Auty hurt after Tungate incident

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 43 IPSWICH WITCHES 47 (PREMIER LEAGUE)

FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance, lost 43-47 in controversial circumstances to the Ipswich Witches at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).

On a crazy night containing some of the best racing you’ll ever see, punch-ups, and a brief sit-down protest, the centre of the storm came into the immediate wake of Heat 10, and saw Josh Auty suffer a suspected broken hand, a re-break of the same injury that kept Auty on the sidelines for nine weeks leading up to last night.

In a highly unsavoury incident, Australian rider Rohan Tungate – after being beaten into third place in the race by Auty and Alex Davies – rode straight into Auty on the second bend of the warm-down lap, and brought the 24-year-old Englishman crashing down.

After consulting with various officials and riders, referee Peter Clarke fined Tungate £200 and reported him to the SCB, but crucially, didn’t ban Tungate from the remainder of the meeting.

Auty had been flying on his return from injury, and was unbeaten from three rides. He won Heat 6 in brilliant style, despite only being in third place with a lap-and-a-half to go, but then passing Nico Covatti and Stefan Nielsen. He and Tungate been involved in a second-bend incident during the first attempt to stage Heat 10, with the referee deciding to allow all four riders back into the re-run.

It was a night of some top-drawer speedway, including a pulsating Heat 13, in which Danny King eventually won a battle with Ryan Douglas for the lead, while Nike Lunna won a near dead-heat with Nico Covatti for third place. That keep the scores level at 39-39.

Scunthorpe were left without Auty in Heats 13 & 15, while Tungate picked up crucial points from both Heats 14 & 15, as Ipswich took a 47-43 victory with 4-2s in the last two races.

Commenting on the Rohan Tungate / Josh Auty incident, Scunthorpe team manager Dave Peet said: “These things should not happen.

“The referee said he didn’t see it. The clerk of the course, who wasn’t our normal clerk of the course, also said he didn’t see it.

“I gave the referee my version of events – that Rohan Tungate had rode straight into Josh Auty on the second bend after the race, and he also got Josh’s version of events.

“The referee spoke to the Ipswich team manager (Phil Hilton), who said he didn’t see it, and then the referee got Rohan Tungate’s version of events.

“And the referee decided to give Tungate the maximum fine, but decided not to ban him from the rest of the meeting. Had the referee seen it, I have no doubt Tungate would have been thrown out of the meeting.”

Peet also praised his riders in their valiant attempt to win the meeting without Auty.

He added: “We were handicapped without Josh, who was flying before he was hurt, and didn’t have him in either Heat 13 or 15.

“Despite that, the boys gave it a really good go. When everything calmed down a bit, we had a talk, and they give it their all, for instance Nike Lunna pipped Nico Covatti when placed into Heat 13 as a reserve.

“It was a tough decision to take Ben Wilson out of Heat 14, but I felt Nike had more speed, and he ended up with second place from that one. I couldn’t have asked any more from the riders.

“There was some really good racing out there. I’m sure anyone who saw that meeting will be back next week.

“It was always going to be tough against Ipswich, and ultimately the actions of Rohan Tungate following Heat 10 cost us this meeting. The circumstances as to how we lost our No 1 was sickening. It’s a disgrace for a meeting to be settled in that fashion. I wish Josh Auty well.”

Scunthorpe have placed an official £50 protest regarding Tungate’s continuance in the meeting. The right to appeal is rule 3.4.4. As their protest was rejected by the SCB referee, they have 24 hours to protest to the SCB Prime Officer (Graham Reeve) as per rule 3.4.8.3.

Peet explained: “We’re not in this to cause problems for the Ipswich Witches. But a rider cannot be seen to seemingly take the law into his own hands. It may have been done in the heat of the moment, but it’s still unacceptable, and we have a rider who could be sitting on the sidelines for the rest of the season because of it. What we’re primarily after is justice for that.”

The Scunthorpe speedway club would be interested in hearing from anyone with video footage of the incident following Heat 10, so that the footage can be passed onto the SCB, so that they can independently look at the evidence and make any judgement they feel necessary after this unsavoury incident.

FLUIDAIR POWER SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS SUPPORTED BY HENDERSON INSURANCE 47
1. Josh Auty 2* 3 3 (8+1)
2. Alex Davies 3 0 3 2* 0 (8+1)
3. Theo Pijper 2 0 2 3 (7)
4. Carl Wilkinson FX 1 0 0 (1)
5. Ryan Douglas 2 2 3 2 2 (11)
6. Ben Wilson 2 1* 0 (3+1)
7. Nike Lunna 1* 0 1 0 1* 2 (5+2)

IPSWICH WITCHES 47
1. Danny King FX 3 1* 3 3 (10+1)
2. Cameron Heeps 1 2* 2 2 2 (9+1)
3. Gino Manzares R/R
4. Rohan Tungate 3 3 1 3 1 (11)
5. Nico Covatti 3 1* 3 0 (7+1)
6. Stefan Nielsen 3 1 2 0 MX 0 1* (7+1)
7. Ashley Morris 0 1 0 1 1 (3)

1: (Re-run) Davies, Auty, Heeps, King (fell, excluded), 59.5 (5-1) (5-1).
2: Nielsen, Wilson, Lunna, Morris, 59.81 (3-3) (8-4).
3: Tungate, Pijper, Nielsen, Wilkinson (fell, excluded), awarded – no time (2-4) (10-8).
4: Covatti, Douglas, Morris, Lunna, 58.69 (2-4) (12-12).
5: King, Heeps, Wilkinson, Pijper, 57.44 (1-5) (13-17).
6: Auty, Nielsen, Covatti, Davies, 59.07 (3-3) (16-20).
7: Tungate, Douglas, Wilson, Nielsen, 58.56 (3-3) (19-23).
8: Davies, Heeps, Lunna, Morris, 58.44 (4-2) (23-25).
9: Covatti, Pijper, Morris, Wilkinson, Nielsen (excluded, two minutes), 58.56 (2-4) (25-29).
10: (Re-run) Auty, Davies, Tungate, Nielsen, 58.00 (5-1) (30-30).
11: Douglas, Heeps, King, Wilson, 58.43 (3-3) (33-33).
12: Pijper, Heeps, Nielsen, Lunna, 58.81 (3-3) (36-36).
13: King, Douglas, Lunna, Covatti, 56.98 (3-3) (39-39).
14: Tungate, Lunna, Morris, Wilkinson, 59.07 (2-4) (41-43).
15: King, Douglas, Tungate, Davies, 57.81 (2-4) (43-47).

PHOTO: Josh Auty and Alex Davies take a 5-1 over Rohan Tungate in Heat 10, moments away from controversy.