Flying Dutchman helps secure away draw for Scorpions
RYE HOUSE ROCKETS 45 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 45 (PREMIER LEAGUE)
FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance, picked up a well-deserved 45-45 draw in a nip-and-tuck Premier League encounter at Rye House in Hertfordshire last night (Saturday).
The star turn for the Scorpions was Flying Dutchman Theo Pijper, who bagged an excellent 15 paid 16.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “We knew Rye House were a bit vulnerable, because their Danes were missing to ride in their national championship. We had to take advantage of that.
“It would have been nice to win, but we’ll take the draw. It means we pick up two valuable Premier League points from the meeting. Two points are a lot better than none.
“Theo Pijper was on it. He couldn’t quite beat Edward Kennett, who was unstoppable, but other than that, he was banging in the points for us.”
No more than four points separated the two teams at any one point during the night, while Great Britain international Kennett zipped to an 18-point full maximum for the Rockets.
The Scorpions could possibly point to two tapes exclusions – for Carl Wilkinson in Heat 3 and Alex Davies in Heat 9 as costing them a chance of victory.
Scunthorpe led twice – after a 5-1 from Pijper and reserve Nike Lunna in Heat 8, and again after they followed up a 5-1 from Josh Auty and Pijper in Heat 11 with a 4-2 from Wilkinson & Lunna in Heat 12.
It was all level going into Heat 15. While Kennett charged into the lead, Pijper and Auty kept back Anders Mellgren for the 3-3 for the share of the spoils.
Godfrey added: “It was nice to bounce straight back from the home defeat to Edinburgh on Bank Holiday Monday. It was a good team performance from us – all five of our regular riders put in a key contribution at one point or another.
“I was very impressed with Nike Lunna’s performance at reserve. I was speaking to some folk from Rye House after the meeting, who told me they think he’s a star in the making.
“We’ve now got to make sure we beat the Rockets at the Eddie Wright Raceway next Friday (May 15) in the return fixture. We’ll be without Nike that night, because he’s got a big date next weekend, as one of the reserves at the Finnish Grand Prix.”
RYE HOUSE ROCKETS 45
1. Edward Kennett 3 3 3 3 3 3 (18)
2. Robin Aspegren 0 1 R 2* 0 (3+1)
3. Andres Mellgren 2 2 2 3 2 0 (11)
4. Ty Proctor (Guest) 1* 0 1 1 3 (6+1)
5. Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen R/R
6. Dan Greenwood 0 0 0 (0)
7. Paul Starke (Guest) 3 2* 1 0 1 (7+1)
FLUIDAIR POWER SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS SUPPORTED BY HENDERSON INSURANCE 45
1. Josh Auty 1* 1 3 1* 1* (7+3)
2. Theo Pijper 2 3 3 3 2* 2 (15+1)
3. David Howe R/R
4. Carl Wilkinson TX 3 1 3 2 (9)
5. Alex Davies 1 2 1 TX 2 (6)
6. Ben Morley (Guest) 1* 0 0 0 (1+1)
7. Nike Lunna 2 0 2* 2 0 1 0 (7+1)
1: Kennett, Pijper, Auty, Aspegren (3-3) (3-3).
2: Starke, Lunna, Morley, Greenwood (3-3) (6-6).
3: (Re-run) Pijper, Mellgren, Proctor, Morley, Wilkinson (excluded, tape touching) (3-3) (9-9).
4: Kennett, Starke, Davies, Lunna (5-1) (14-10).
5: Pijper, Mellgren, Auty, Proctor (2-4) (16-14).
6: Kennett, Davies, Aspegren, Morley (4-2) (20-16).
7: Wilkinson, Mellgren, Davies, Greenwood (2-4) (22-20).
8: Pijper, Lunna, Starke, Aspegren (ret) (1-5) (23-25).
9: (Re-run) Mellgren, Lunna, Proctor, Morley, Davies (excluded, tape touching) (4-2) (27-27).
10: Kennett, Aspegren, Wilkinson, Lunna (5-1) (32-28).
11: Auty, Pijper, Proctor, Greenwood (1-5) (33-33).
12: Wilkinson, Mellgren, Lunna, Starke (2-4) (35-37).
13: Kennett, Davies, Auty, Aspegren (3-3) (38-40).
14: Proctor, Wilkinson, Starke, Lunna (4-2) (42-42).
15: Kennett, Pijper, Auty, Mellgren (3-3) (45-45).
