SCORPIONS START WITH VISIT OF LOCAL RIVALS

FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions will face local rivals Sheffield Tigers in their opening competitive fixture of the 2014 season.

The Scorpions host the Tigers at the Eddie Wright Raceway in League Cup action on Sunday, March 30 at 3pm. It follows the opening round of the British Youth Championship, which is being held at the circuit seven days earlier on March 23.

The first Premier League meeting at Scunthorpe takes placed on Sunday, April 13, and sees a clash between the Scorpions, the 2012 Premier League champions, and Somerset, who succeeded Scunthorpe as champions in 2013.

Scunthorpe’s home meetings until mid-May will be held on Sunday afternoons (the exception being the Good Friday clash against Newcastle on April 18). After that, with the exception of Bank Holidays, the meetings at the Eddie Wright Raceway will switch to the conventional 7.30pm Friday start-time.

Dates in September and October, currently reserved (including dates reserved for the Premier League play-offs), will switch back to Sundays, except for weeks where there is a stock car meeting at Eddie Wright Raceway on the Saturday, in which case the speedway date will remain on the Friday.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “Friday night is still our racenight. But for the opening couple months of the season, we will switch to Sunday afternoons.

“We experimented with Sunday afternoons at the end of last season, and it seemed to go down well with the supporters. Last season, it was bitterly cold at the Eddie Wright Raceway for the first few evening meetings of the season. The switch to start with Sunday afternoon enables the fans to watch the meetings in comfort in natural daylight.”

With the Scunthorpe Stags having been accepted in the National League, the plan is for each senior meeting with a 3pm start-time (those on March 30, April 6, April 13, April 18, April 27, May 5, May 26 and August 25) to be followed by a National League match, although it should be pointed out that the National League fixture list has yet to be released

Scunthorpe have drawn a plum tie with Peterborough Panthers in the first round of the Premier League Knockout Cup. The Panthers have dropped down to the Premier League in 2014, after 15 successive years in the Elite League.

Godfrey explained: “We did have a bye in the first round. But after Peterborough joined the league, the four teams with a bye went into the hat and our name came out to face the Panthers. It should be a couple of cracking meetings against Peterborough.”