SCORPIONS FALL AT REDCAR
REDCAR BEARS 57 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 32 (BSN Series)
ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL Scunthorpe Scorpions suffered a tough night at Redcar’s ECCO Arena last night (Friday), as the Redcar Bears totted up a 57-32 victory in the BSN Series, to take revenge for Scorpions’ thrilling 46-44 victory over their local rivals at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Good Friday.
Scorpions looked in the hunt early on, as the Kennedy brothers, Zaine and Declan, fired in a 5-1 in Heat 2, in response to Redcar’s own 5-1 in Heat 1. Jake Allen then won Heat 4, winning a battle with Erik Riss and the scores were 13-11 to the Bears after four races.
The second section of races between Heats 5 and 8 saw Scorpions fell behind. They conceded 5-1s in both Heats 5 and 8, while a disastrous Heat 7 finished as a 5-0 to Bears, after both Connor Mountain and Simon Lambert were excluded for bringing down Bears’ rather unstable reserve Tom Spencer. While Mountain appeared responsible for bringing down Spencer in the initial staging, Lambert’s exclusion from the re-run was much more debatable, since he was through the gap on the third bend, when Spencer appeared to shut the door too late and initiated the contract. But the referee caved in to the calls of the vocal Redcar fans to exclude Lambert.
Redcar – who have put together an impressive looking side this season – were the much better team on the night and had secured victory with three races remaining, while Allen (Heat 9) and Mountain (Heat 14) provided further heat winners for Scorpions.
Jake Allen top scored for Scorpions with 11+1, including two race wins, having also been the last-hero against Bears at the Eddie Wright Raceway last week.
The Australian star said: “I’ve been a Redcar rider in the past, and maybe that gives me a slight advantage in terms of set-up around here. I was sharing everything with the team. But if you don’t make good starts, it’s hard to win races, and that was our main problem tonight.
“In the two races where I made the start, I won those races quite conformably I feel, but it was hard to follow. On a personal level, I was happy enough with my performance, so hopefully I can kick on and get a little busier. But it’s always bittersweet when I have a good meeting but the team doesn’t do so well.
“It was good to win the final race last week and clinch the win for the team, in the home meeting at Scunthorpe against Redcar.
“It’s still early in the season, and I’m trying out a few things, rather than just sticking with what I know, because I want to have a few more options. I had the same bike tonight as at Scunthorpe and it’s about learning it and getting it set up.
“Our home form has carried us for a number of years and we do know we need to get better away from home. But it’s only early and most of our boys are only riding for Scunthorpe and that does make a difference. It might take us a couple more meetings for us to get into the swing of things.
“We win as a team and lose as a team. We’ve got a good team spirit and we’ll continue to help each other out. We can only do our best, sometimes like tonight that’s not enough. Roll on next week and we’ll look to have to a good meeting at Workington.”
With Bears also taking the aggregate bonus point, Scorpions will be aiming to bounce at Workington next Saturday (May 3), before they host the Comets in their concluding BSN Series encounter at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday, May 9 at 7.30pm.
REDCAR 57: Erik Riss 12, Charles Wright 11+1. Jason Edwards 9+1, Danny King 9+1, Ace Pijper 7+4, Jake Mulford 7, Tom Spencer 2+1.
SCUNTHORPE 32: Jake Allen 11+1, Steve Worrall 5+1, Zaine Kennedy 5, Connor Mountain 5, Declan Kennedy 4+1, Simon Lambert 2, Luke Harrison 0.
PHOTO by IAN RISPIN
