MDL Update

DITCHY CALLS IT A DAY

Scunthorpe Stags are disappointed to hear that popular team member Lloyd Ditchburn has decided to step away from speedway for the forseable future.
Lloyd has been with the club for the last two seasons and has shown consistent improvement to become solid scorer for the Stags.
Best wishes from all the Stags, Ditchy.

STAGS WIN NAILBITER AT HOME
SCUNTHORPE STAGS 19 MILTON KEYNES KNIGHTS 17
Sunday, 21st May, 2017

Scunthorpe Stags won this close-fought battle against the Milton Keynes Knights with a last-heat advantage.
Sheldon Davies, guesting for the Knights, fell while leading Heat 1 and was disqualified. The re-run saw Ditchy score his first-ever MDL race win when he took the chequered flag ahead of Rob Watts and a below-par Chris Bambury, who had been suffering from the effects of a virus all week.
Heat 2 saw the very impressive Connor King record the first of his three straight wins, ahead of Luke Whitehead. Behind them was a battle for the last point with Sam Chapman eventually benefiting from a Chris Watts mistake, to share the heat.
Connor King and Chris Watts were back out in the following race and their 4-2 evened-up things up.
Luke Whitehead comfortably won Heat 4 in front of the Knights pair for a 3-3, but at the back Sam Chapman fell awkwardly on the third lap and sustained a possible broken wrist.
Luke came in to Heat 5 to replace Sam. Sheldon Davies looped at the start but managed to crawl off the track allowing the race to continue which saw Connor King complete his maximum, and another 3-3 set up the last-heat decider.
Back-to-his-best Luke Whitehead, taking his third ride on the trot, won the last race with Rob Watts taking second. A struggling Chris Bambury could do little more than coast around for four laps but he hung on for a match-winning third place when Chris Watts made a mistake and let him through.
Knights’ Connor King never looked like being beaten and was supported well by Rob Watts, while Luke and Ditchy did the business for the Stags.

SCUNTHORPE STAGS 19
1) Chris Bambury – 1,0,1, = 2
2) Lloyd Ditchburn – 3,2,1+1, = 6+1
3) Luke Whitehead – 2,3,2,3, = 10
4) Sam Chapman – 1+1,F,-, = 1+1

MILTON KEYNES KNIGHTS 17
1) Rob Watts – 2,1+1,2, = 5+1
2) Sheldon Davies – F,2,F, = 2
3) Chris Watts – 0,1,0, = 1
4) Connor King – 3,3,3, = 9 (MAX)

Ht1. (Re-run) Ditchburn, R Watts, Bambury, Davies (F/Disq). 4-2 (4-2) 63.81
Ht2. King, Whitehead, Chapman, C Watts. 3-3 (7-5) 63.37
Ht3. King, Ditchburn, C Watts, Bambury. 2-4 (9-9) 62.01
Ht4. Whitehead, Davies, R Watts, Chapman (F). 3-3 (12-12) Awarded.
Ht5. King, Whitehead, Ditchburn, Davies (F). 3-3 (15-15) 62.00
Ht6. Whitehead, R Watts, Bambury, C Watts. 4-2 (19-17) 63.62

CARMARTHEN DRAGONS 7 SCUNTHORPE STAGS 11
Saturday, 27th May 2017
Abandoned after 3 Heats – Curfew (Result does not stand)

Delays during the main match left only 15 minutes for the MDL match before reaching the track curfew, and despite evryone’s best efforts, time just ran out on us.
A slight delay when the tapes didn’t go up straight in Heat 1 didn’t help, but in the re-run the Stags pairing of Chris Bambury and Lloyd Ditchburn were on a comfortable 4-2 when Dragons’ Connor Fletcher slid off on lap 2 whilst at the back. The red lights came on as Chris crossed the line to start lap 3 and the race was then awarded.
Heat 2 saw Luke Whitehead take the chequered flag some distance ahead of the Dragons pair with James Chattin at the back struggling to come to terms with the track.
With the clock ticking, the Stags pair were quickly back out for Heat 3. The fast-starting Tom Spencer was ahead coming out of turn 2 but his partner never made it away from the gate. Luke Whitehead made up so much distance going down the back straight and blasted around the outside of Spencer going into turn 3 to take the lead. From then on it was all about Luke who continued to pull away, winning the race by the length of the straight, with Spencer in second and James again battling the track to pick up the third place point.
With the final seconds ticking away the riders dashed out for the fourth heat but on the second lap Chris Bambury lost the back-end on turn 3 of lap 2 whilst in second place and Ditchy piled into the air fence taking avoiding action. With the red lights coming on straight away, 2 laps hadn’t been completed so the race had to be re-run but this was not possible as the curfew had already passed.
With only 3 races completed the result will not stand and the meeting will have to be re-arranged for a future date. It was a shame as it shaping up to be a close contest between two evenly balanced teams with some great racing.

CARMARTHEN DRAGONS 7
Tom Spencer – 2,2, = 4 (2 rides)
Connor Fletcher – F,R, = 0 (2 rides)
Sam Wright – 1+1, = 1+1 (1 ride)
Joe Alcock – 2, = 2 (1 ride)

SCUNTHORPE STAGS 11
Chris Bambury – 3,F, = 3 (2 rides)
Lloyd Ditchburn – 1, = 1 (1 ride)
Luke Whitehead – 3,3, = 6 (2 rides)
James Chattin – 0,1, = 1 (2 rides)

Ht1. Bambury, Spencer,Ditchburn, Fletcher(F). 2-4 (2-4) Awarded
Ht2. Whitehead, Alcock, Wright, Chattin. 3-3 (5-7)
Ht3. Whitehead, Spencer, Chattin, Fletcher(R). 2-4 (7-11) 74.3
Meeting Abandoned – Curfew.