Scorpions just miss out on point at Sheffield

Jun 15th, 2017
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05. Douglas wins ht 5

SHEFFIELD TIGERS 51 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 41 (SGB CHAMPIONSHIP)

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions fought all the way, before sustaining a 41-51 defeat to local rivals Sheffield Tigers at Owlerton last night (Thursday).

On Sunday, Scorpions edged Tigers by 49-41 at the Eddie Wright Raceway and sent them home without any points. Last night, Tigers repaid the compliment, as honours finished even between the two clubs across the two meetings.

Scunthorpe needed a heat advantage from Heat 15 to grab a point. Lewis Kerr was the early leader for Scorpions, but Tigers’ No 1 Josh Grajczonek surged past to complete a superb 15-point maximum.

Kerr finished top scorer for Scorpions for the fifth successive meeting, on 11 points, and he was well supported by Tero Aarnio (9) and Josh Auty (7), with six Scorpions taking either a win or a paid win.

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey was philosophical in defeat. “We were nearly there, but not quite”, he reflected.

“The Sheffield track was a bit slicker than usual, and the Tigers pulled ahead in the middle of the meeting with a couple of 5-1s, before we got going at the end. But the damage was done by then.

“It wasn’t a bad performance, and we’ve matched Sheffield across the two meetings home and away. We’ve got some riders who are riding themselves back into confidence.

“We’ve come to Sheffield, who are very strong around their own track, and entered Heat 15 still in with a shout for a point. It’s taken a five-star performance from Josh Grajczonek to send us home without a point – we had the beating of Kyle Howarth and the other Tigers.”

SHEFFIELD TIGERS 51
1. Josh Grajczonek 3 3 3 3 3 (15)
2. Todd Kurtz 1 2* 3 0 (6+1)
3. Lasse Bjerre 1* 2* 2* 3 (8+3)
4. Josh Bates 2 3 3 1* 1 (10+1)
5. Kyle Howarth 2 3 1 R (6)
6. Josh Pickering (Guest) 2 0 0 0 2 (4)
7. Jack Smith (Guest) 1* 1* 0 (2+2)

HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 41
1. Michael Palm Toft 0 1 2* 1* (4+2)
2. Tero Aarnio 2 0 4# 3 0 (9)
3. Lewis Kerr 3 2 2 2 2 (11)
4. Ryan Douglas 0 1* 1* 3 (5+2)
5. Josh Auty 3 1 1 2 (7)
6. Carl Wilkinson 3 0 1* 0 1* (5+2)
7. Chris Widman (Guest) 0 0 0 (0)

# = tactical ride

1: Grajczonek, Aarnio, Kurtz, Palm Toft, 61.4 (4-2) (4-2).
2: Wilkinson, Pickering, Smith, Widman, 62.3 (3-3) (7-5).
3: Kerr, Bates, Bjerre, Douglas, 61.5 (3-3) (10-8).
4: Auty, Howarth, Smith, Widman, 61.8 (3-3) (13-11).
5: Bates, Bjerre, Palm Toft, Aarnio, 61.0 (5-1) (18-12).
6: Grajczonek, Kurtz, Auty, Wilkinson, 61.5 (5-1) (23-13).
7: Howarth, Kerr, Douglas, Pickering, 61.0 (3-3) (26-16).
8: Kurtz, AARNIO (TR), Wilkinson, Pickering, 61.9 (3-5) (29-21).
9: Bates, Bjerre, Auty, Wilkinson, 62.4 (5-1) (34-22).
10: Grajczonek, Kerr, Douglas, Kurtz, 62.2 (3-3) (37-25).
11: Aarnio, Palm Toft, Howarth, Pickering, 61.8 (1-5) (38-30).
12: (Re-run) Bjerre, Kerr, Wilkinson, Smith, 62.5 (3-3) (41-33).
13: Grajczonek, Auty, Palm Toft, Howarth (ret), 61.2 (3-3) (44-36).
14: Douglas, Pickering, Bates, Widman, 62.8 (3-3) (47-39).
15: Grajczonek, Kerr, Bates, Aarnio, 61.9 (4-2) (51-41).

* HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions are again in action tonight (Friday) at Peterborough, taking on Panthers in the first leg of a Knockout Cup quarter-final tie. Todd Kurtz guests for Lewis Kerr, who is riding for Premiership Somerset, while Ben Hopwood replaces Josh Bailey.

Rob Godfrey says: “We’ll miss Lewis Kerr, because he has been absolutely flying for us. But Todd Kurtz has a great record around Peterborough and we’re sure that he can do a job for us.

“We’ve got a lot of riders who can go well around Peterborough, so we’re not targeting keeping the Panthers within a certain number of points ready for the second leg at the Eddie Wright Raceway – we’re targeting to win the meeting.

“The cup gives us something to aim for, and we’ll certainly be doing that. We’re in it to win it.”

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