Pit Bike Class goes from strength to strength

Last Sunday Scunthorpe Speedway held their third amateur meeting of the winter at the Eddie Wright Raceway. Whilst much of the country was suffering at the hands of Storm Desmond North Lincolnshire was basking in double digit temperatures and seeing some of the country’s finest young riders go through their paces. However, it was one of the open classes, the pit bikes, that is really swelling its numbers. Twelve riders took to the track over 11 races and after much drama it was Summer Champion Lee Carter who claimed victory.

Earlier Stephanie Tovey had won three of her five qualifying rides to have first pick of gate in the ‘A’ Final whilst Simon Ellis edged out Carter for second pick. However, both Tovey and Ellis stalled at the start of the eight rider race to allow Carter, who had been begging and borrowing bikes after a first race puncture to claim victory. Tovey’s brother, Thomas, and ‘B’ Final winner Zak Harris filled the podium places.

In the smaller engine Junior 110cc class Thomas Tovey went one better to edge out Teddy Wilkinson and his sister is a terrific three-way battle for honours whilst first-timer, 5-year old Ryan Ingram, on his PW50 put up a great showing and there is little doubt he will soon be closer to his older rivals.

In the Flat Track class it was Joe Burden who pipped Storm Stacey to victory because the latter failed to finish after falling in one race. Burden finished second to Stacey in five races but won the other whilst John Boddy finished third.

In the senior youth speedway class Kyle Bickley and Kean Dicken battled throughout the day with Bickley claiming victory in all the qualifying races. Sadly Lewis Millar, who had travelled the furthest to race, had his day cut short after re-injuring his shoulder after an unfortunate accident whilst being push started by meeting organiser Richard Hollingsworth before his third ride. However, despite Bickley’s dominance of qualifying it was Dicken who headed Bickley in the early stages of the final. Then disaster struck and Bickley’s seat bracket broke and we will never know whether he could have caught Dicken who managed the fastest time of the day; an impressive 62.3 seconds. Ironically, after the race it was discovered that Dicken’s seat bracket had also broken but it didn’t hinder him in the same way as his rival.

The fifth and final class of the day, the youth 125/150cc it was Harry McGurk and Mickie Simpson who repeated their 1-2 of the first round whilst Max Perry, in only his second meeting on a speedway bike, claimed third place from Jacob Clayton.

In total there was 45 races in less than three hours and afterwards organiser Richard Hollingsworth declared he was already looking forward to next Sunday’s meeting for the adult speedway classes. “Today was a lovely day for December. In this country you can have great days in January and horrid days in July. You can never tell. Today the track improved throughout and Kean and Kyle’s winning times just show how good it was. It is great because dust is rarely a problem in the winter and we just need to avoid the heavy frosts and we can just keep going.

“It was a shame about Lewis Millar’s fall today. I feel bad about that but it really was an accident and I suppose at least his younger brother had a good day on his debut and their long trip wasn’t totally wasted. Also young Bailey Fellows had a nasty fall and banged his head but it is great to hear he is okay. Next week we have a meeting for the adult speedway classes and I must say these three hour meetings are a lot easier than the seven hour ones we end up running in the summer. Already we have a few entries and if anyone else wants to join in the fun I’ll take bookings up to Saturday tea-time if they text me on 07832-402167”

Full list of Winter Series meeting dates:

Flat Track, Pit Bike and Youth Speedway classes – 22nd November, 6th December, 27th December, 17th January, 7th February & 28th February

Adult Speedway Classes – 15th November, 13th December, 3rd January, 24th January, 14th February & 6th March

Flat Track
Scores: Joe Burden 31, Storm Stacey 30, John Boddy 21, Matthew Walker 18, Peter Jordan 16, James Boddy 3.

Winter Series points: Burden 20, Stacey 19, John Boddy 18, Walker 17, Jordan 16, James Boddy 15.

Winter Series standings (after two rounds): Joe Burden 37 (17-20), Storm Stacey 37 (18-19), John Boddy 33 (15-18), Peter Jordan 32 (16-16), Tom Amos 20, Skye Adams 19, Matthew Walker 17, James Boddy 15, Giles Longbone 14.

