Holub crashes out as Scorpions suffer heavy defeat
PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS 64 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 26 (LEAGUE CUP)
HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions saw their Czech Republic star Zdenek Holub crash out of a heavy 26-64 League Cup defeat at Peterborough last night (Friday).
Former Scorpion Michael Palm Toft knocked into Holub on the opening turn of Heat 3, with both coming down – Holub taking a high-side off the wrong side of the bike.
Palm Toft was excluded from the re-run, while Holub was whisked off to the hospital for a check-up after landing heavily on his shoulder. The good news is that 20-year-old Holub appears to have escaped from a fracture.
Team manager Dave Peet says: “Zdenek has abrasions across his right shoulder and right arm. He’s battered and bruised – he couldn’t move his shoulder much once his Kevlars were removed. We don’t think anything is broken.”
The meeting saw the Scorpions constantly beaten from the starting tapes, on an unusually slick Peterborough racing surface, with passing at an absolute premium.
Peet admits: “The track took us completely by surprise. We were left chasing set-ups the whole evening.
“We were effectively beaten out of the gate in all 15 races. I can’t recall that happening before – normally you get dialled in sooner or later. We were getting very near towards the end.
“When we come back for the Premier League match in June, we’ll be prepared. It’s not sour grapes, because Peterborough rode fantastically from 1-to-7 and obviously have a good year ahead. But we can come back here in the league meeting and give a much better account of ourselves.”
It was largely one-way traffic, although one bright spot for the visitors was when Ryan Douglas cut inside home No 1 Ulrich Ostergaard on the second bend of Heat 10, and became Scunthorpe’s only race-winner of the night.
The best race of the evening came in Heat 11, with Nicklas Porsing pipping Josh Auty after a wheel-to-wheel duel, while Emil Grondal won a battle for third place with Scunthorpe guest Richard Hall. Hall was feeling off-colour and apologised to Scorpions’ fans on Twitter immediately after the meeting.
There was plenty of effort from all the Scorpions, but for very little reward.
PETERBOROUGH PANTHERS 64
1. Ulrich Ostergaard 2* 3 2 3 3 (13+1)
2. Simon Lambert 3 2* 3 FX (8+1)
3. Nikolaj Busk Jakobsen 3 3 3 2* 0 (11+1)
4. Michael Palm Toft FX 2* 2* 3 (7+2)
5. Nicklas Porsing R 2* 3 2* (7+2)
6. Emil Grondal 3 3 1 3 (10)
7. Tom Perry 2* 3 2* 1 (8+2)
HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 26
1. Josh Auty 1 1 2 1 2 (7)
2. Richard Hall (Guest) 0 0 1 0 (1)
3. Ryan Douglas 2 1 3 1# 1* (8+1)
4. Zdenek Holub FN (0)
5. Alex Davies 2 1 1 0 (4)
6. Carl Wilkinson 1 F 0 0 0 2 (3)
7. Josh Bailey 0 1* 1* 0 1 0 (3+2)
# = tactical ride
1: Lambert, Ostergaard, Auty, Hall, 61.2 (5-1) (5-1).
2: Grondal, Perry, Wilkinson, Bailey, 62.3 (5-1) (10-2).
3: (Re-run twice) Jakobsen, Douglas, Bailey, Palm Toft (fell, excluded), 60.8 (3-3) (13-5).
4: Perry, Davies, Bailey, Porsing (ret), 62.6 (3-3) (16-8).
5: Jakobsen, Palm Toft, Auty, Hall, 62.3 (5-1) (21-9).
6: Ostergaard, Lambert, Davies, Wilkinson (fell), 62.5 (5-1) (26-10).
7: Grondal, Porsing, Douglas, Bailey, 61.8 (5-1) (31-11).
8: Lambert, Perry, Hall, Wilkinson, 63.5 (5-1) (36-12).
9: Jakobsen, Palm Toft, Davies, 62.8 (5-1) (41-13).
10: (Re-run) Douglas, Ostergaard, Bailey, Lambert (fell, excluded), 63.6 (2-4) (43-17).
11: Porsing, Auty, Grondal, Hall, 63.6 (4-2) (47-19).
12: Grondal, Jakobsen, DOUGLAS (TR), Wilkinson, 63.4 (5-1) (52-20).
13: Ostergaard, Porsing, Auty, Davies, 63.5 (5-1) (57-21).
14: Palm Toft, Wilkinson, Perry, Bailey, 63.5 (4-2) (61-23).
15: Ostergaard, Auty, Douglas, Jakobsen, 64.0 (3-3) (64-26).
* Peterborough are the next visitors to the Eddie Wright Raceway on Sunday, April 10 (start time 6.30pm). In the meantime, the Scorpions make the short trip to local rivals Sheffield next Thursday (April 7).
