Scorpions make Rebels work for points
SOMERSET REBELS 52 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 41 (PREMIER LEAGUE)
HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions could not stop the Somerset Rebels steamroller, but gave the league leaders a bit of a fright, before eventually going down 41-52 at the Oak Tree Arena last night (Tuesday).
Scorpions had to make two late changes on the day. With both skipper Josh Auty and star reserve Carl Wilkinson missing through food poisoning, former Scunthorpe riders Thomas Jorgensen and James Sarjeant came in as guests.
Top vs bottom is often a one-sided affair at the home of the top team, but that wasn’t the case on this occasion, with Scorpions only three points adrift with for races to go after a successful tactical ride in Heat 11.
Somerset’s Rohan Tungate nudged the tapes at the first attempt of that race, and went 15m back. Tungate spent too long getting past his own team-mate Connor Coles, and by then Jorgensen and Michael Palm Toft were gone. Jorgensen allowed Palm Toft through on the final lap to ensure an 8-1.
Rebels then rallied with 5-1s in Heats 12 & 13 to ensure their 14th straight victory in the 2016 PL, but Scorpions still showed fight to share the last two races and pass the 40-point mark.
Barring a couple of good races, starting was all-important, and there were a number of races halted after unsatisfactory starts or tapes misdemeanors.
This included a truly bizarre Heat 1 where both Scorpions, Jorgensen and Palm Toft, were excluded for touching the tapes after a highly ragged start that saw at least Somerset rider also move at the tapes. With so much movement at the start and no clear culprit, it looked a classic case of bringing all four riders back for another try, but Scorpions found not one but two of their riders excluded.
With both reserves out in the re-run, Scorpions conceded a 5-1, but otherwise they rode well early on and were just two points adrift (14-16) after five races.
Palm Toft recovered from his early set-back to register double points (10+2) for the eighth successive meeting for Scorpions.
Lewis Kerr looked highly competitive with nine points from four rides, including a couple of race wins, with Ryan Douglas netted eight without winning a race.
Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “It didn’t start off in the best fashion for us. In all my time watching speedway, I’ve never seen two riders excluded at the same time from the same race for touching the tapes. That was a new one on me.
“But after that, we held them for quite a bit.
“I did think about putting the tactical ride on Lewis Kerr in Heat 10, but I wanted to get a heat advantage out of it, and I thought we stood a better chance in Heat 11, and it went perfectly because we got the 8-1.
“That brought us close, but Somerset then pulled away again with a couple of 5-1s.
“I don’t know what it is, but Somerset always seem to raise their game in the second half of the meeting around here. They have a big track grade after Heat 8 and then you’re struggling to hold onto them after that.
“We did a fairly good job of holding onto them in this meeting. I felt we put up a pretty good account of ourselves. Fritz (Wallner) and Josh (Bailey) hadn’t ridden around here before, and they picked up points.
“It was a shame that we were without Josh Auty and Carl Wilkinson, but both have been struck down with food poisoning. Full credit to our guests, Thomas Jorgensen and James Sarjeant, for coming in and giving it a go.
“But in particular, I reckon Wilko could have got double figures from reserve around here, and that would have got us even closer.”
SOMERSET REBELS 52
1. Josh Grajczonek 3 3 2 2* 0 (10+1)
2. Jake Allen 2* 2* 3 1* (8+3)
3. Charles Wright 2 3 1 3 (9)
4. Paul Starke 1* 0 3 3 (7+1)
5. Rohan Tungate 3 3 1 3 3 (13)
6. Bradley Wilson-Dean 2 R 1 2* FX (5+1)
7. Connor Coles (Guest) 0 0 0 (0)
HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 41
1. Thomas Jorgensen (Guest) TX 2 2* 0 (4+1)
2. Michael Palm Toft TX 1* 2 6# 1* (10+2)
3. Lewis Kerr 3 2 3 1 (9)
4. Fritz Wallner 0 1* 0 2 (3+1)
5. Ryan Douglas 2 1 2 1 2 (8)
6. James Sarjeant (Guest) 1 3 R 0 R 0 (4)
7. Josh Bailey 0 1 1* 1* (3+2)
# = tactical ride
1: (Re-run) Grajczonek, Allen, Sarjeant, Bailey, Palm Toft (excluded, tape touching), Jorgensen (excluded, tape touching), 56.75 (5-1) (5-1).
2: (Re-run) Sarjeant, Wilson-Dean, Bailey, Coles, 57.34 (2-4) (7-5).
3: (Re-run) Kerr, Wright, Starke, Wallner (penalised 15m for tape touching), 57.63 (3-3) (10-8).
4: (Re-run) Tungate, Douglas, Bailey, Coles, 57.12 (3-3) (13-11).
5: Wright, Jorgensen, Palm Toft, Starke, 57.93 (3-3) (16-14).
6: Grajczonek, Allen, Douglas, Sarjeant (ret), 57.69 (5-1) (21-15).
7: Tungate, Kerr, Wallner, Wilson-Dean (ret), 58.00 (3-3) (24-18).
8: (Re-run) Allen, Palm Toft, Wilson-Dean, Sarjeant, 58.69 (4-2) (28-20).
9: Starke, Douglas, Wright, Sarjeant (ret), 58.37 (4-2) (32-22).
10: Kerr, Grajczonek, Allen, Wallner, 58.60 (3-3) (35-25).
11: (Re-run) PALM TOFT (TR), Jorgensen, Tungate (penalised 15m for tape touching), Coles, 59.37 (1-8) (36-33).
12: Wright, Wilson-Dean, Kerr, Sarjeant, 58.78 (5-1) (41-34).
13: Tungate, Grajczonek, Douglas, Jorgensen, 58.75 (5-1) (46-35).
14: (Re-run) Starke, Wallner, Bailey, Wilson-Dean (fell, excluded), 58.91 (3-3) (49-38).
15: Tungate, Douglas, Toft, Grajczonek, 59.03 (3-3) (52-41).
* HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions are next in action at Ipswich on Thursday evening, where they started off their 2016 season with a 48-41 League Cup victory back in March.
