Kenny Smith memorial shield up for grabs in winter series finale
EITHER Josh Bailey or Jack Parkinson-Blackburn will win the Kenny Smith Memorial Shield at the Eddie Wright Raceway tomorrow (Sunday, start-time 11am), as the Winter Series of Scunthorpe’s amateur meetings comes to a conclusion.
The shield will be picked up by the winner of the Open Series. After three rounds, Bailey (56 points) and Parkinson-Blackburn (55 points) are two remaining contenders.
Around 40 riders will compete across all classes, in what promises to a packed day of action. Admission is free to spectators.
With the 2016 professional speedway season drawing ever closer, two members of the 2016 Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions, Bailey and Ryan Douglas, are part of the line-up.
Series organiser Richard Hollingsworth said: “It should be another fantastic day of amateur action.
“It’s great that either Josh or Jack will win Kenny Smith’s shield. Both are young riders, with a great future in the sport.
“Kenny lived and breathed the sport until he was so cruelly taken away from us aged 55. I’m sure Kenny would be pleased to have his name feature so prominently in amateur speedway, an area of the sport that was so dear to him.”
KENNY SMITH 1954-2009
A legend of Scunthorpe Speedway
Kenny Smith passed away in 2009, after a brave battle against throat cancer. He was both co-promoter and team manager of the Scorpions. Just two days before he passed away, he was taken around the Scunthorpe track on the back of David Howe’s bike for two emotional laps of honour.
Kenny’s grandfather was one of the pioneer riders in the sport’s early days back in the 1920s. Kenny began his own racing career in grasstrack, before taking up speedway in the late sixties at Doncaster.
However, he is best remembered for his involvement on the other side of the speedway fence. After being involved at Middlesbrough, he switched to Newcastle when the Teesside club’s Cleveland Park track closed. Newcastle boss George English, soon made him Assistant Team Manager and Kenny took responsibility for the Newcastle Gems when they entered a side in the Conference League.
With speedway returned to Scunthorpe to 2005 after a twenty-year absence, Kenny offered his services, as the Gems had withdrawn from the Conference League following the 2004 season. He was taken on board as Scorpions’ team manager, and was delighted when the Scorpions carried all before then to sweep to successive Conference League titles in 2006 and 2007.
Kenny’s unswerving passion for the sport and the Scunthorpe club was rewarded in 2007 when he became a co-promoter and the club could have never wished for a greater ambassador.
The Kenny Smith Memorial Shield has been raced for on an almost annual basis and from the winter of 2015/6 it will be won by the winner of the club’s amateur winter series.
