The Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions defeated the high-flying King’s Lynn Stars 46-43 in a cliff-hanger of a meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night. 

Top scorer for the Scorpions was Swedish rider, Viktor Bergström, with twelve points and he recorded the race win in heat 14 that all but secured the win.  However, with the King’s Lynn side providing first past the post in nine of the fifteen races the win required a real team effort.

With the Stars having such a strong top pairing, in Kevin Doolan and Tomas Topinka, the Scorpions had to exploit the six races where neither appeared and in five of them they recorded heat advantages, three by a maximum 5-1.  The loss was a serious dent in the Stars title aspirations whilst the Scorpions climb back to sixth in the table and retain their outside chance of making the end-of-season promotion playoffs.   

The meeting certainly started in the worst possible way for the Scorpions when Sean Tacey followed Doolan home for a 5-1 in the first race.  Then, after a thrice run reserve’s race which saw riders struggling with the wet track, the Stars recorded another heat advantage in heat 3.  The nerves were settled with the first 5-1 for the Scorpions in Heat 4 from Emiliano Sanchez and Byron Bekker and another, two races later, from Richard Hall and Carl Wilkinson gave them the lead for the first time.  Sanchez was very close to lowering Topinka’s colours in heat 7 but the Czech rider got the call on the line.  In the following heat Carl Wilkinson disagreed with the referee’s decision that he had been pipped on the line by the Star’s Kozza Smith but the Scorpions recorded their third 5-1 in heat nine, from Viktor Bergström and Magnus Karlsson to open up a six-point lead.

Topinka and Simon Lambert claimed their third 4-2 for the Stars in heat 10 before Sanchez produced, arguably the ride of the night, to keep Doolan at bay and keep the gap at four points.  Topinka and Doolan recorded wins in the next two races but with the Scorpions filling the minor places the gap was still four with two races to go.  With the Star’s top pairing looking like claiming a 5-1 in heat 15 the Scorpions required a heat advantage in heat 14 but disaster struck at the end of the first lap when Bekker and Smith came together and crashed heavily.  Bekker’s exclusion light came on and the chances for a Scunthorpe victory looked slim. 

In the re-run Bergström just had the advantage over Smith but the young Australian was determined, perhaps too determined, to reclaim the lead and he ended up crashing at the start of the second lap.  He was quickly to his feet but with him unable to re-start his bike the Scorpions claimed a 3-2 and it meant only a finisher was required in heat 15 to complete victory.  Despite that Bergström wasn’t going to settle for third behind Doolan and Topinka and on the third lap he forced his way past Topinka to prevent him going home with a maximum.

After the meeting promoter Rob Godfrey was “We knew it was always going to be extremely difficult meeting but it was a great tonic after the week we have had with.  With the two break-ins and last week’s rain-off we needed something good to happen and tonight was a fantastic meeting.  I believe King’s Lynn came here expecting to win but a great team performance, all the way through, ensured we claimed the points”

The Scorpions are in action again at the Eddie Wright Raceway next Friday night, 25th July (start time back to the usual 7.30pm), against the Birmingham Brummies, another side with a powerful heat leader trio.  Their line-up contains Australians Jason Lyons and Craig Watson along with Canadian Kyle Legault who used to ride for the Sheffield Tigers.

Scunthorpe Scorpions 46
Richard Hall 7 (4 rides), Carl Wilkinson 5+1 (4), Magnus Karlsson 5+21 (4), Viktor Bergström 12 (5), Emiliano Sanchez 9+1 (5), Ben Powell 1 (3), Byron Bekker 7+3 (5)

Kings Lynn Stars 43
Kevin Doolan 14 (5 rides), Shaun Tacey 3+2 (4), Tomas Topinka 13 (5), Simon Lambert 5 (4), Rusty Harrison 3 (3), John Oliver 2 (3), Kozza Smith 3 (6)