3 Points At Scunthorpe

After a tremendous match of cut-and-thrust racing at Scunthorpe, Border Roofing Monarchs took a last-heat 5-0 to run out winners by 45-44.

Of course it's not an entirely satisfactory way to finish a match but these things happen. Scorpions held the upper hand in the first running of the last race but Lewis Kerr fell after Ryan Douglas locked up. The next time Erik Riss gated and Sam Masters had just squeezed ahead of Douglas when the home man ran into the back of him and cartwheeled off his bike.

That left Riss and Masters to complete the near-formality of the 5-0 for victory.

Monarchs gave a most tenacious display with everyone picking up important points. Gate four generally held an advantage but it was difficult to predict which lines were best to ride. There was certainly a lot of good racing and it's a match worth going through heat by heat.

Sam took advantage of a mistake by Douglas (who hit a wet patch) to win heat one with a good point for Mark Riss over Wilkinson.

Mitchell Davey was standing in for Dan Bewley, and he rode very well to take second in heat two as we shared the heat.

The next two were also shared behind Kerr and Auty though it took our heat four pair of Wolbert and Davey the full race to catch young Josh Bailey.

Heat five was another drawn one with Sam getting the advantage of gate four.

Kevin was stuck on gate one for heat six and though he held second for s bit, he could not hold off Ryan Douglas. The 5-1 gave Scorpions the lead for the first time.

We got it back right away in heat 7, a great race with Erik Riss, Fisher, Auty and Palm Toft in close proximity throughout.

Mark Riss made a thrilling effort to pass Palm Toft in heat 8, just missing out as the Dane managed to block him on each straight.

We lost the lead again in heat 9 as Kevin found Kerr and Wilkinson too hot to handle.

There were two big tussles in heat ten, with Erik taking advantage of gate 4 and just holding off Palm Toft, while Fisher lost third to Douglas then regained it with a wild pass after lifting off the second bend.

Sam worked so hard to get ahead in heat 11 then unfortunately straightened on the third bend of lap three and brought down Auty. He had to be excluded but gave Josh a lift back to the pits!

We were now 35-31 down and up against it as Kerr led heat 12. Max Clegg though had a great ride in the inside line, edging closer and getting a narrow verdict on the line! With Erik ahead of the dangerous Palm Toft we got a surprise 4-2.

Heat 13 was obviously a big one. Kevin had not had a great night but this time he had gate four and went ahead. There was a titanic passing and re-passing battle between Masters and Douglas with the home man getting second and a sporting handshake afterwards.

Ryan was stuck on gate one for heat 14 but made a good start, only to try to head for the dirt and lock up badly. So we were 40-44 down going into that extraordinary last heat.

Scunthorpe have protested about the eligibility of Mitchell Davey to ride at no. 7 but our management believe this will be over-ruled.

Sting In Scorpion's Tail

Like so many of our fixtures this season it’s take two tomorrow as we head back to Lincolnshire to try again against the Scunthorpe ‘Henderson Insurance’ Scorpions in a Premier League clash.

The Scorpions currently find themselves sitting second bottom of the league but have had a remarkable week firstly taking care of Glasgow 51-39 at home last Sunday then following this up with a victory at Peterborough on Tuesday. This has surely buoyed the Scunthorpe and they will be looking to carry this form into action against the Border Roofing Monarchs.

The undoubted catalyst for this success has come from the bottom end of the team and the dropping to reserve of Michael Palm Toft. The well travelled Dane has been a revelation over the last 7 days recording scores of 11+3 and 15+1 in the two victories, not to mention 13+1 for Leicester at Belle Vue on Friday night and will be the danger man for sure tomorrow.

Palm Toft however was not the star of the show last Sunday as Josh Auty raced to a full 15 point maximum which is no mean feat against a team with the top end power of the Tigers. Auty has already been announced as a member of the Scorpions septet for 2017 as well and will be looking to take this form forward for the rest of the season.

Auty however is not the top man in the Scorpions outfit as that honour belongs to young Aussie Ryan Douglas. Douglas is now into his fourth season with the Scorpions and is making steady progress year on year. It would have to be said that if not for a couple of serious injuries then Douglas potentially could be up there with the top men in the league and on his day he is a hard man to beat especially round the Eddie Wright Raceway.

Rider Replacement operates at Number 2 for the unfortunate Alex Davies who was victim of a nasty accident last Sunday. Davies is currently 4th in the averages meaning extra rides for Lewis Kerr, Carl Wilkinson and the reserves.

The aforementioned Kerr slots in at number 3. It has to be said that everyone in Speedway is happy to see Lewi back on a bike after the horrific incident that lead to the postponement of the Fours last year. The Kings Lynn born racer was an unfortunate victim of the numbers at Ipswich earlier in the season but has been a solid scorer since joining the Scunny set up and no one will begrudge him that.

Joining Kerr in the middle order is the elder statesmen of the line-up in Carl Wilkinson. Wilkinson is an all action rider who despite now being well into his mid thirties can still show the younger riders the way round especially at the open expenses of the Eddie Wright Raceway. He is perhaps the key man for the Scorpions as a performance from Wilkinson is normally the difference between victory and defeat for the Lincolnshiremen.

Number 5 is Josh Auty. Auty is another one of these riders who has been around for a deceptively long time. Now 25 and into his 12th season at league level Auty perhaps has never truly set the shale alight in the way that was expected when he burst onto the scene as British under 15 champion in 2004 and 2005. Still as his 15 point maximum against Glasgow showed last week (his second in a row at home) Auty cannot be underestimated and when he is gating (often his Achilles heel) he is lightning quick and a hard man to beat.

Senior reserve for the Scorpions is the previously mentioned Michael Palm Toft. The 25 year old Dane is somewhat of an enigma but he is currently on fire and if we can stop him it will go a long way to the Blue and Gold picking up a result tomorrow. Whether we have the capability at reserve to do so remains to be seen particularly as with R/R in operation we could be looking at 7 rides for the Odense born racer.

Joining Palm Toft at reserve for the Scorpions is Josh Bailey. Bailey is in his first season at PL reserve and with no offence it has to be said if not for the fast track rules he probably would not be anywhere near a PL side. However he is plugging away and will look to continue his speedway education and as we have seen ourselves with Dan the more experience these guys get the better they become.

The Border Roofing Monarchs will go into this fixture buoyed by our first away victory of the Premier League season at Redcar on Thursday where after a dreadful start we pulled together and came away with a 48-45 victory to aid our playoff hopes. We will look to carry this into this fixture and hope to make it back to back victories although this will be a tough proposition against the suddenly inform Scorpions.

Making the task even tougher is the fact that 2 of the current Monarchs will be riding the Eddie Wright Raceway for the first time tomorrow with the Riss brothers new to a track I would class as my favourite in the Premier League (with no offence to Somerset or Sheffield) couple that with the fact that it is statistically Sam’s worst track in the PL then we face an uphill battle for points. Dan Bewley, is also unavailable riding for Belle Vue at Buxton. He is replaced by Mitchell Davey riding for the Monarchs for the first time since August 2013.

One thing any of the travelling fans can take solace in is the potential of some classic rides from Ryan Fisher. Anyone who witnessed the performances of the Fish round Scunny back in his prior days with the Monarchs as he swopped round the field whooping and hollering as he went is in for a treat and if he can replicate these who know s we may just be in with a chance of coming home with points in the bag.

So all in all a tough and exciting battle awaits as two teams full of racers clash on one of the fairest and best race tracks in the country. Can the Blue and Gold head north with the spoils only time will tell.