmore, Williamson, 54.8 (4-2) (18-18).
7: Summers, Auty, Konopka, Birks, 55.0 (4-2) (22-20).
8: Jorgensen, Howe, Skidmore, Graversen, 55.8 (1-5) (23-25).
9: (Re-run) Douglas, Lemon, Wilkinson (fell, remounted), Williamson (fell, excluded), 56.0 (3-3) (26-28).
10: (Re-run) Skidmore, Lawson, Auty, Birks (ret), 55.9 (5-1) (31-29).
11: Jorgensen, Klindt, Summers, Graversen (1-5), 56.1 (32-34).
12: Lemon, Howe, Birks, Konopka, 56.4 (3-3) (35-37).
13: Summers, Lawson, Klindt, Douglas, 55.8 (5-1) (40-38).
14: Howe, Auty, Graversen, Wilkinson (fell, remounted), 56.7 (1-5) (41-43).
15: Lawson, Jorgensen, Klindt, Summers, 55.8 (3-3) (44-46).

* A reminder that all kids aged 17 and under will be admitted free to the next meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway – the double-header on Sunday (start-time 3pm) featuring Scorpions vs Workington Comets and Stags vs Stoke Potters.