Scorpions vow to hit back
SHEFFIELD TIGERS 52 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 38 (Championship Shield)
HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions will be seeking to gain revenge when they host local rivals Sheffield Tigers at the Eddie Wright Raceway tonight (Friday, 7.30pm).
Scunthorpe suffered a 38-52 defeat at Sheffield last night (Thursday), a result that saw Tigers replace Scorpions at the head of the Northern Group table of the Championship Shield.
However, the final scoreline did not reflect the efforts put in by Scorpions, on a night of some terrific racing.
For the first ten races, it was a nip-and-tuck affair, as Scorpions attempted to inflict a home defeat on the reigning league champions.
Scorpions took the lead after a superb heat win by youngster Danny Phillips in Heat 2, and back-to-back 5-1s for Scorpions in Heat 4 and 5 took them six points clear at 18-12.
There was a great ride by Gino Manzares to move from fourth to second to join Jason Garrity for a maximum in Heat 4, and Stefan Nielsen and guest Richard Lawson followed suit in Heat 5.
Tigers hit back, before a 5-1 in Heat 8 from Nielsen and Manzares moved the visitors back ahead at 26-22. But a pivotal race came just before the interval in Heat 10, when race-leader Jake Allen suffered an engine failure. Instead of Scorpions entering the break 32-28 ahead, Tigers levelled the scores at 30-30.
After racing resumed, Tigers produced a grandstand finish. Scorpions continued to battle, but Tigers ended with three 4-2s and two 5-1s to end with a fourteen-point winning margin.
Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “I don’t think the final score quite did us justice – anyone at the meeting will know we were right in it for most of the night.
“Jake Allen’s engine failure was the difference between us going into the interval ahead, and Sheffield going in level, so that was a bit of a choker. After the break, Sheffield made the most of having the better gates for three out of the next four races and they pulled ahead at the end.
“Jason Garrity had a few problems with his bike, and so did Josh Auty after a fall in his opening ride. But I don’t want to take anything away from Sheffield, who were the better team on the night and deserved to win.
“There were certainly positives we can take from the meeting – Stefan Nielsen, Gino Manzares and Danny Phillips all had their moments and produced some good speedway.
“The main thing is we need to regroup for the return meeting tonight at the Eddie Wright Raceway. We left Sheffield last night without any points to show for our efforts, and we’ve got to return the compliment and send the Tigers away pointless to regain the initiative.”
SHEFFIELD TIGERS 52
1. Kyle Howarth 0 3 3 3 3 (12)
2. Todd Kurtz 3 2* 2* 1 2* (10+3)
3. Charles Wright 3 1 2 3 3 2* (14+1)
4. Josh Bates R/R
5. Lasse Bjerre 0 3 3 1 (7)
6. Jack Smith 2 1 0 1 2* (6+1)
7. James Shanes 0 1 0 1* 1 (3+1)
HENDERSON INSURANCE SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 38
1. Richard Lawson (Guest) 1* 2* 2 2 1 (8+2)
2. Stefan Nielsen 2 3 3 0 (8)
3. Josh Auty FX MX 1 2 (3)
4. Jake Allen 1 2 R R 1 (4)
5. Jason Garrity 3 1 3 0 0 (7)
6. Danny Phillips 3 0 0 (3)
7. Gino Manzares 1 2* 0 2* 0 (5+2)
1: Kurtz, Nielsen, Lawson, Howarth, 61.19 (3-3) (3-3).
2: Phillips, Smith, Manzares, Shanes, 62.19 (2-4) (5-7).
3: (Re-run) Wright, Kurtz, Allen, Auty (fell, excluded), no time – awarded (5-1) (10-8).
4: Garrity, Manzares, Shanes, Bjerre, 62.62 (1-5) (11-13).
5: Nielsen, Lawson, Wright, Shanes, 62.00 (1-5) (12-18).
6: Howarth, Kurtz, Garrity, Phillips, 61.81. (5-1) (17-19).
7: (Re-run) Bjerre, Allen, Smith, Manzares, Auty (excluded, two minutes) 62.81 (4-2) (21-21).
8: Nielsen, Manzares, Kurtz, Smith, 61.62 (1-5) (22-26).
9: Garrity, Wright, Shanes, Phillips, 62.50 (3-3) (25-29).
10: Howarth, Kurtz, Auty, Allen (ret), 63.50 (5-1) (30-30).
11: Bjerre, Lawson, Smith, Nielsen, 62.25 (4-2) (34-32).
12: Wright, Auty, Shanes, Manzares, 63.12 (4-2) (38-34).
13: Howarth, Lawson, Bjerre, Garrity, 62.69 (4-2) (42-36).
14: (Re-run) Wright, Smith, LAWSON (TS), Allen (ret), 63.38 (5-1) (47-37).
15: Howarth, Wright, Allen, Garrity, 62.44 (5-1) (52-38).
