Nielsen blow for Scorpions
IPSWICH WITCHES 59 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 32 (SGB CHAMPIONSHIP)
HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions finished with just four riders in their 32-59 defeat at Ipswich last night (Thursday), after both Ryan Douglas and Stefan Nielsen crashed out of the meeting.
Already using rider replacement for Carl Wilkinson, who is set to return from injury for the clash against Sheffield at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Sunday (5.30pm), Scorpions got off to a reasonable start and the scores were 6-6 after two races.
But track specialist Douglas and Kyle Newman came down in an alarmingly-looking first bend incident in Heat 3. Douglas suffered concussion, and took no further part in the night’s action.
With resources stretched beyond the limit, Scorpions struggled to cover his absence, but they then received an even bigger blow when recent signing Nielsen locked up on the second bend – a bend that was causing problems all night – in Heat 12, causing himself and Justin Sedgmen to fall. Nielsen landed on his shoulder, and sustained a broken collarbone.
In a meeting littered with falls, especially on Scorpions’ side, and featuring two 5-0s to Ipswich and two races in which Scorpions could only track one rider, the margin could have been even wider. But the remaining Scorpions kept on battling until a final heat 4-2 for Lewis Kerr and Michael Palm Toft.
Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “Let’s start with the better news. Ryan Douglas suffered concussion in his fall, but he wasn’t hurting anywhere else. He’ll be fine, although he’ll be ruled out of racing on Sunday.
“The worse news is that Stefan has definitely broken his left collarbone. He’s going to hospital, which will give us a better idea of how long he will be out for. But it’s bound to be a few weeks at least, so we’ll be looking for a short-term temporary replacement for him.
“We doing OK for two races, but Ryan crashed out in Heat 3 and it just went downhill from there. It was quite an unusual meeting – we had two 5-0s against us and had to go up to tapes in two races with just one rider.
“The track was quite difficult, especially on the second bend, and it was catching out our lads more than theirs.
“But Ipswich were riding very well, and even with a fully fit seven riders, it would have been a tough ask. We don’t know how well we would have fared with a full team all night, but that’s speedway.”
IPSWICH WITCHES 59
1. Danny King 3 2* 3 3 MX (11+1)
2. Cameron Heeps 1 3 2* 2* 2 (10+2)
3. Justin Sedgmen 3 3 3 FN (9)
4. Kyle Newman 2* 2* 0 3 (7+2)
5. Rory Schlein 3 3 3 2* (11+1)
6. Connor Mountain 0 0 0 1* 2* (3+2)
7. Nathan Greaves 2 1 3 2 0 (8)
HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 32
1. Michael Palm Toft 2 1 2 0 1 (6)
2. Carl Wilkinson R/R
3. Lewis Kerr 1 2 X 6# 3 (12)
4. Ryan Douglas FX (0)
5. Josh Auty 2 1 1* 1 (5+1)
6. Stefan Nielsen 0 3 0 FX 2 FX (5)
7. Josh Bailey 1 0 1* F 1 1* FX (4+2)
# = tactical ride
1: King, Palm Toft, Heeps, Nielsen, 55.8 (4-2) (4-2).
2: Nielsen, Greaves, Bailey, Mountain, 58.0 (2-4) (6-6).
3: (Re-run) Sedgmen, Newman, Kerr, Douglas (fell, excluded), 57.6 (5-1) (11-7).
4: Schlein, Auty, Greaves, Bailey, 58.9 (4-2) (15-9).
5: Sedgmen, Newman, Palm Toft (three riders only), 57.5 (5-1) (20-10).
6: Heeps, King, Auty, Nielsen, 56.8 (5-1) (25-11).
7: Schlein, Kerr, Bailey, Mountain, 57.9 (3-3) (28-14).
8: (Re-run) Greaves, Heeps, Bailey (fell), Nielsen (fell, excluded), 59.3 (5-0) (33-14).
9: Sedgmen, Nielsen, Auty, Newman, 57.9 (3-3) (36-17).
10: (Re-run) King, Heeps, Bailey, Kerr (excluded, cause of stoppage), 57.5 (5-1) (41-18).
11: Schlein, Palm Toft, Bailey, Mountain, 57.1 (3-3) (44-21).
12: (Re-run) KERR (TR), Greaves, Mountain, Nielsen (fell, excluded), Sedgmen (fell, unable to contest re-run), 58.2 (3-6) (47-27).
13: King, Schlein, Auty, Palm Toft (ret), 56.1 (5-1) (52-28).
14: (Re-run) Newman, Mountain, Bailey (fell, excluded) (three riders only), 58.9 (5-0) (57-28).
15: Kerr, Heeps, Palm Toft, Greaves, King (excluded, two minutes), 57.9 (2-4) (59-32).