Race winning times (Stacy unless stated; six laps unless stated): 5. 134.9 (7 laps), 12. 113.5, 17. 112.5, 24. Joe Burden – race awarded, 30.108.0, 40. 103.9

Pit Bikes
Qualifying scores: Stephanie Tovey 37, Simon Ellis 33, Lee Carter 33, Thomas Tovey 31, Stuart Avery 31, George Hopper 26, Colin Willerton 23, Dan Miles 21 (4 rides), Tom Miles 20, Zak Harris 19 (4 rides), Tom Fellows 14, Jamie Halder 8 (3 rides)

B Final: Harris, D. Miles, T. Miles, Willerton, Fellows, 81.3
A Final: Carter, T. Tovey, Harris, D. Miles, Avery, Hopper, Ellis, S. Tovey (ret), 83.0

Winter Series points: Carter 20, T. Tovey 19, Harris 18, D. Miles 17, Avery 16, Hopper 15, Ellis 14, S. Tovey 13, T. Miles 12, Willerton 11, Fellows 10, Halder 9

Winter Series standings (after two rounds): Lee Carter 40 (20-20), Zak Harris 35 (17-18), George Hopper 31 (16-15), Stuart Avery 30 (14-16), Dan Miles 29 (12-17), Jamie Halder 28 (18-9), Tom Miles 27 (15-12), Craig Smith 19, Thomas Tovey 19, Simon Ellis 14, Carly Hopper 13, Stephanie Tovey 13, Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 11, Colin Willerton 11, Tom Fellows 10.

Qualifying heat winning times: 4. S. Tovey 86.6, 7. Carter 90.2, 11. S. Tovey 83.6, 14. Hopper 87.9, 18. Carter 86.6, 23. Ellis 86.6, 27. S. Tovey 86.9, 32. T. Tovey 84.2, 36. Carter 84.5

Youth 500
Qualifying scores: Kyle Bickley 15, Kean Dicken 8, Lewis Millar 2 (2 rides).

A Final: Dicken, Borczuch, 62.3

Winter Series points: Dicken 20, Bickley 19, Millar 18

Winter Series standings (after two rounds): Kean Dicken 38 (18-20), Kyle Bickley 39 (20-19), Eryk Borczuch 19, Lewis Millar 18

Qualifying heat winning times (all Bickley): 8. 70.1, 13. 69.9, 20. 66.5, 26. 63.9, 33. 63.3

Youth 125/150
Qualifying scores: Harry McGurk 15, Mickie Simpson 10, Max Perry 10, Jacob Clayton 10, Sheldon Davies 9, Luke Harrison 8, Bailey Fellows 7 (4 rides), Gregor Millar 6, Jack Wright 3, Alex Goldsbrough 0

C Final: Millar, Wright, 76.8
B Final: Clayton, Millar, Harrison, Davies (fell), no time
A Final: (re-run) H. McGurk, Simpson, Perry, Clayton, 66.8

Winter Series points: McGurk 20, Simpson 19, Perry 18, Clayton 17, Millar 16, Harrison 15, Davies 14, Wright 13, Fellows 12, Goldsbrough 11.

Winter Series standings (after two rounds): Harry McGurk 40 (20-20), Mickie Simpson 38 (19-19), Max Perry 34 (16-18), Luke Harrison 33 (18-15), Jordan Palin 17, Jacob Clayton 32 (15-17), Sheldon Davies 27 (13-14), Jack Wright 25 (12-13), Gregor Millar 16, Sam McGurk 14, Bailey Fellows 12, Goldsbrough 11.

Qualifying heat winning times: 1. Simpson 76.4, 2. Fellows 76.9, 3. McGurk 71.6, 6. McGurk 72.4, 10. Clayton 75.1, 15. Perry – no time, 19. Simpson 76.1, 22. McGurk 71.4, 25. Clayton 74.5, 28. Davies – no time, 31. McGurk 67.7, 34. Perry 72.1, 37. McGurk 67.7

Junior 110
Scores: Thomas Tovey 20, Teddy Wilkinson 18, Stephanie Tovey 14, Ryan Ingram 6.

Winter Series points: T. Tovey 20, Wilkinson 19, S. Tovey 18, Ingram 17.

Winter Series standings (after two rounds): Teddy Wilkinson 39 (20-19), Thomas Tovey 20, Lewis Towle 19, Stephanie Tovey 18, Ryan Ingram 17.

Race winning times: 9. Wilkinson 85.8, 16. S. Tovey 85.1, 21. Wilkinson 86.3, 29. T. Tovey 86.5, 35. T. Tovey 87.4, 41. T. Tovey 84.2