Next seven home meetings are crucial to future of Scorpions

SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey has revealed that the meeting on Bank Holiday Monday, August 31st could be the final-ever Scunthorpe Scorpions’ fixture at the Eddie Wright Raceway, unless there is a telling increase in attendance levels at the North Lincolnshire venue for the rest of the 2015 season.

Godfrey first revealed the club’s plight to supporters in his final programme notes of 2014. He promised them one more season, but that support needed to increase during 2015.

In a statement, Godfrey says: “First of all, I’d like to thank our loyal supporters across the last ten years, the people who have turned up week-in, week-out.

“Scunthorpe Speedway, in its previous incarnation from 1971 to 1985, nearly always tracked a poor team. We’ve banished that reputation, not only winning the Conference/National League three times, but also the Premier League championship in 2012. The latter, in particular, is something that still fills me with tremendous pride. We showed that Scunthorpe Speedway could be a success.

“There’s so much we can look back on and be proud about. The current World Championship leader, Tai Woffinden, started his professional speedway career racing for the Scunthorpe Scorpions.

“Our supporters are fantastic, but the bottom line is that we simply don’t have enough of them. Last year, I informed our fans that we needed around 100 more people through the gate a week. This year, the situation has worsened, maybe because we haven’t been successful on track. The Bank Holiday crowds have been OK, but our Friday night attendances have been very poor. We no longer need another 100 fans a week, we now need another 200.

“Whether we’re finished as a club, I don’t know. It’s no secret that our crowds need to be better, like most clubs. I don’t want this to be our last season, but I have to say we’re fighting for survival now.

“I really don’t know what else we can do to try to get people along on a Friday evening at 7.30pm; we’ve tried everything.

“I firmly believe we have the best racetrack in the whole country. The fact we’ve been awarded Premier League Track Of The Year three times (2010, 2012 and 2014) suggests I’m not the only person who thinks that.

“Some other tracks sometimes come under fire for long, drawn-out meetings, so we make sure we avoid that. We start on time, and then get on with the meeting.

“I believe a speedway meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway is a good night’s entertainment, yet for whatever reason, we simply can’t get enough people to come along to watch our meetings. It appears to be a problem with speedway across the country, rather than a unique problem to Scunthorpe. I can’t speak for other tracks, but I can speak for mine, and we simply don’t have enough people on the terraces to sustain the current level of Premier League Speedway.”

The FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance, currently sit bottom of the 2015 Premier League, and Godfrey admits the on-track struggle has probably not helped with attendances.

He adds: “Basically, we’ve had ten reasonably successful years on the track up to now, but this year we’re just having a terrible year. It happens, you have good years and bad years. In the 10 years we’ve been running, this is the first really bad season we’ve had and it’s not through choice.

“What can I do to change it? All I can do is hope the riders get it together and start banging in some scores. I don’t think our team is as bad as our current league position shows. Once Josh (Auty) and Ryan (Douglas) are back and fully fit and healthy, I think we have a decent team, and visiting teams will struggle to take any points away from the Eddie Wright Raceway.

“But it’s been one thing after another this year. There has been times this season when I’ve hated speedway and can’t wait to get out of it, and I’ve had many a sleepless night. But there are also times when I realise how much I would miss this sport.

“We have seven home meetings left, starting with Peterborough on Friday (7.30pm). And as long as the weather doesn’t intervene, we’ll close for this season with the Bank Holiday Monday fixture on August 31st, against Sheffield Tigers, followed by the Midland Development League Riders’ Championship. People have those seven meetings left to show that there is sufficient interest out there to sustain the Scorpions into 2016 and beyond.

“No decision has been made yet, but I need to know that people still want speedway in Scunthorpe and that we’re going to get the level of support we need to make it viable to continue.

“In my heart, I still believe that Scunthorpe Speedway is worth saving. I hope there are enough other people who do as well”, Godfrey concludes.

SCUNTHORPE’S REMAINING HOME MEETINGS IN 2015:

Friday, July 10th – Scorpions vs Peterborough Panthers (7.30pm)
Friday, July 17th – Scorpions vs Ipswich Witches (7.30pm)
Friday, July 24th – Scorpions vs Plymouth Devils (7.30pm)
Friday, August 7th – Scorpions vs Newcastle Diamonds (7.30pm)
Friday, August 14th – Scorpions vs Redcar Bears (7.30pm)
Friday, August 21st – Scorpions vs Berwick Bandits (7.30pm)
Bank Holiday Monday, August 31st – Scorpions vs Sheffield Tigers followed by Midland Development League Riders’ Championship (3pm)

PLEASE COME ALONG TO THE EDDIE WRIGHT RACEWAY TO HELP SAVE THE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS