After another impressive performance in the Conference League Gary Irving has been handed his chance to ride for the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions this Friday, 8th August (start time 7.30pm), when they take on the Isle of Wight Islanders at the Eddie Wright Raceway. He will fill Byron Bekker’s place in what the South African hopes is the last meeting he will miss after breaking his collarbone at Weymouth last month.
Irving, who was only denied a maximum against Sittingbourne last Friday by a broken chain, has made great progress this season and had been lined up to race in the Scorpions’ last home match against Birmingham. However, his engines had been sent away to be serviced and his place was taken by his Saints’ team mate Scott Richardson. Friday’s meeting has the makings of another top match with both sides aiming for as high a finish in the top half of the Premier League as possible. Whilst a playoff position may not be totally out of the question it seems like there are several clubs aiming for fifth spot and first pick of opponents in the Young Shield. The Islanders, like most visitors, will fancy their chances of a valuable away win whilst the Scorpions will be looking to record their ninth home win out of ten league meetings.
The Isle of Wight team is built along similar lines to the Scorpions with no out and out number one. They are a solid side from number one to number seven with four riders over seven. Jason Bunyan is their captain, number one and leads their averages. At the top end he has support from Glen Phillips, who is one of the worlds best Grasstrack and Longtrack riders, the vastly experienced Paul Fry and Pole Krzysztof Stojanowski. Phillips is in his eighth season with the Islanders since joining them in 1999 whilst Stojanowski is the longest serving Polish rider in the Premier League having ridden on the island since 2005.
The lower order is an all Antipodean affair with New Zealander Andrew Bargh joined by two up and coming Australian in their first seasons of British speedway. James Holder, the younger brother of Chris, who is one of the brightest talents in world speedway, has been making a name for himself this season and already has an average well over six whilst Richard Sweetman recently joined the club after another Aussie, Cory Gathercole, was injured against the Scorpions last month. Sweetman impressed in last winter’s Australian Championship and is yet another Australian with a bright future in the sport.
Other than the swap at reserve the Scorpions’ team remain unchanged and Promoter Rob Godfrey hopes his side can extend their sequence of home wins to six “It’s always exciting on a Friday because we know there is a match to be won and lost. Other clubs have such home track advantage they turn up and expect a win. The Scorpions are a team of racers and on our track they know they have to out-race the opposition to claim the league points. Our second biggest win this season is 51-39 against Somerset, that says it all. Hopefully we can extend the streak to six this week and then we’ve got the Sheffield match. We owe them, big time, but we must focus on the Islanders first. I’m sure they will like our track and it will be another meeting that could go either way”.
