Depleted Scorpions put a fight

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 37 EDINBURGH MONARCHS 53 (SGB CHAMPIONSHIP)

A DEPLETED Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions side put up a stubborn fight, before having to admit second best to unbeaten league leaders Edinburgh Monarchs at the Eddie Wright Raceway yesterday (Sunday).

Scorpions led 16-8 early on and were still 31-29 up after 10 races, but Monarchs then pulled away in the final stages, as Scorpions suffered a 37-53 loss.

The meeting was effectively lost when Lewis Kerr was injured towards the end of the 48-42 victory at Berwick on Saturday night.

The combined absence of Kerr, Josh Auty and Fritz Wallner was simply too much, despite a fine effort from the remaining regular team members, plus guests Dimitri Berge and Richard Hall, with spectators being treated to some great racing.

Skipper Michael Palm Toft passed Monarchs’ No 1 Sam Masters in fine style in Heat 5, and he also performed a great overtake on Ricky Wells in Heat 9 to grab second place. Wells had earlier won a ding-dong battle with Carl Wilkinson in Heat 6.

It’s impossible to list every overtake, because there were so many of them, but Heat 8 will stand out as one of the best races at any track all season. Edinburgh newcomer Josh Pickering came through in brilliant style to win the race, while Richard Hall produced an all-action race, gaining third place from Mark Riss on the final bend.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey was philosophical in defeat. He said: “Without Josh Auty and Lewis Kerr, two of the best riders around the Eddie Wright Raceway, it was always going to be an uphill battle for us.

“In particular, using rider replacement for Lewis hurt us. The reserves had to take three of his rides, and Lewis is a top man around here and we lost 8 or 9 points there straight off.

“I knew before the meeting we were up against it. But then our lads got off to a great start and I started to think we could get something out of the meeting. The final scoreline doesn’t tell the story that we led for two-thirds of this match.

“I took a bit of a punt on Dimitri Berge as a guest, but he did the job. In fact, all the riders rode their hearts out for us, and Michael Palm Toft was again outstanding.

“Edinburgh came to us at the right time. They are a quality team and they took advantage of our missing riders at the end of the match, while we had a bit of bad luck in the final few races.”

HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 37
1. Ryan Douglas 3 1* 2 FX F (6+1)
2. Carl Wilkinson 1 2 2 0 1 (6)
3. R/R for Lewis Kerr
4. Michael Palm Toft 3 3 2 R TX (8)
5. Dimitri Berge (Guest) 3 2 1 2 (8)
6. Richard Hall (Guest) 2 2* 0 1* 0 1 1 (7+2)
7. Josh Bailey 1* 1 0 0 0 (2+1)

EDINBURGH MONARCHS 53
1. Sam Masters 2 2 3 1 (8)
2. Josh Pickering 0 1* 3 2* (6+2)
3. Erik Riss 1 3 3 3 2* (12+1)
4. Max Clegg 0 1 1 2* (4+1)
5. Ricky Wells 2 3 1 3 3 (12)
6. Mark Riss 3 0 3 2* 3 (11+1)
7. Mitchell Davey F 0 0 (0)

1: Douglas, Masters, Wilkinson, Pickering, 57.38 (4-2) (4-2).
2: M.Riss, Hall, Bailey, Davey (fell), 58.94 (3-3) (7-5).
3: Palm Toft, Hall, E.Riss, Clegg, 58.25 (5-1) (12-6).
4: Berge, Wells, Bailey, Davey, 57.88 (4-2) (16-8).
5: Palm Toft, Masters, Pickering, Bailey, 57.07 (3-3) (19-11).
6: Wells, Wilkinson, Douglas, Davey, 58.56 (3-3) (22-14).
7: E.Riss, Berge, Clegg, Hall, 58.25 (2-4) (24-18).
8: Pickering, Wilkinson, Hall, M.Riss, 59.38 (3-3) (27-21).
9: M.Riss, Palm Toft, Wells, Bailey, 58.57 (2-4) (29-25).
10: E.Riss, Douglas, Clegg, Wilkinson, 58.12 (2-4) (31-29).
11: Masters, Pickering, Berge, Hall, 58.81 (1-5) (32-34).
12: E.Riss, M.Riss, Wilkinson, Bailey, 58.75 (1-5) (33-39).
13: (Re-run) Wells, Berge, Masters, Douglas (fell, excluded), 59.19 (2-4) (35-43).
14: M.Riss, Clegg, Hall, Palm Toft (ret), 60.13 (1-5) (36-48).
15: (Re-run) Wells, E.Riss, Hall, Douglas (fell), Palm Toft (excluded, tape touching), 60.88 (1-5) (37-53).