Boss apologises after heavy defeat

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 30 IPSWICH WITCHES 59 (CHAMPIONSHIP)

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions suffered a heavy 30-59 home defeat to Ipswich Witches at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).

Scorpions went into the meeting without both Josh Auty and Jake Allen, who were both injured in a Heat 14 crash at Somerset on Wednesday.

Recently, Auty and Allen – plus Jason Garrity – were acknowledged by team manager Dave Peet as the three riders who have held things together during an injury-hit campaign. Scorpions had difficulties in finding suitable guests, and were grateful when Mason Campton accepted the booking.

Scorpions then suffered a further blow when Steve Worrall took an awkward looking fall in Heat 6, and withdrew from the meeting with a hand injury.

It left Scorpions with just a single heat-leader in Jason Garrity. Garrity charged to a 14+1 tally from seven rides, all of which unusually came before Heat 15, due to Scorpions using both rider replacement for Auty and injury rider replacement for Worrall.

Gino Manzares also had his best meeting for some time, battling to a 9-point tally.

Meanwhile, several Witches piled up the points on a track left wet by rain, including a hugely impressive paid 14 for youngster Drew Kemp, who only recently celebrated his 16th birthday and clearly has a massive future in the sport.

The scale of the defeat prompted promoter Rob Godfrey, team manager Dave Peet and skipper Steve Worrall to all publicly apologise to the supporters via the public-address system.

Rob Godfrey says: “As I said to the supporters on the night, I can only apologise for last night’s performance.

“We knew it was going to be a tough night, but I did not expect the final scoreline.

“We were without two key players in Josh Auty and Jake Allen, who have been immense for us this season. On top of that, Steve Worrall crashed out of the meeting, and that left us without three riders who had scored 34 points between them in the previous home meeting.

“Jason Garrity went out and raced his heart out and Gino Manzares was also out there battling away.

“But otherwise Ipswich gave us a lesson in how to ride our own track. It was wet after the rain and they rode it far better than we did. It was embarrassing when we conceded a whole string of 5-1s mid-meeting. It shouldn’t happen, but it did.

“We will be without both Josh and Jake at Ipswich again next Thursday, but both are due back next Friday for our home meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway against Sheffield, when I expect a far better performance from the Scorpions.

“Apologies again to our loyal supporters who endured watching us suffer such a large home defeat, and a plea to them to stick with us, because we have an exciting finish to the season on the way, including two cup semi-finals.”

SCUNTHORPE 30: Jason Garrity 14+1, Gino Manzares 9, Mason Campton 4+2, Steve Worrall 3, Stefan Nielsen 0, Danny Phillips 0, Josh Auty r/r.
IPSWICH 59: Scott Nicholls 16+1, Cameron Heeps 12+5, Drew Kemp 12+2, Nico Covatti 8+2, Broc Nicol 7, Fernando Garcia 4, Danny King r/r.

PHOTO: Steve Worrall winning Heat 1, before the night unravelled for Scorpions.