Covatti is the difference

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 42 GLASGOW TIGERS 47 (PREMIER LEAGUE)

SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey praised his side, after the FluidAir Power Scorpions went down to a narrow 42-47 home defeat to the Glasgow Tigers at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).

Godfrey said: “Glasgow put out a very strong side for the fixture, but we pushed them all the way. I couldn’t have asked for any more from our riders.”

Nico Covatti, controversially used as a guest by Glasgow, proved to be the difference between the two sides, with a 10+1 haul from four rides.

A separate statement will follow, but the general gist is that Godfrey allowed Glasgow to sign former Scorpion David Howe and to track Howe last night, but requested, to repay the good faith being shown by the Scorpions’ management, that the Tigers used rider replacement rather than a guest for the missing James Sarjeant.

However, Glasgow still went ahead and booked the in-form Covatti as a guest, and even after Sarjeant was injured riding for Coventry Bees on Wednesday night which meant he was no longer riding for the Bees last night, still pressed ahead to gain the special permission necessary from the BSPA to keep Covatti in their side.

With Glasgow tracking a side stronger than their usual 1-to-7, the Scorpions – minus the injured Josh Auty and Ryan Douglas – still made a real right of it, and actually took the lead after a 5-1 from reserves Nike Lunna and Ben Wilson in Heat 2.

Lunna also won Heat 3 in fine style, but the young Finn came crashing down while doing a celebratory wheelie after the race and damaged his best bike.

Meanwhile, despite Howe having a subdued evening on his return to the Eddie Wright Raceway, the Tigers took the lead for the first time following a 5-1 from Covatti and Aaron Summers in Heat 7, after a battle for second place between Summers and Alex Davies.

The second half of the meeting was incident-strewn, as the two sides battled for supremacy, but fortunately the worst injury suffered was Lunna sustaining minor damage to his hand and wrist in a Heat 11 fall. The re-run of that race saw ex-Scorpion Nick Morris pip Davies after a titanic battle for the lead.

Referee Darren Hartley was called upon to make a number of decisions, as riders clashed on the opening bends, and he seemed to call the majority of them correctly.

In Heat 12, Summers came up to the tapes just within the two-minute time allowance, only for Richard Lawson (not in the race) also come up to the tapes and offer Summers a different bike. With the red lights then flickering on, everyone – including Summers, who initially came up to the 15-metre-mark for the re-run – assumed he had been penalised, but in actual fact, the referee was warning Lawson for his actions and Summers was allowed to line-up on the start-line.

The Scorpions took a 5-1 from the re-run courtesy of Wilson and Carl Wilkinson, to edge to just a single point behind.

The immaculate Lawson, along with Nick Morris, moved Glasgow five in front, with a maximum heat advantage in Heat 13, with the race awarded after Scunthorpe guest Nikolaj B Jakobsen was excluded while in pursuit. Earlier, in Heat 6, Jakobsen had been the only man all night to seriously trouble Lawson.

The last two races saw two exclusions for the visitors, but also two heat-wins for Covatti and Lawson, as the Tigers wound up as 47-42 victors. However, given the respective team strengths between a patched-up Scunthorpe and a souped-up Glasgow, the Tigers may be left rueing not taking the fourth league point come the end of the season.

Wilkinson ended up as top scorer for the Scorpions with a paid 12 haul, despite being brought down in Heat 14 by Dimitri Berge. Wilko had taken a fine victory over Morris in Heat 5.

FLUIDAIR POWER SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS SUPPORTED BY HENDERSON INSURANCE 42
1. Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen (Guest) 1* 2 2 FX (5+1)
2. Theo Pijper (pictured) 2 0 1* 3 1* 1* (8+3)
3. Ryan Douglas R/R
4. Carl Wilkinson 0 3 2 2* 1* 2 (10+2)
5. Alex Davies 1 1 R 2 1 (5)
6. Ben Wilson 2* 0 0 3 2 (7+1)
7. Nike Lunna 3 3 1 FX (7)

GLASGOW TIGERS 47
1. Nick Morris 3 2 3 2* FX (10+1)
2. David Howe 0 1* 2 1 (4+1)
3. Aaron Summers 2 2* FX 1 (5+1)
4. Nico Covatti (Guest) 1* 3 3 3 (10+1)
5. Richard Lawson 3 3 3 3 3 (15)
6. Victor Palovaara 0 0 FX (0)
7. Dimitri Berge 1 2* 0 0 FX (3+1)

1: Morris, Pijper, Jakobsen, Howe, 55.7 (3-3) (3-3).
2: Lunna, Wilson, Berge, Palovaara, 56.43 (5-1) (8-4).
3: Lunna, Summers, Covatti, Wilkinson, 56.87 (3-3) (11-7).
4: Lawson, Berge, Davies, Wilson, 55.93 (1-5) (12-12).
5: Wilkinson, Morris, Howe, Pijper, 56.68 (3-3) (15-15).
6: Lawson, Jakobsen, Pijper, Palovaara, 57.44 (3-3) (18-18).
7: Covatti, Summers, Davies, Wilson, 57.50 (1-5) (19-23).
8: Pijper, Howe, Lunna, Berge, 57.25 (4-2) (23-25).
9: (Re-run) Lawson, Wilkinson, Davies (ret), Palovaara (fell, excluded), 57.75 (2-3) (25-28).
10: (Re-run) Covatti, Jakobsen, Pijper, Summers (fell, excluded), 57.68 (3-3) (28-31).
11: (Re-run) Morris, Davies, Howe, Lunna (fell, excluded), 57.82 (2-4) (30-35).
12: (Re-run) Wilson, Wilkinson, Summers, Berge, 58.44 (5-1) (35-36).
13: Lawson, Morris, Davies, Jakobsen (fell, excluded), awarded – no time (1-5) (36-41).
14: (Re-run) Covatti, Wilson, Wilkinson, Berge (fell, excluded), 58.17 (3-3) (39-44).
15: (Re-run) Lawson, Wilkinson, Pijper, Morris (fell, excluded), 58.19 (3-3) (42-47).