Scunthorpe Saints produced a fantastic display in Kent on Sunday afternoon to defeat the Sittingbourne Crusaders 60-32 and propel themselves back to the top of the Conference League table. 

The new look Saints side certainly fired on all cylinders and with the new signing of Ben Hopwood yet to make his bow the squad look well set to qualify for the league title playoffs.     

17-year old Hopwood is from Manchester and was pipped by Joe Haines to the 2006 British Under-15 Championship.  For the last season and a half he has been riding for the Plymouth Devils and is set to make his debut for the Saints at King’s Lynn against Boston next Sunday.  However, this afternoon a six-rider Saints side proved they could cope without the still injured duo of Jonathan Bethell and Scott Anderson, recording eleven heat advantages in the fifteen heats, eight of them maximum 5-1s.

The Crusaders recorded an 8-1, with the help of a tactical ride, in heat 5 and a 5-1 in heat 9 to suggest a fight back might be on but each time the Saints responded in emphatic fashion and afterwards Team Manager Malcolm Vasey gave full praise to his side “It was an absolutely first class team performance from start to finish.  It was such a dedicated display and I can’t fault anybody”.

Club Captain Byron Bekker was also delighted after claiming his seventh maximum for the club (sixth at Conference League level).  “I’m having (mechanical) problems in the Premier League but sorting them out in the Conference League.  Rob Godfrey and Carl Wilkinson have helped me a lot.  Carl has put a lot of time in to help me with my clutches.  I’ve been battling for a while with them and he has shown me how to set them up.  They are working, a little bit too strong at times, but now I can worry about my racing and not about my clutch slipping all the time.  You can’t race a bike when most of the power isn’t going to the back wheel.  The clutch was working today and I was determined to get a maximum today.  It was brilliant.  I felt fast and I’m going to pick up my number one motor on the way home.  I’m looking forward to that.”

He added “Everyone was brilliant today.  It’s not a one man team, it’s not a two man team but it’s a seven man team.  We had rider replacement today but it was covered by everyone else.  The guys who have stepped into cover are getting better and better and you can’t change a winning team” whilst second top scorer Scott Richardson, who scored well for the third year running at Sittingbourne explained “It’s just one of those tracks.  You’ve got to come and ride it.  If you enjoy it you can ride well and I enjoy it here”.   

The Saints are next in action at King’s Lynn next Sunday, 13th July (7.30pm), against the Boston Barracudas.  They race at the Eddie Wright Raceway on 18th July (7.30pm) against Buxton but before then the Premier League Scorpions take on the high-flying King’s Lynn Stars (complete with Kevin Doolan and Tomas Topinka) at the ‘EWR’ this Friday, 11th July at the usual start time of 7.30pm.

Sittingbourne Crusaders 32
Dean Felton 12 (five rides including a 6 point tactical ride), Alex Cunningham 4+1 (4), Nathan Irwin 3 (4), Aaron Baseby 6+1 (5), Harland Cook 4 (4), Marc Andrews 1 (4), Daniel Berwick 2+1 (5)

Scunthorpe Saints 60
Byron Bekker 17+1 (6 rides), Stuart Parnaby 8+4 (5), Scott Richardson 15 (6), Ricky  Scarboro 8+1 (5), Gary Irving 8+1 (4), Michael Pickering 4+2 (4)