A tale of two halves at Armadale
EDINBURGH MONARCHS 52 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 40 (SGB CHAMPIONSHIP)
HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions scored a highly respectable 40 points at Edinburgh’s Armadale stadium last night (Friday) against the current SGB Championship leaders, after a fine rally in the second half of the meeting. Scorpions had got off to a dreadful start and trailed by sixteen points after just six races.
Topping the Scorpions’ scorechart once more was Lewis Kerr, who bagged 12 points, including a second place (behind Erik Riss) as the tactical ride in Heat 12.
A revitalised Carl Wilkinson won three races from the reserve berth on his way to 11+1, while Scorpions’ No 1 Michael Palm Toft inflicted two defeats on his opposite number Sam Masters in the closing stages, and rattled up nine points.
Scorpions conceded two 5-1s and four 4-2s in the opening half-dozen races. But a 4-2 from Kerr and Ryan Douglas in Heat 7 heralded a final nine races where Scorpions outscored their hosts by 30 points by 26.
Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “We made a shocking start to the meeting, but got stronger as the night wore on.
“It was good to see Carl Wilkinson among the points again. The outside gate was really strong late on, and once Wilko got into fresh air, the Edinburgh riders couldn’t catch him.
“Michael (Palm Toft) and Lewis (Kerr) were quality again. They are performing for us meeting after meeting, and showed again last night that they can mix it with anyone in this league.
“We didn’t have much luck with refereeing decisions last night. Ryan (Douglas) rode very hard and deserved far more than 3+1. His exclusion from Heat 3 was harsh, and along with everyone else in the stadium, I marked my programme as a paid win for Ryan in Heat 14, as I thought we got the 5-1. I was surprised when it was called otherwise.
“On top of that, Ricky Wells should have been excluded from Heat 13, after coming down all by himself, and he won the re-run. All we needed is for the decisions to go our way and we could have snatched a point from the meeting.
“Edinburgh are top of the league, so it’s a decent performance from us to come here and score 40 points.”
EDINBURGH MONARCHS 52
1. Sam Masters 3 3 3 1 2 (12)
2. Theo Pijper 2* 1 2 0 (5+1)
3. Erik Riss 3 3 3 3 FX (12)
4. Max Clegg 1 1 2* 2 (6+1)
5. Ricky Wells 3 2 2 3 (10)
6. Josh Pickering 3 0 0 0 (3)
7. Mitchell Davey 2* 1 1* 0 (4+2)
HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 40
1. Michael Palm Toft 1 2 1 2 3 (9)
2. Tero Aarnio 0 0 0 (0)
3. Lewis Kerr 2 3 2 4# 1 (12)
4. Ryan Douglas FX 1 1* 1 (3+1)
5. Josh Auty 2 2 1 0 (5)
6. Carl Wilkinson 1 0 3 3 1* 3 (11+1)
7. Ryan MacDonald (Guest) 0 0 0 (0)
# = tactical ride
1: Masters, Pijper, Palm Toft, Aarnio, 55.5 (5-1) (5-1).
2: Pickering, Davey, Wilkinson, MacDonald, 56.4 (5-1) (10-2).
3: (Re-run) Riss, Kerr, Clegg, Douglas (fell, excluded), 55.8 (4-2) (14-4).
4: Wells, Auty, Davey, MacDonald, 57.0 (4-2) (18-6).
5: Riss, Palm Toft, Clegg, Aarnio, 56.7 (4-2) (22-8).
6: Masters, Auty, Pijper, Wilkinson, 56.3 (4-2) (26-10).
7: Kerr, Wells, Douglas, Pickering, 56.2 (2-4) (28-14).
8: (Re-run) Wilkinson, Pijper, Davey, Aarnio, 57.5 (3-3) (31-17).
9: Riss, Clegg, Auty, MacDonald, 56.2 (5-1) (36-18).
10: Masters, Kerr, Douglas, Pijper, 57.0 (3-3) (39-21).
11: (Re-run) Wilkinson, Wells, Palm Toft, Pickering, 57.7 (2-4) (41-25).
12: Riss, Kerr, Wilkinson, Davey, 57.2 (3-5) (44-30).
13: (Re-run) Wells, Palm Toft, Masters, Auty, 56.7 (4-2) (48-32).
14: Wilkinson, Clegg, Douglas, Pickering, 58.8 (2-4) (50-36).
15: (Re-run) Palm Toft, Masters, Kerr, Riss (fell, excluded), 57.0 (2-4) (52-40).
* HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions host Berwick Bandits at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Sunday at 5.30pm. The meeting features the return of Scorpions’ legend David Howe to the EWR in Berwick’s colours. Ryan Burton is set to cover the No 7 spot for Scorpions.
