Birks injury concern for Scorpions
RYE HOUSE ROCKETS 59 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 35 (PREMIER LEAGUE)
FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions lost 35-59 in a Premier League clash at Rye House last night (Saturday), and now have an injury concern regarding skipper Ashley Birks.
With Scorpions already using a highly restrictive rider replacement facility for David Howe (on World Longtrack duty in France), the team were dealt a further blow, when Ashley Birks fell in Heat 4 and left the track clutching his hand.
Birks pulled out with a wrist injury, and any chance of Scunthorpe picking up anything from the meeting disappeared with his withdrawal.
It was just as well that Scunthorpe’s place in the championship play-offs was already assured, because it was a night when nothing went the way of the visitors.
Typical of Scunthorpe’s luck was Heat 10, when Josh Auty took the lead with a fine outside burst around Kasper Lykke, only to suffer and engine failure moments later. Ryan Douglas (on double points) put in a terrific ride in this race to hold back Rockets’ No 1 Edward Kennett, but otherwise the Australian was in the wars, with two falls.
Auty (10+1), Nicolai Klindt (10) and Thomas Jorgensen (7) scored the bulk of Scorpions’ points, with Auty scoring many of his points from behind.
Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “Our main concern tonight is Ashley Birks. His wrist has swollen up and he’ll be off to hospital to have an X-ray on it.
“Rider replacement was never going to adequately cover David Howe, and when Ash crashed out as well, we just couldn’t cover it. We also then lost any chance to play it tactically, we just had to put out Tom Perry where we could.
“We did lose a lot of points during the meeting. It seemed to be one of those nights where everything that could go wrong went wrong. The only consolation was that this meeting didn’t really mean anything to us; it meant far more for Rye House than it did for us. Hopefully we’ve now used up all our bad luck, prior to the play-offs.”
RYE HOUSE ROCKETS 59
1. Edward Kennett 3 3 3 1 3 3 (16)
2. Kasper Lykke (Guest) 2* 1 2 3 (8+1)
3. Steve Boxall 3 2 2* 2 2* 0 (11+2)
4. Jason Garrity 1 1* 3 3 2 (10+1)
5. Andres Mellgren R/R
6. Oliver Greenwood 2 1 1* 1* (5+2)
7. Luke Bowen 1* 2* 1* 3 2* (9+4)
FLUIDAIR POWER SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 35
1. Nicolai Klindt 1 3 3 1 2 (10)
2. David Howe R/R
3. Ryan Douglas 0 F 4# FX (4)
4. Josh Auty 2 4# R 3 1* (10+1)
5. Thomas Jorgensen 1 2 3 1 0 (7)
6. Tom Perry 0 0 0 F 0 0 1 (1)
7. Ashley Birks 0 3 F (3)
# = tactical ride
1: Kennett, Lykke, Klindt, Birks, 56.2 (5-1) (5-1).
2: Birks, Greenwood, Bowen, Perry, 57.6 (3-3) (8-4).
3: Boxall, Auty, Garrity, Douglas, 56.9 (4-2) (12-6).
4: Kennett, Bowen, Jorgensen, Birks (fell), 56.4 (5-1) (17-7).
5: Klindt, Boxall, Garrity, Perry, 57.8 (3-3) (20-10).
6: Kennett, Jorgensen, Lykke, Perry, 56.9 (4-2) (24-12).
7: Garrity, AUTY (TR), Greenwood, Douglas (fell), 57.4 (4-4) (28-16).
8: (Re-run) Jorgensen, Lykke, Bowen, Perry (fell), 58.8 (3-3) (31-19).
9: Garrity, Boxall, Jorgensen, Perry, 59.0 (5-1) (36-20).
10: Lykke, DOUGLAS (TR), Kennett, Auty (ret) (4-4) (40-24).
11: Klindt, Boxall, Greenwood, Perry, 58.8 (3-3) (43-27).
12: (Re-run) Bowen, Boxall, Perry, Douglas (fell, excluded), 59.0 (5-1) (48-28).
13: Kennett, Bowen, Klindt, Jorgensen, 58.7 (5-1) (53-29).
14: (Re-run) Auty, Garrity, Greenwood (three riders only), 58.0 (3-3) (56-32).
15: Kennett, Klindt, Auty, Boxall, 58.1 (3-3) (59-35).
