Moggo junior becomes a Stag
Arron Mogridge, from East Grinstead in Sussex, is the Scunthorpe’s fourth signing for their Stags’ National League side.
The son of Alan Mogridge, who had a 25-year professional speedway career through to 2006, was a late starter in the sport. But the 22-year old has made strong progress in the clubs’ amateur meetings over the last two years, to the point where he has made three ‘A’ final appearances in the Open Class and even won a round in September.
It was a big surprise to Richard Hollingsworth, the Stags’ Club Chairman, that Arron wasn’t snapped up by a club closer to his home and Arron looks set to start the season in the number five race jacket.
Hollingsworth said: “It’s a sad indictment of the National League that a rider with Arron’s potential has to make a 430-mile round trip for home meetings but we’re delighted to be the benefactors of others’ short-sightedness.
“He’s not been riding for that long and just keeps improving. In the February meeting he was leading Ollie Greenwood, Nathan Greaves and Danny Phillips after two laps of the ‘A’ Final before spinning out. He had the race all but won but made a mistake. However, one of Arron’s great strengths is that he learns from his mistakes and with his dad in the pits he has one of the best to learn from.
“Both Arron and his dad are level-headed individuals and that’s what you need in the pits. Just like Steve Jones, who is the captain, Arron has the right personality to be a leader in our inexperienced line-up and I am delighted that he agreed to ride for the Stags.
“You get a feeling about how far some riders will progress but with Arron not having ridden youth speedway or reached a high level in Moto X it is harder to get a feel for how far he could go. However, when you observe him in the pits and on track I just have a good feeling about him. I really think he could be a big surprise over the next year or two”.
Mogridge’s signing takes the Stags up to four riders, but Hollingsworth confirmed there are going to be no problems filling the last three places.
He added: “We’ve just run our last amateur meeting before the season starts and we will now sit down and decide who the final places are going to go to at the start of the season. There are plenty of strong candidates so there will be tough choices to make. It’s only fair that we give each rider their own announcement and chance to grab some column inches so we’ll announce one rider each week from now on even if we finalise everything this week.”
The Stags first meeting, at home to the Kent Kings, is on Sunday, March 30, following the Scunthorpe Scorpions’ first meeting of the season against the Sheffield Tigers.
2014 SCUNTHORPE STAGS (first four signings):
Steve Jones
Arron Mogridge
Ryan MacDonald
Reece Downes
