thebaron

We did but for the rest of it Scorps were decidely second best off the starts. Another home reverse did not encourage belief that the changes will have the desired effect. But we must keep together and strengthen resolve to come through these difficulties. For me Andreas Lyager was deserving of more than a single point. His work made the room for Big Josh to double points on his tactical ride in Ht10. By the way what a completely ridiculous exclusion for Andreas in Ht8 !. On two minutes and cuts across the "centre green" to arrive at the tapes with secs to go. So had he gone the right way around the track under power to the tapes and failed to reach them in time presumably the Ref (Mr Clarke:same Ref for last seasons Ipswich Auty v Tungate encounter!) excludes him anyway. Another daft anti-speedway rule. Rob was protesting it anyway ! MPT also showed glimpses of why he can be a important rider for us in the weeks to come. He is a better rider than the last time he was with us. His Ht14 win; seeing off a very capable Emil Grondal evidence of more to come. So I say our signings are the right ones in the context of the clubs structure. What is concerning and I do not like saying it is the hard time Big Josh and Alex Davies are having. Josh Auty is not getting us the big scores despite 13 today. We are not set up to carry Josh if he is struggling so it exposes us even more. Alex I am sure is working hard to get back to form. Generally you would find it hard to rule Alex out of any race he is in. That goes for the whole time I have watched him on the British tracks. But this season he seems to be catching up when he would normally be up to speed so to speak. Sure he can sort this out. But we do need Big Josh back to his best and leading from the front. Ryan always gives his all and has been our best hope in most meetings. We forget he is back from a bad injury in 2015. If others are out of sorts it throws a big weight on him. To me he is our "jewell in the crown" and at times you might want to reign him back a touch; but he has to chase the cause because we're struggling that brings its own pressures and so on. For instance even after being brought off by Big Josh in Ht13 and the pair walking away. You might see the meeting out without him taking Ht15 ? I might have gone with MPT as the match was lost by then. You have to think that Wilko will be the big hitter at No6. Returning after his hand injury he would be feeling his way; while Little Josh is doing all we ask of him. It was disappointing today and I sensed that Rob felt that too handing over the mic late on. By the way I its not helpful when the No2 mic man (apologies his name slips me) announces that the Scorpions have just lost to Panthers B Team !.Just hope no one takes that literally and skips next Friday night v Berwick at the EWR. Someone have a word. No way were Panthers B rate? patched up yes but B rate No. Simon Lambert superb and guest Kevin Doolan and capt Uli Ostergaard cruising round on an essentially slick track; but invariably finding that bit of dirt on the one outside line raceable. All in all we came away a bit dejected; but still hanging on in there that we can turn this around and we will find form that will take us back up the table. Realistically its going to be one hell of a turn around to reach the play offs throwing the towel in is not an option "if your going through hell keep going"'as Winston Churchill once coined.

MPT is a first class addition to the team; once he dials in again as his regular home track; confident that Tofty will hit a few big scores. Add Lyager and Wilko on Sunday and in all fairness Scorpions take the meeting.

Certainly do not want to detract from Tigers contribution to a thrilling encounter. Agree Scorpions got a couple of timely "breaks" as you explain. But first "break" Tigers had was Burton replacing the Lyager due to illness. The momentum was with Tigers all the way to Ht12 and we could not see where the Scorpions could get back in the meeting. So 43-49 seemed like some form of "victory" with effectively no No1 and two NL riders. As NBT has said in his last post we did not have our full team but in the end the Scorpions gave it a real go in a great meeting. Well done Tigers who deserved the points non the less.

