Auty hurt, Hall thrown out of meeting

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 37 REDCAR BEARS 50 (LEAGUE CUP)

THE slow start to the 2014 season for the FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions continued yesterday (Sunday), with a 37-50 home defeat to the Redcar Bears at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

However, the big talking point of the meeting was a Heat 7 incident involving Scunthorpe’s Josh Auty and Redcar’s former Scorpion Richard Hall.

Auty lost control entering the first turn, and both riders came to grief. With a stricken Auty still on the ground, Hall got to his feet, and kicked Auty hard in the stomach.

Auty was disqualified from the re-run for being the cause of the stoppage. Hall, for his actions, was handed the far greater penalty of exclusion from the rest of the meeting; the equivalent of speedway’s red card, and very rarely handed out.

Hall was also fined by referee Peter Clarke, and the incident will be reported to the Speedway Control Bureau (SCB) for possible further action.

Auty pulled out of the rest of the meeting with a knee injury. His absence made a telling difference in Heats 13 & 15, where the Bears picked up 5-1 race wins.

Australian Ryan Douglas made his first appearance of the season at the Eddie Wright Raceway and produced a sensational third to first burst in Heat 11, to hand the only defeat of the afternoon to Bears’ No 1 Richard Lawson.

Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “We seem to be in freefall in the moment. Josh (Auty) has knee ligament damage; we’ll find out how bad it is in the next days.

“Anders (Mellgren) is obviously going to be out for a while, after his back injury at Redcar on Thursday. We clearly need to do something, in terms of finding another rider. But we might wait until the averages change at the end of the month.

“It’s hard to see the positives at the moment, but we did have a couple today, in the shape of the performances of Ryan Douglas and David Howe.

“Ryan has now been around all the tracks, he knows he can do it, and he’s well up for it. He showed today what he’s capable of.

“At the same time, he’s having a bit of bad luck. He needs to avoid things such as chains coming off. But I have no doubt that Ryan will go from strength-to-strength.

“Meanwhile David Howe is returning to his old self – it’s visible in every ride.”

Reflecting on Richard Hall’s actions in Heat 7, Peet – himself a former referee – said: “There’s no room for behaviour like that in speedway or in any sport. If Josh had suffered internal injuries in the crash, then the affect of being struck at like that could have been very serious.

“The referee made the only decision he could make, in excluding Richard Hall from the rest of the meeting. The report will go to the SCB (Speedway Control Bureau) and then they’ll decide whether further action should be taken.”

SCUNTHORPE 37: Ryan Douglas 12+1, David Howe 8+1, Leigh Lanham 7+2, Thomas Jorgensen 5, Ashley Birks 3, Matt Williamson 2, Josh Auty 0.
REDCAR 50: Richard Lawson 13+1, Aaron Summers 10+3, Hugh Skidmore 10, Jan Graversen 8+2, Carl Wilkinson 6, Luke Crang 2, Richard Hall 1+1.

* A collection for the injured Anders Mellgren raised £478.65.

PHOTO: Ryan Douglas flies around Richard Lawson and Carl Wilkinson in Heat 11.