The Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions travelled up to Tyneside to take on the Newcastle Diamonds. 

It was the fourth time the two sides had met this season and for the fourth time the Scorpions came away with the points.  Tonight the result was 47-46 but the scoreline somewhat flattered the third bottom Diamonds after they were forced to use both tactical options and only benefitted from the second when the Scorpions’ Captain Richard Hall fell whilst leading heat 13.  It turned a match winning 4-2 into an 8-1 for the Diamonds and in the end it took a second place from Magnus Karlsson in heat 15 to secure victory.  

In the early stages the Diamonds held a slight advantage with their top pairing of Kenni Larsen and Jason King claiming heat advantages in heats 3 and 5 but all seven Scorpions were on the pace and a 4-2 from Ben Powell and Byron Bekker in heat 2, coupled with one from Carl Wilkinson and Bekker in heat 4 limited the deficit to just two points after the first seven races.  Heat 8 was a turning point with the first 5-1 for the Scorpions, courtesy of Emiliano Sanchez and Bekker, before Wilkinson won one of the races of the season in heat 9.

The Scorpions Swedish duo of Magnus Karlsson and Viktor Bergström recorded a 4-2 in heat 10 before Hall and Sanchez went either side of Christian Henry in heat 11 to record a 5-1 and take the gap to eight points.  The Diamonds immediately replaced Mark Baseby with Larsen on a tactical ride in heat 12 but Karlsson led all the way.  However, at the back Powell was trying to prevent Larsen scoring double points.  Larsen finally caught Powell on the third lap but the Scorpions’ reserve went sprawling down the back straight.  The referee immediately excluded Newcastle’s Danish rider but sadly Ben Powell sought his own retribution and there was an unsavoury incident at the pit gate.  Thankfully no one was hurt in the incident and the referee fined Powell for his actions.

With the race awarded the Scorpions were suddenly 41-31 ahead with just three races to go but  a ten point lead means a tactical ride, for double points, can be made from the tapes.  The Diamonds’ number one Josef Franc was given that task but he was trapped at the back with the Scorpions looking well set for a 4-2 heat advantage until Hall slid off at the start of lap two and the race had to be re-run without Hall.  Second time around the Newcastle riders made the gate and team rode for four laps to ensure Wilkinson had no possibility to pass.  It gave the Diamonds an 8-1 and a chance of winning the meeting.  A drawn heat 14 meant the Scorpions needed to prevent a home 5-1 to claim victory and despite Larsen racing away the Scorpions filled the minor positions until Franc found a way past Wilkinson on the last lap.  However, it was too late for him to think about catching Karlsson and the Scorpions had won their final league meeting of the season to give them a highly creditable 15 wins, 15 losses record in their first Premier League season.  The three points for the away win lifted the Scorpions above both Birmingham and Isle of Wight to finish in tenth place, just two points shy of local rivals Sheffield.

The meeting was the last one for the 2008 Scorpions but there are two top class meetings at the Eddie Wright Raceway before the season ends.  On Monday 27th October the club will be running the British Under-18 Final and then, on the following Friday the club have a top class field being lined up for the Hallowe’en Trophy on Friday 31st October.   All Scorpions are due to complete alongside Elite Leaguer David Howe, King’s Lynn’s Kevin Doolan and former Scorpions Tai Woffinden, Joe Haines, Josh Auty and Andrew Tully.  With a massive fireworks display at the Hallowe’en Trophy and the country’s finest young riders in the British Under-18 Championship it is set to be quite a week of racing to end the Scorpions’ first season in the Premier League.

Carl Wilkinson – It was a good meeting. Track was a little bit indifferent to start with and the track staff did a good job levelling it out.  There was some good racing in the end.  Heat 9 was a bit eventful, people ducking and diving everywhere. I was sort of making a bit of headway in the race and then getting pushed to the back again, I thought it was never going to end. Luckily I managed to get my nose back in front again on the last bend and we got the win.  Heat 15 didn’t quite go to plan but Pepe is an expert round here and I stole his line knowing where he was going to go.  He admitted he was waiting for me to just make a little mistake on his line to get up the inside of me but he wasn’t getting anywhere so he just tried the outside, I hit a little bald patch and he just got the run down the outside of me.  Fair play to him but we can’t complain about what we’ve done.  We denied them a 5-1 and got the meeting so game over.

Newcastle Diamonds 46
Josef Franc 15 (5 rides including a six point tactical ride), Sean Stoddard 0 (3), Jason King 7+1 (4), Kenni Larsen 13+1 (6 rides including a non-scoring tactical substitution from 15 metres), Christian Henry 8+1 (4), Jerran Hart 0 (4), Mark Baseby 3 (4).

Scunthorpe Scorpions 47
Richard Hall 7 (4 rides), Emiliano Sanchez 6+2 (4), Magnus Karlsson 10+1 (5), Viktor Bergström 5 (4), Carl Wilkinson 8+1 (5), Ben Powell 6 (4), Byron Bekker 5+2 (4)