Blooming heck we only went and served up another stonking speedway classic yesterday. Talk about under the cosh from the off !. We look in the pits before the start and wondered who it was in the No2 jacket ?. Turns out some ludicrous anti-speedway rule means we cannot run rider replacement for Andreas. So we call in inexperienced Ryan Burton from NL Buxton to make up the numbers against of all teams Sheffield !. We were left questioning sense and reason here; and expecting a cuffing from the Tigers!. Up against it from the off ! with a 1-5; Big Josh again looking for answers behind the Tigers pair Stead/Berge. We did look a bit patched up to say the least minus Wilko as well. Thank heaven for Ryan Douglas and an inspired choice of guest in Stefan Neilsen; but even giving their all; they were not enough to resist the Tigers building up a 12pt advantage by Ht10. Still some great racing in there as the two teams slugged it out on superb track surface. Then; Boom ! Ryan D & Nielsen going hammer and tongs in Ht11 trying to split the Tigers Stead/Berge pairing arrive at the same time same spot on Turn3 Lap3; Nielsen locks up and Ryan straight OTT of Nielsen. We all held our breath as first Ryan and then Nielsen got to their feet. Alarming spill at high speed. Incredibly Stefan Nielsen recovers and is out for Ht12 - made of steel speedway riders. But who would have imagined the depleted Scorpions hauling the Tigers lead back in ?. Not us .. that's for sure. But sure enough back we come Alex Davies gets the "thunder back" to pair up with the excellent Nielsen in Ht12 5-1 for 8 down and THEN we are spoilt rotten in Ht13 as Josh Auty after a titanic four lap battle with Stead/Berge somehow finds enough off Turn4 Lap for to join Ryan D for a 5-1 and 4 down !. How the hell did that happen ? we looked dead and buried from the off but we battling like fury out there. Then MPT returning after 3 years to the team; and feeling his way back on the EWR; loses power out of Turn2 in Ht14. So when we might have taken a 5-1 and squared it 43-43 into the final race and a chance to actually win this belter of a meeting; we are 4 down. But incredibly we could still square the meeting. Alex and Ryan D get the call for Ht15 ? when we thought Nielsen would have got the nod. But was there a bit of "old manning" going on when Alex went through the start tapes for an exclusion ?. In comes Man Of The Match Stefan Nielsen for sixth outing and its proves one too many as the cool professionalism of Simon Stead triumphs at the last. Just a mention for Ryan Burton; far from let himself down; he would be the first to say he answered the call and knowing it was a tough one. But he's a tidy enough young rider and we should applaud his willingness to put himself up for it. Anyone who has ever put a leg over a speedway bike will tell you it can bit you back big style. So fair play to Ryan Burton; he actually gated quite well. But what a meeting; we do not like to lose lets be clear; but when you do; you want to see the determination and effort levels that the Scorpions put into that meeting yesterday. Salute the Tigers too for their win; without them there is no meeting. Salute Rob and the management for serving up a brilliant race track and Salute those in attendance also - the crowd appeared reasonably good last night and backed their favourites. If I might pinch a few words from Sir Alex Ferguson and use them in a speedway context . "Speedway Bloody Hell" !

You didnt make the British Semi then ?

Agreed Little Josh coping well with tracks for the first time; and yes finishing ahead of Holub there; but again Holub is still recovering from his injury. But it is all conjecture now because the changes have been made; and I am sure they are the right ones at this time.

Come on give the lad a break; at Berwick he was only just back from injury. Trust me the one place you dont want to have to go first back after injury is Shielfield Park ! Long narrow bumpy straights into tight corners with a collarbone healing ooch!. Unforgiving track.

Bit harsh Pinny; he looked the part when he arrived late last season; and what with the injury has never had the chance to show. He clearly has potential and Kings Lynn in particular recognise this. Something had to give though; and the way we were set up was to have a "big hitter" in the reserve berth; Wilko now gives us this. Zdneck probably was not as well set up as Andreas will be; just a look over Facebook shows how Team Lyager are well backed. MPT will help with Andreas settling in and I expect them both to score the points we have been missing. MPT returns a far more experienced rider for his stint with Belle Vue in the Elite League and certainly around the EWR is capable of providing the "big hitter" scores to support Josh Auty.

Robs said that the changes will leave us with a team; they believe will at least win home matches. We seem to have definitely made a commitment to Andreas Lyagers inclusion; so I cannot square winning home matches by including Lyager; Holub and Bailey. All three are learning the ropes at Premier League level. So we keep Josh Auty; Ryan Douglas; Alex Davies; and Carl Wilkinson. Josh Baileys position is protected so he is safe. Ashley Morris is replaced by Lyager and alas it will be Zdneck Holub who steps down (albeit he has had precious little chance to show his undoubted potential). Replacing Holub with most likely MPT,or say Ty Procter definitely strengthens the team without giving us the second "big hitter" but MPT or Procter do have the experience. It should then see Wilko revert to reserve and a riding order say; 1.Auty 2.Lyager,3.Douglas; 4.Davies; 5. Procter/MPT; 6.Wilko 7.Bailey. Its solid enough; if MPT comes in he can link up with Lyager and pass on his knowhow and help him settle. I do think it is quite tough on Holub; who clearly has potential; Rob says no one's place in the team is safe; but in the end it will come down to how many "new to PL" riders we can afford to carry along in the hope of realising their potential now. Three is a bit of a leap of faith if we are to realistically win home matches and keep and build the crowd levels at the EWR. So reluctantly; we will put Zdnecks British career on hold for now and hope that these two changes will give us the shot in the arm we are looking for the rest of the season. After last nights British Semi-Final; the entertainment bar has been lifted once again; and with the line up above there is sure to be more interesting times and thrilling Speedway at the EWR as the re-energised Scorpions pick up for the rest of the season starting next week against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Tigers. With a quick return for last nights winner Simon Stead; and team mates Kyle Howarth(3rd) Jason Garrith (Qualifier) and Josh Bates its one not to be missed that's for sure.

