Aarnio injury concern for Scorpions
SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 39 REDCAR BEARS 50 (SGB CHAMPIONSHIP)
HENDERSON INSURNACE Scunthorpe Scorpions’ Finnish star Tero Aarnio suffered a suspected broken thumb, as Scorpions lost 39-50 at home to Redcar Bears at the Eddie Wright Raceway yesterday evening (Sunday).
Charles Wright pushed Aarnio wide on the first bend of Heat 6, and both come crashing down. Wright was excluded from the re-run as the cause of the stoppage, while Aarnio was unable to continue in the meeting.
In an eventful, incident-packed and sometimes controversial speedway meeting, Scorpions found themselves with a series of refereeing decisions going against them, while both Lewis Kerr and Michael Palm Toft suffered from mechanical problems.
Josh Auty and Redcar’s Ben Barker were involved in a frightening high-speed crash in Heat 12, but fortunately both were OK. The decision to exclude Auty from the re-run perplexed many.
Auty was involved in the highlight of the meeting in Heat 9. He nudged the tapes and was put back 15 metres. He weaved his magic in the re-run, passing Wright and Coty Garcia to join Ryan Douglas for Scorpions’ only 5-1 of the evening.
A bright spot for Scorpions was the return of Josh Bailey. He looked right on the pace, and scored five points, including a win in Heat 6.
Reflecting post-meeting, Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “There’s so many incidents in this meeting, that I could spend all night talking about them all. But there’s no point saying we didn’t have any luck with the refereeing decisions, because that’s speedway.
“The thing that was more frustrating were the breakdowns, because that’s something we can do something about.
“A meeting like this is frustrating for everyone, and that includes the riders. They don’t turn up wanting to have a bad day.
“We knew it was going to be tough, and it proved that way. You can’t take anything away from Redcar, who came here to do a job and did it.
“Tero (Aarnio) thinks his thumb is broken. He’s going back home to Newcastle to have an X-ray. We’ll see how long he’s going to be out for, and take it from there.”
HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 39
1. Lewis Kerr 3 R 1 X (4)
2. Tero Aarnio 0 (0)
3. Josh Auty 3 1* 2* FX (6+2)
4. Ryan Douglas 1 2 3 3 FX (9)
5. Michael Palm Toft R 1 3 1 3 (8)
6. Carl Wilkinson 3 0 1 FX 2 1 (7)
7. Josh Bailey 1 1 3 0 0 0 (5)
REDCAR BEARS 50
1. Stuart Robson (Guest) 1* 3 1* 2* (7+3)
2. Jonas B Andersen 2 0 3 2 (7)
3. Ben Barker 2 2* 3 3 1* (11+2)
4. Ellis Perks 0 3 2* 2 2 (9+1)
5. Charles Wright 3 FX 0 3 (6)
6. Coty Garcia 0 2 1 (3)
7. Danny Ayres 2 2* 2* 1 0 (7+2)
1: Kerr, Andersen, Robson, Aarnio, 58.13 (3-3) (3-3).
2: Wilkinson, Ayres, Bailey, Garcia, 59.94 (4-2) (7-5).
3: Auty, Barker, Douglas, Perks, 58.31 (4-2) (11-7).
4: (Re-run) Wright, Ayres, Bailey, Palm Toft (ret), 58.25 (1-5) (12-12).
5: Robson, Douglas, Auty, Andersen, 57.10 (3-3) (15-15).
6: (Re-run twice) Bailey, Garcia, Kerr (ret), Wright (fell, excluded), 59.38 (3-2) (18-17).
7: Perks, Barker, Palm Toft, Wilkinson, 58.87 (1-5) (19-22).
8: (Re-run) Andersen, Ayres, Wilkinson, Bailey, 58.81 (1-5) (20-27).
9: Douglas, Auty (15m penalty for touching tapes), Garcia, Wright, 58.50 (5-1) (25-28).
10: Barker, Perks, Kerr, Bailey, 59.38 (1-5) (26-33).
11: (Re-run) Palm Toft, Andersen, Robson, Wilkinson (fell, excluded), 58.56 (3-3) (29-36).
12: (Re-run) Barker, Wilkinson, Ayres, Auty (fell, excluded), 59.37 (2-4) (31-40).
13: (Re-run twice) Wright, Robson, Palm Toft, Bailey, Kerr (excluded, starting offence), 59.50 (1-5) (32-45).
14: Douglas, Perks, Wilkinson, Ayres, 59.10 (4-2) (36-37).
15: (Re-run) Palm Toft, Perks, Barker, Douglas (fell, excluded), 59.44 (3-3) (39-50).
* Drew Kemp (500cc) and Jason Edwards (250cc) won the classes in the following British Youth Championship.
PHOTO: Josh Bailey leads Coty Garcia on his way to winning the second re-run of Heat 6.
