Battling Stags lose out
THE Scunthorpe Stags lost by 8 points to the Junior Hitmen at Buxton on Sunday but the score doesn’t tell the whole story. The match provided plenty of excitement with as much passing and close racing as there had been in the preceding NL meeting.
The man of the match has to be Luke Whitehead for the Stags who bagged 8 points from a possible 9. His two wins, including the Heat 6 heat-leaders race, were sweet but his best race came in Heat 3 when a poor (by his standard) start left him in last place. Luke passed his team-mate on lap 2 then set about hunting down young Kean Dicken, snapping at his heels for one and a half laps, before just getting the better of him round the outside of the final bend of the final lap.
Likewise in the first race, the Buxton riders both gated ahead of Sam and Ditchy. With Sam struggling to turn the bike due to the wrong set-up, Ditchy passed him into third place and then set off after the Hitmen. Ditchy had the speed on William O’Keefe and soon caught him up, but despite trying his best to pass him inside and out, William held on to give Buxton the best possible start, highlighting the importance of gating and just how difficult passing would prove to be. And that just about summed up Ditchy’s afternoon as well, for in his next race, Heat 4, he shot out of Gate 4 and with Sam in a comfortable second place a 5-1 to the Stags looked on the cards. Then Ditchy, seeing it was Sam on the inside, moved wide to give him space coming off the second turn but over-did it and clouted the back straight fence, not once but twice, trapping his foot under his footrest. Before he could get his foot free the others had all passed him. Again he quickly made up the lost ground but was unable to get back into a scoring position. Sam, with his bike now set up to his liking, held on for a convincing win. A poor start in his next left Ditchy in the same situation, giving him a total of two points but he really deserved more for his effort and determination. Sheldon achieved the target we set for him, which was to complete his races, and in most meetings that would have been enough to pick up a point or two. He is developing a great, classic style and getting faster with every lap so it won’t be long before he is mixing it with others at this level.
The Junior Hitmen, however, were very solid from top to bottom and fully deserved their win. All four of them scored either 6 or 7 points, including bonus points, and only had one last place between them. Kean Dicken top scored with two wins in his 7 points, and it would have been a paid maximum if not for that pass by Luke Whitehead in the Heat 3 dash for the line.
This result takes the Junior Hitmen to the top of MDL Group A, one point ahead of the Stags, but the Stags certainly won’t be throwing in the towel just yet.
BUXTON JUNIOR HITMEN 22
1. William O’Keefe – 2+1,3,0, = 5+1
2. Kean Dicken – 3,1,3, = 7
3. Sam Wright – 2,1+1,2, = 5+1
4. Connor Fletcher – 1+1,2,2+1 = 5+2
SCUNTHORPE STAGS 14
1. Sam Chapman – 0,3,1, = 4
2. Lloyd Ditchburn – 1,0,1, = 2
3. Luke Whitehead – 3,2,3, = 8
4. Sheldon Davies – 0,0,0, = 0
Ht1. Dicken, O’Keefe, Ditchburn, Chapman, 5-1 (5-1)
Ht2. Whitehead, Wright, Fletcher, Davies, 3-3 (8-4)
Ht3. O’Keefe, Whitehead, Dicken, Davies, 4-2 (12-6)
Ht4. Chapman, Fletcher, Wright, Ditchburn, 3-3 (15-9)
Ht5. Dicken, Fletcher, Ditchburn, Davies, 5-1 (20-10)
Ht6. Whitehead, Wright, Chapman, O’Keefe, 2-4 (22-14)
