Scorpions go down at Armadale
EDINBURGH MONARCHS 59 SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 34 (PREMIER LEAGUE)
FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions returned from north of the border without any points to show for their efforts after a 34-59 defeat to Edinburgh at Armadale last night (Friday).
The Monarchs are already establishing themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the 2014 Premier League, and this was their ninth win out of nine across all competitions so far this season.
The Scorpions shared the opening two races, but the Monarchs took back-to-back 5-1s in Heats 3 & 4.
Scunthorpe hit back with a fine 5-1 from guest Theo Pijper and David Howe in Heat 5, to reduce the deficit to 13-17.
But the writing was on the wall after the Monarchs took maximum points in three of the next four races.
In a bid to get back into the meeting, Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet nominated Ryan Douglas as a tactical ride in Heat 10. The Australian led for nearly the whole race, only to home No 1 Craig Cook to come charging him under on the final bend, with Douglas falling. The referee could see nothing wrong, as a potential heat advantage to the Scorpions ended up as a 4-2 to the Monarchs.
Scorpions’ second tactical ride in Heat 11 was more successful with Pijper winning the race and inflicting a first defeat on Sam Masters in a 6-3 to the Scorpions.
But Edinburgh finished with fourth successive heat advantages to end the meeting with a comfortable 25-point win. Guest Pijper was Scorpions’ top man with 13 points.
Speaking after the meeting, Scorpions’ team manager Dave Peet said: “We were beaten by the better team tonight.
“We looked OK for the first two races, but just fell away after that.
“We did lose a few points. I thought Ryan Douglas was unlucky to be excluded from Heat 10 when he was on a tactical ride. He led for three-and-three-quarter laps, then Craig Cook came under him and he fell. As far as I could see, Cook took his line, but the referee saw it a different way. That was six points gone in a stroke.
“It was that sort of night. Whatever we tried, it didn’t work. You’ve got to be quick out of the gate at this place and we just weren’t.
“We’ve just got to write it off and move on. Edinburgh are going to give a lot of teams a good hiding at their place this year.
“We’ve now got to bounce back and get the points off Edinburgh at our place on Monday. Our tracks are quite different, and Edinburgh won’t find it as easy at Scunthorpe.”
EDINBURGH MONARCHS 59
1. Craig Cook 3 2* 3 3 2* (13+2)
2. Justin Sedgmen 0 3 2* 1 (6+1)
3. Max Fricke 3 1 3 1 (8)
4. Derek Sneddon 2* 0 2* 3 (7+2)
5. Sam Masters 3 3 2 1 (9)
6. Aaron Fox 1* 0 1* 1 (3+2)
7. Steve Worrall 2 2* 3 3 3 (13+1)
FLUIDAIR POWER SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 34
1. Theo Pijper (Guest) 2 3 6# 2 0 (13)
2. David Howe 1* 2* 0 0 1 (4+2)
3. Ryan Douglas 1 1* F# 2 (4+1)
4. Ashley Birks 0 2 2 0 (4)
5. Josh Auty 1 1 1 0 (3)
6. Matt Williamson 0 0 0 0 (0)
7. Mason Campton (Guest) 3 0 1 2 (6)
# = tactical ride
1: Cook, Pijper, Howe, Sedgmen, 55.3 (3-3) (3-3).
2: Campton, Worrall, Fox, Williamson, 57.2 (3-3) (6-6).
3: Fricke, Sneddon, Douglas, Birks, 56.8 (5-1) (11-7).
4: Masters, Worrall, Auty, Campton, 57.1 (5-1) (16-8).
5: Pijper, Howe, Fricke, Sneddon, 57.4 (1-5) (17-13).
6: Sedgmen, Cook, Auty, Williamson, 56.2 (5-1) (22-14).
7: Masters, Birks, Douglas, Fox, 57.1 (3-3) (25-17).
8: Worrall, Sedgmen, Campton, Howe, 57.0 (5-1) (30-18).
9: Fricke, Sneddon, Auty, Williamson, 57.4 (5-1) (35-19).
10: Cook, Birks, Sedgmen, DOUGLAS (TR) (fell), 57.2 (4-2) (39-21).
11: PIJPER (TR), Masters, Fox, Howe, 57.0 (3-6) (42-27).
12: Worrall, Douglas, Fricke, Williamson, 57.5 (4-2) (46-29).
13: Cook, Pijper, Masters, Auty, 56.7 (4-2) (50-31).
14: (Re-run) Sneddon, Campton, Fox, Birks, 58.7 (4-2) (54-33).
15: Worrall, Cook, Howe, Pijper, 58.0 (5-1) (59-34).
* The two sides meet again at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Bank Holiday Monday (3pm), with the FluidAir Power Scorpions looking to make it three wins out of three in home Premier League meetings. It is the first half of a double-header also featuring the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Stags in National League action against Devon Demons.