Anyone who was lucky enough to witness last nights British Semi Final @ Scunthorpe will tell you on the evidence of that meeting it has not stopped being as good as it used to be. Its better ! and first watached speedway in the 70s so have experienced some of the sports hey days.

Oh my oh my what a meeting the British Semi Final was last night. Truly out of superlatives for the outstanding racing but then again I knew that you could not put out that quality of field on the EWR and not have one hell of a humdinger. Had Sky covered it Kelvin and Nigel would have been going nuts !!. Shame the cameras were not there. Richard Hall arch villan at Scunny and out of a job at Sheffield had superb night and was even a hero when Kyle Howarth went full pelt under Josh Auty felling him to the track. So full marks to Hall for dumping his bike quick fire! to avoid hitting the Scorpions No1. Up gets Richard Hall to immediately check that Josh was ok reversing an unsavoury incident that went off between them at the EWR in the past. Hats off to Richard Hall ! The action on track was neck and neck no quarter given all night. Witness Josh Bates v Jason Garrity (as Rob says; "the let him out for the night) team mates but at it hammer n tongs. But the stand out performer ?.. young Robert Lambert you will not see better execution of speedway round the EWR than his sweeping round the outside of eventual winner Simon Stead to win by nigh on half a lap. Chris Harris Grand Prix star put his reputation out there with a predominantley Premier League field and needed all of his track craft to stay with the front runners. The meeting cracked along at an incredible pace.1hr 30mins for 21 races with riders put on two mins consistently up to the tapes to keep things moving. No delays. Just a massive thank you to all the riders; officials and Scunthorpe Speedway for reminding all of us lucky enough to be there why when Speedway is done proper its still is the Greatest Show on Earth !

Not always the done thing to answer your own post; but maybe exiled is too strong; we now regard Scunthorpe as our "home track". When there were rumours of an Odsal revival a 2-3 years ago; we debated if that would mean we suddenly reverted to being Bradford supporters all of a sudden. You know the answer we came up with ...err NO ! we would still be Scunthorpe fans and firmly in the Scorpions camp when the two teams faced off !

As Bradford/Halifax speedway supporters; and now exiled in Scunthorpe for our speedway fix. I will just say this; get behind the Scorpions; we have an absolutely brilliant race track go and support it because I can assure you of this your a long long time DEFUNCT !. Its not all about the winning its about being able to be in the race to even think of winning. You got to be existence to win and not sat at home watching ITV's The Durell's wishing the speedway was still open.

Agree; I think we do not need a knee jerk reaction and then end up making mistakes. Get Andreas in as we intended and lets at least give the team its chance to respond. Those that struggled at Glasgow; Berwick and Peterborough deserve the chance to put things right. I always favour backing our original judgement and seeing where it takes us; but the counter argument is that we do not have much time; before results start to affect crowd levels further ..or will they ? Are we already down to the core of our support ?. Zdneck seems to be coming in for most criticism; but for me he is far better than a 3.00CMA and he could yet prove a real trump card in reserve. What with his injury; he has not had a real shot at it so far, if we could just cut him a bit of slack. Still think we have a very supportable team; if we can just ride out these disappointments; stick together and show what we are capable off 1-7.

Been pondering over our team change(s) dilemma. I hate changing to be fair but needs must I suppose; Ashley Morris is probably unlucky to go; but he was aware of this. Can we make another ?; because it might have to be Zdneck Holub who loses out for the greater good ?. Even if we can actually do this ?. So if we brought in Andreas Lyager for his obvious potential, and say; Ty Procter; that should make us more solid, and he fits the bill average wise being almost a straight swap for our original Aussie signing Taylor Poole. I am sure that the rest of the team can bounce back from the Glasgow "walloping" not for one minute are they all suddenly bad riders; far from it. To have kept that meeting in the realms of respectability we are relying heavily on Josh Auty; and he will be disappointed as anyone with his return on the day. But it does underline the problem we have if he is not leading the charge. All of them have shown their ability and I am sure they will do again.

We're in bother! that was Saints-esque. Do a rollback to 13hts and its 65-13 and the Saints were regularly done over in 1972 by these sort of scores. Irony is Lunna banging in a paid max ooch !. On the Scunthorpe 2016 thread earlier I suggested we sign Cookie and frankly we need a rider like him without question; is it a financial gamble worth taking ? Its a dilema for the Scunny management; no one wants to see riders out of work but theres a window now and perhaps some difficult decisions will be made ? After this we need Cook; Compton and Procter ! and I dont like saying that because I would always back the team. There was precious little speedway at Glasgow by the looks of things and that cannot be good for Glasgows business or indeed speedway generally. I am sure that the management will be looking at this and trying to work out the best way forward. But its important to stick together and take time to reflect on what went so wrong.

