It might not have been an impressive result but the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions were warmly applauded for their efforts at the Norfolk Arena last night as they went down 63-28 to the King’s Lynn Stars. 

With a very grippy track visiting teams have problems to conditions and large defeats are the order of the day.  However, despite this, and some bad luck. the Scorpions stuck to the task and were unlucky not to do better.

The Scorpions’ bad luck started in heat 1 when Carl Wilkinson was excluded for a first bend collision with Shaun Tacey.  Wilkinson’s frame was seriously bent and he had to resort to his second bike, which also gave him problems.   Another Scorpion in the wars was Magnus Karlsson who was suffering with a heavy cold.  He won his first ride but struggled to find the strength to stay on his bike after that. 

On the positive side Richard Hall produced a fantastic tactical substitution ride (from fifteen metres) and recorded two more second places including an impressive effort to split the team-riding Rusty Harrison and John Oliver in heat 11.  Emiliano Sanchez rode well to pick off Harrison on the run-in to the line in Heat 13 whilst Viktor Bergström quickly learnt the fastest way around the track to pass Oliver in heat 14 and claim the side’s second heat winner.  Ben Powell also rode well to pass Simon Lambert in heat 14 and join Bergström on a 4-2.

It might not have added up to much and a 63-28 is certainly not what had been hoped for but Promoter Rob Godfrey put the meeting into perspective “Lots of good teams have come here and been trounced.  Edinburgh are the only team not to be beaten out of sight and they came when it had rained and the track had very much slickened off.  It was good to see our efforts were appreciated and the score didn’t reflect our efforts.  If Carl’s bike hadn’t been bent and Magnus had been 100% we could have had a few more points.  Still it’s gone now and we have to concentrate on Friday’s meeting.  The Birmingham riders should go well around our track and I think they bring quite a lot of support with them.   The weather forecast is great so I think we’re going to have another humdinger of a meeting.  I’d urge anyone who hasn’t seen Premier League speedway at Scunthorpe to get down to the Eddie Wright Raceway and come see what they think.  I’m sure they won’t be disappointed”.

Racing between the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions and the Birmingham Brummies gets under way at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Normanby Road at 7.30pm on Friday night, 25th July.

King’s Lynn Stars 63
Kevin Doolan 15 (5 rides), Shaun Tacey 8+2 (4), Tomas Topinka 13+1 (5), Simon Lambert 5+3 (4), Rusty Harrison 8+1 (4), John Oliver 8+1 (4), Kozza Smith 6+1 (4)

Scunthorpe Scorpions 28
Richard Hall 9 (6 rides, including a four point tactical substitution), Carl Wilkinson 0 (3), Magnus Karlsson 5 (4, including a one point tactical ride), Viktor Bergström 3 (4), Emiliano Sanchez 6+1 (5), Ben Powell 4 (5), Darren Mallett 1+1 (3)