Adult Speedway classes back on track

Whilst the youth classes in Scunthorpe Speedway’s Winter Series have been in regular action the adult speedway classes have had their three meeting over the last two months washed out due to the weather. However, on Sunday they returned to the track to produce some scintillating racing. In a 14-rider strong Open Class it was Scunthorpe asset Michael Palm Toft who headed home 2016 Scorpion Josh Bailey, British Youth Champion Jack Parkinson-Blackburn and seasoned veteran Lee Dicken in the ‘A’ Final whilst there were class wins for James Hitchen (Support), Stuart Freeman (Novice) and Gary O’Hare (Upright).

Unsurprisingly it was the Open Class that took centre stage just a month before the season started with league racers making up most of the class. In the ‘B’ Final Dicken, who had a 16-year professional career that finished in 2011, defeated the highly promising trio of Eryk Borczuch, Dan Bewley and Luke Harris whilst the ‘C’ final saw Harris outpace Cradley Heath’s Ben Basford, Coventry’s Jamie Halder and George Rothery to advance to the ‘B’ Final.

After the meeting organiser Richard Hollingsworth declared the meeting a huge success. “It was great to get the adults back on track. They’ve been so unlucky with the weather but the weather fell just right today. We’ve been blessed with conditions and for once we had enough volunteers. We are so lucky to have a few regulars and today eight of them were presented with awards for their long-standing service to the club. We can never thank our volunteers enough but this was just an acknowledgement for the years of service that the eight have given our amateur meetings.

“We have John and Anne Eyre who travel from Sheffield who not only help at the amateur meetings but also are vital to the running of Scorpions’ meetings and stock car meetings. The club are totally indebted to them. Then there are Dick Jarvis, Chris Golding and Les Drury who are amazing because they travel up from Kent and stay overnight to help out at meetings. They obviously realise just how important the meetings are to British speedway in general but they go above and beyond what anyone could expect. Dave Dowling comes from Bradford to referee our meetings and is a classic case of a league referee putting plenty back into the sport. Our track curator Graham Trollope is paid to produce us a great race strip but then volunteers to helping out announcing and refereeing when Dave isn’t available and will have announced at every meeting we have run. Finally there is Dan Palmer who is the future of the club. Despite still being in his teens he is a virtual ever-present on our start-line, totally committed to helping the club survive and a credit to his generation.

“They are all amazing people and we’ve others too like Ken Alvey, Julie Coates, Ray Fieldsend, Ionut Popa and Tom Miles who are becoming regulars at meetings and thoroughly deserve a name check for their contribution to the club and the running of this winter’s meetings. We’ve next weekend off but then we’ve two more meetings to finish the Winter Series. We’ve the youth classes along with Flat Track, Pit Bikes, Road Bikes and Quad Bikes on Sunday 28th February before the adult speedway classes return on Sunday 6th March. Hopefully we will finish with a flourish as the series trophies are handed out.

“After that the league season will be starting and we have six Summer Championship meetings that will include all 12 classes. They are set for 1st May, 21st May, 18th June, 31st July, 28th August and 25th September with the meetings split in two with half the classes starting at 11am and the others later around 2 to 3pm.

Hopefully, with the split meetings it will be a chance for some riders to help out with one half of the meeting and ride in the other. Many hands make light work and we can’t always rely on the same people to keep things going”.

Any riders wanting to enter future meetings or anyone wanting to lend a hand running the meetings should text Richard Hollingsworth in the first instance on 07832-402167.

Open Class
Qualifying Scores: Michael Palm Toft 15, Josh Bailey 13, Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 11, Dan Bewley 10, Eryk Borczuch 10, Lee Dicken 9, Luke Harris 9, Jamie Halder 7, Ben Basford 6, Tyler Govier 3, George Rothery 3, Stoian Stoianov 3, Sam Darroch 1, Jack Thomas 1 (2 rides)

D Final: Rothery, Stoianov, Darroch (fell), 66.4
C Final: Harris, Basford, Halder, Rothery, awarded
B Final: Dicken, Borczuch, Bewley, Harris (retired), 61.3
A Final: Palm Toft, Bailey, Parkinson-Blackburn, Dicken, 60.4

Winter Series points: Palm Toft 20, Bailey 19, Parkinson-Blackburn 18, Dicken 17, Borczuch 16, Bewley 15, Harris 14, Basford 13, Halder 12, Rothery 11, Stoianov 10, Darroch 9, Govier 8, Thomas 7.

Winter Series standings (after three rounds): Josh Bailey 56 (19-18-19), Jack Parkinson-Blackburn 55 (18-19-18), Luke Harris 44 (15-15-14), Jamie Halder 42 (17-13-12), Stoian Stoianov 40 (14-16-10), Jack Thomas 34 (13-14-7), Dan Bewley 32 (17-15), Ben Basford 29 (16-13), Eryk Borczuch 27 (11-16), Danny Phillips 20, Max Clegg 20, Michael Palm Toft 20, Lee Dicken 17, Alex Wilson 12, Kev Whelan 12, Dale Lamb 11, George Rothery 11, Sam Darroch 9, Tyler Govier 8.