Blooming heck just reading through all this has my head spinning. But now Holub is "officially" 3.00 and as much as I back Lyagers potential and value to the asset base. IF we really wanted to "zipper dee do dah" our way to the Premier League title SIGN Cook ! and we are talking a serous big hitter mmmmmmm

Your fully entitled to your opinion Lewis; you may well be right; it is a gamble and as you say when Wilko moves up as he undoubtedly will then we could be exposed. But I have this belief that we have three great prospects in Little Josh; Holub and Lyager and if we could just stay with it we could reap the rewards. But its a results business and as with all sport what you do in the here and now is what counts on and off the track. All the best.

I just do not see Procter; Compton or MPT for all that; coming in. The commitment is clearly to Andreas Lyager; whom the management clearly rate (rightly IMO) as a great prospect. Someone has already said that when he came in late last season; straight away he looked capable of winning races. Rob has referred to his application and high standard machinery. I think we have to let Andreas have a run and see what he is capable of; then he is our asset and one we can look to for the future. Procter and Compton are short term fixes and do not add to the asset base of the club. We are all about developing young riders from here or abroad and when you look at the team including Andreas; its got a lot going for it. You only have to look at Peterborough; when they bounced us out 26-64 at the Showground they looked all over a class act. Suddenly they get a bad result or two and the cards go up in the air. I am all for giving the riders we trusted at the outset the chance to take us deeper into the season. Bottom line is the team is supportable; we will get knock backs but its how we deal with them and stick together and if we do we can reap the rewards. Everyone should try thinking along the lines of Leicester City as a team we may be bigger than the sum of our parts on paper.

Newcastles line up issue is an example of why doubling up is counter productive. Least wise why having three riders in a team doubling up is. Perhaps there needs to be a limit otherwise the fans loose out somewhere. For that matter why would the Diamonds promotion want to go into an important KO Cup tie minus three of their team ?. Has me asking how serious everyone views the competition when it can be undermind by "unavailability" of not just one but three riders. Obviously this may work in Scorps favour but thats not the point; I want to see the Diamonds at full strength not a select 7.

I know some were concerned about the attendance; myself included; but there was absolutely nothing to complain about the delivery of this meeting to the paying public. Everything that the very welcome Devils support put down in that letter marks Scunthorpe Speedway down as deserving of the backing of the Scunthorpe citizens and people from wider afield. So pleased for everyone at Plymouth that the Devils survived making the fixture possible; we couldn't do it without you. Welcome anytime at the EWR cheers guys. "Fire on the mountain" run boys run Devils always welcome at the home of Scun! Point5. Everyone loves Little Josh; told you he's a great asset on track; everyone is going to enjoy watching him ride this season. . Hey rmc; did I once get the drift that your the real Rob McCaffrey circa Sky Sports ?

Affirmative again Procter would undoubtedly bring something to the team; and has the experience; whereas Andreas is learning the ropes somewhat. We already have two riders in Zdneck and Little Josh for whom David Howe has his coaching brief; can we afford a third in Andreas ? I get that.

Compo would definitely be one that comes into the frame; but it was just what Rob said in the Star; about having Andreas UK bikes here already in storage. I do think that Andreas might be more than a 4pointer; but agree that its more of a unknown.

Agree; I was a bit concerned leading up to the meeting about what the crowd would be. Fair play to the Devils fans on the first turn who had made the trip North. As I looked around; I did not think that there was much difference from the Peterborough meeting two weeks previous. You have to get some continuity into the season; so far its being a very staggered first month and throw in some setbacks on the track for the team and folks are probably holding off. The weather has a part to play too; so all things considered the crowd was not as worrying as I might have feared. Great nights action; with the Devils playing their part fully. Really impressed with Little Josh; hammer n tongs behind an equally impressive Stephan Nielsen in Ht12; for third but Little Josh just being squeezed out on the chase to the line. Again in Ht14 contributed to a thrilling race; with Ryan; both all over the back of Nielsen again. We went away; talking about how the emergence of Josh Bailey could bring more spectator interest to the club. You do not want to throw too much emphasis upon him; but he is clearly a talent. David Howe's mentoring must be a good thing; especially on set ups and track know how. He knows where to put the bike and safely as well. If the Scunthorpe public catch on that Josh Bailey is a burgeoning speedway star developing right on their doorstep. There could be spin offs for the club as the season unfolds. Delighted to see Wilko back on it and delivering the sort of points we had in mind; very evident that it was not the man and as Rob explained a trip back to his engine supplier did the trick. