Statement from Scunthorpe Speedway

SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey has issued the following statement regarding Glasgow’s use of Nico Covatti as a guest for James Sarjeant in the Scunthorpe Scorpions vs Glasgow Tigers Premier League fixture at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening.

Godfrey says: “There seems to be a lot of confusion over why myself, as Scunthorpe promoter, and the club were upset over Glasgow using Nico Covatti as a guest at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening.

“To re-iterate the comments I made on the centre green, the story is as follows:

“Glasgow asked for David Howe’s telephone number around three weeks ago and I gladly gave it to them.

“More recently, they asked me again for it and that coincided with David writing on his twitter account something along the lines of ‘decisions, decisions, decisions’. So putting it together with the request from Glasgow for his number again, I texted David and told him to go for it and he replied that he didn’t think his shoulder was up to it.

“Not believing that David would ride, I thought nothing more about it until a week ago last Thursday, when I received a text saying that Glasgow had done a deal with David.

“I immediately contacted Glasgow to inform them that I did not want David riding against us on Friday, as it could be damaging for Scunthorpe Speedway and it was my right to protect Scunthorpe.

“It was my right and my prerogative, as we had loaned David for the whole season from Wolverhampton.

“It was agreed for Glasgow to not use David against us, but then he would be subsequently be loaned out from Scunthorpe to Glasgow for the rest of the season.

“However, it was then realised that, as James Sarjeant’s new average was effective on Friday (increasing from 3.00 to 6.35), there could be no way to not let David ride at Scunthorpe. Glasgow would not be able to bring David into their side at all, if he wasn’t already in their 1-to-7 before Sarjeant’s average changed.

“Therefore, in a show of good faith, I agreed that David could ride for Glasgow at Scunthorpe on Friday after all.

“But I asked for one proviso: that, in return, I asked Glasgow not to use a guest for James Sarjeant, but rather rider replacement. It seemed fair, as had I stuck to my original guns, they would have been using rider replacement for Kozza Smith.

“I was told by a Glasgow representative that ‘I will check with my boss’, but I never received a reply and then found out Nico Covatti had been booked as a guest.

“It’s not bitterness on my behalf. We actually put up a very good account of ourselves on Friday night. But with a couple of riders missing, we weren’t quite strong enough. I thought the riders from both sides put on an excellent show.

“And I have nothing against David Howe. But I acted in good faith, and felt Glasgow did not repay that courtesy.

“I want our supporters to know why I was annoyed about the subject. I will always tell them the truth”, Godfrey concludes.

The reason Glasgow were allowed a guest on Friday for James Sarjeant was that he was supposed to be riding for Elite League Coventry on the same night and a guest is allowed in such circumstances. However, he was injured riding for the Bees at Poole on Wednesday.

Following a precedent involving Stuart Robson earlier in the season, Glasgow were still allowed by the BSPA to use a guest for Sarjeant, despite the rulebook appearing to state that rider replacement should be used for an injured rider.

It is not this decision that Godfrey and the Scunthorpe management were annoyed about, but rather Glasgow’s original choice to plump for a guest, in contrary to Godfrey’s request, after helping the loan of David Howe to the Tigers to go through in time.

Nico Covatti scored a match-winning 10 (paid 11) haul for Glasgow on Friday evening, in their 47-42 victory against the FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance, at the Eddie Wright Raceway.