Qualifying heats winning times: 9. Bewley 62.1, 10. Borczuch 63.3, 11. Parkinson-Blackburn 60.7, 12. Palm Toft 59.7, 16. Palm Toft 59.7, 19. Bailey 60.1, 22. Palm Toft 59.8, 25. Palm Toft 60.2, 28. Bailey 60.3, 31. Dicken 61.4, 34. Bailey 60.2, 37. Bailey 60.5, 40. Dicken 61.8, 43. Harris 61.4, 46. Palm Toft 61.2, 49. Harris 61.8, 52. Bewley 61.3

Support Class
Qualifying Scores: Ryan Burton 12, Luke Whitehead 12, James Hitchen 10, Alex Spooner 9, Sam Chapman 9, Chris Bambury 8, Mick Skinner 8, Lloyd Ditchburn 7, Ben Fenn-Smith 6, Milosz Chojnacki 6, Jamie Fenn-Smith 5, Sam Woolley 4, Luke McKenna 4.

D Final: Woolley, McKenna, 62.8
C Final: Woolley, Chojnacki, Ditchburn, Skinner (fell), awarded
B Final: Chapman, Bambury, Woolley, Spooner, 66.6
A Final: Hitchen, Whitehead, Chapman, Burton (fell), 64.1

Winter Series points: Hitchen 20, Whitehead 19, Chapman 18, Burton 17, Bambury 16, Woolley 15, Spooner 14, Chojnacki 13, Ditchburn 12, Skinner 11, B. Fenn-Smith 10, McKenna 9, J. Fenn-Smith 8

Winter Series standings (after two rounds): Chris Bambury 54 (19-19-16), Sam Chapman 52 (16-18-18), Mick Skinner 51 (20-20-11), Sam Woolley 32 (17-15), Milosz Chojnacki 30 (17-13), Jamie Fenn-Smith 26 (18-8), Ben Fenn-Smith 25 (15-10), Luke McKenna 25 (16-9), James Hitchen 20, Luke Whitehead 19, Ryan Burton 17, Trevor Bebbington 15, Blair Smith 14, Alex Spooner 14, Lloyd Ditchburn 12.

Qualifying heats winning times: 5. B. Fenn-Smith 67.5, 6. Hitchen 68.0, 7. Spooner 66.5, 8. Burton 65.4, 15. Hitchen awarded, 18. Hitchen 64.7, 21. Whitehead 64.2, 24. Chapman 67.6, 27. Burton 64.8, 30. Whitehead awarded, 33. Burton 63.9, 36. Burton awarded, 39. Whitehead 64.7, 42. Bambury 63.7, 45. Choknacki awarded, 48. Skinner 63.2, 51. Skinner 63.8

Novice Class
Qualifying Scores: Jake Isherwood 14, Chris Hay 11, Craig Osborne 11, Stuart Freeman 9, David Chiles 5, Danny Wright 3 (4 rides), Ian Rawlings 3, Arran Butcher 2 (3 rides).

B Final: Freeman, Chiles, Rawlings, 73.8
A Final: Freeman, Osborne, Isherwood, Hay, 72.3

Winter Series points: Freeman 20, Osborne 19, Isherwood 18, Hay 17, Chiles 16, Rawlings 15, Butcher 14, Wright 13, Butcher 12

Winter Series standings (after three rounds): Stuart Freeman 52 (17-15-20), David Chiles 48 (18-14-16), Jake Isherwood 37 (19-18), Dan Harrison 36 (20-16), Chris Hay 35 (18-17), Damon Hall 32 (19-13), Ian Rawlings 30 (15-15), Danny Wright 25 (12-13), James Hitchen 20, Ryan Burton 17, Kevin Wallace 16, David Brayshaw 14, Francesca Kirtley-Paine 13, Connor Hulme 12, Aaron Hay 11.

Qualifying heats winning times: 3. Hay 70.4, 4. Osborne 74.5, 14. Isherwood 68.0, 20. Hay 71.2, 26. Isherwood awarded, 32. Freeman 70.1, 38. Isherwood 74.2, 44. Hay 69.3, 50. Isherwood awarded, 53. Freeman 74.5

Upright Class
Qualifying Scores: Gary O’Hare 15, Alec Gooch 11, Shaun Bickley 10, Ed Gooch 7, Trevor Bebbington 6, Phil Kynman 3, Lee Coleman 0 (0 rides).

A Final: O’Hare, Bickley, Bebbington, 67.0

Winter Series points: O’Hare 20, Bickley 19, Bebbington 18, A. Gooch 17, E. Gooch 16, Kynman 15, Coleman 14.

Winter Series standings (after three rounds): Lee Coleman 53 (20-19-14), Shaun Bickley 53 (17-17-19), Ed Gooch 52 (18-18-16), Gary O’Hare 40 (20-20), Dave Harvey 19, Alec Gooch 17, Scott Cook 16, Ian Leverington 15, Phil Kynman 15.

Qualifying heats winning times (O’Hare unless specified): 1. A. Gooch 76.7, 2. 67.6, 13. A. Gooch 71.0, 17. Bickley 69.1, 23. 62.0, 29. Bickley 70.3, 35. 63.3, 41. 70.5, 47. 67.2