Dynamic duo strike again!

SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 45 WORKINGTON COMETS 45 (CHAMPIONSHIP SHIELD, semi-final, first leg)

FORGET Batman and Robin. Forget Fred and Ginger. Forget Lennon and McCartney. Forget Eric and Ernie. Forget Fred and Barney. Forget Torvill and Dean. Forget Robin and Rosie of Cockleshell Bay. The double-act on everybody’s lips at the moment are Jake Allen and Josh Auty, after another simply sensational Heat 15 at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday). Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions came from nowhere to snatch a 45-45 draw against Workington Comets in the first leg of their Championship Shield semi-final, after both Allen and Auty passed Comets’ Rasmus Jensen on a dramatic final lap.

Scorpions were eight points down at 35-43 with just two heats remaining, but then a fine 5-1 from Jake Allen and Gino Manzares in Heat 14, over the previously unbeaten Rene Bach, reduced the deficit to four points heading into the final race.

Manzares did fantastically well to fend off Bach, with Allen slowing down to aid him on the final couple of corners, to allow Bach no way through.

In Heat 15, Jensen – who had won Heat 13 in such style – jetted away from the outside gate, with the Scunthorpe pair in hot pursuit.

Allen got very close on the inside on the second bend of the third lap, but Jensen held him off.

A lap later, on the second bend of the final lap, the Australian made the same move. Jensen seemed to drift just fractionally wider, and Allen pounced. He thrust himself inside the Dane.

Furthermore, with Jensen pushed just slightly wider, Auty needed no second invitation and he followed through the gap and then fended off Jensen on the final bend, as the pair took a vital last-heat 5-1 for the second week running and keep Scorpions in the chase for a place in the final.

Scorpions’ American star Gino Manzares said: “I wasn’t that happy with most of my night, and I kept on changing the set-up on my bike to try to get it to work, but it all came good in Heat 14.

“Jake (Allen) and myself knew we needed a 5-1 from that race and I knew it was Rene Bach behind me and that he’d won all his races until then. It did get a bit hairy towards the end, but it’s speedway and everyone finished the race safe, while we got the result we needed.

“But before that, I felt I spent most of the night going backwards. I’m going to go back to the basics and see what that brings. I see no reason why I can’t score double figures from reserve and that’s my aim for the rest of the season.

“We got ourselves back in it, with Jake and Josh (Auty) again doing it in the final race. Those two are on fire and are awesome. In that last race, they just showed why you should never give up. Around a track like Scunthorpe, which has plenty of room and is fast, if you keep on piling on the pressure, there’s always a chance that the opposition will eventually fold and you’ll get through and that’s what they did.

“It’s not over until it’s over. With it level going into the away leg at Workington, we’re still a little against it, but we’ve got to attack it when we go there and come out on top.”

SCUNTHORPE 45: Jake Allen 15+1, Josh Auty 11+1, Jason Garrity 7+1, Gino Manzares 6+3, Steve Worrall 6, Danny Phillips 0, Stefan Nielsen r/r
WORKINGTON 45: Rene Bach 13, Rasmus Jensen 10, Nicolai Klindt 8+1, Tero Aarnio 7+2, Mason Campton 4, Kyle Bickley 3, Ty Proctor r/r

* GINO Manzares was due back in action at the Eddie Wright Raceway today (Saturday, 5pm) – in a Stock Car meeting!  However, the meeting has been rained off and will be re-staged next Saturday (September 15th).

PHOTO: Mason Campton loses control behind Gino Manzares during Heat 14 (photo: Alex Summerfield).