5 points for Sarj as King rules

NEWS Saturday 14th March 2020, 6:23pm

by Mike Hunter

  Edinburgh Monarchs

So the 2020 Speedway season did get under way at Scunthorpe this afternoon with the Ben Fund Bonanza, won by Danny King. Our own James Sarjeant who had been called up yesterday scored 5 points.

Track conditions were on the slick side but as always at Scunthorpe there were quite a few overtaking moves, with the boldest of the riders finding chances to pass on the very wide line. Results were unpredictable at times but eventually the best men came to the fore. Danny King (13), Steve Worrall and Lewis Kerr (12) were the trio who went through to the final with Josh Auty qualifying via the semi. All of these riders rode impressively.

King had bagged the outside gate which, not unusually at Scunthorpe, was the best one and he duly swept to victory.

Going back to the beginning of the afternoon, the first three heats were all won by the rider off gate four. James Sarjeant, in for Andreas Jensen who was caught in the Danish lockdown, was in gate four in heat four and it looked winnable against Lambert, Rowe and Andersen, but unfortunately James was too eager at the gate and... you can guess the outcome. Off 15 metres he did catch Kasper Andersen for a point.

He picked up points in his next two against Starke and Bacon, then took second place in heat 19 which had looked his toughest heat. He gated at the rear, passed Barker and then took advantage as Connor Mountain got into difficulty.

Of the riders not mentioned so far, Thomas Jorgensen looked very stylish and James Wright made a most satisfactory return after a long period out of the sport. Nobody knew what sort of crowd to expect amidst all the circumstances, so while it was not massive it wasn't disastrous either. More support from some of the sport's big names would obviously help.

We have no idea when the roar of the bikes will be heard next, so like everyone else around the world we wait and see.