SIMON LAMBERT ‘POINTING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION’

SIMON LAMBERT, the skipper of the Ellie Rose Travel Scunthorpe Scorpions, is seeking double victory against Berwick Bandits in the Cab Direct Championship this weekend – and also revealed that he volunteered to step down from the side.

Scorpions host the Berwick Bandits at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday (June 6) at 7.30pm, before travelling up to Shielfield Park on Saturday (June 7) at 7pm for the return fixture.

Five Cab Direct Championship points are up for grabs and would help to kick-start Scorpions’ league campaign, after scoring a single point from their opening three meetings in the competition, including defeat in a Super Heat, after a 45-45 draw at home to Glasgow.

36-year-old Lambert, who is also the team manager of the joint Scunthorpe and Sheffield side in the National League, experienced a tough start to the season. Meanwhile, he has scored 6+2 (at Scunthorpe) and 5+3 (at Oxford) in the last two meetings since dropping to the reserve berth. It was before those two meetings that he offered to stand down from Scorpions.

Lambert said: “I’ve had a lot of critics. It’s soul-destroying when you’re putting in the effort and it’s not happening.

“I offered to stand down. I didn’t want to lose my place, I love this club, but I would have understood if it happened. But Rob (Godfrey, Scunthorpe promoter) said ‘no, we’ll give you a couple more meetings to sort it out’, and I’ve done okay in the last two and I believe it’s now pointing in the right direction. I feel the weight has come off my shoulders.

“I’ve invested heavily in my machinery to help turn it around – I’ve spent over four grand on my bikes. I used another new engine at Oxford and it was singing, it was good. It’s probably my least favourite track but I still scored paid eight around there.

“I’ve got four meetings at reserve during June to fill my boots. I want to push on and get back into the main body of the team.

“We’ve dropped a point at home [to Glasgow] and we need to make up for that with a couple of away wins. I believe that we can beat Berwick both home and away this weekend – at Scunthorpe on Friday and at their place on Saturday.

“Berwick is one of my favourite tracks in the UK. I’m aiming to start the meeting up there well and keep that going, so I can the help the team to a victory.”

PHOTO by IAN RISPIN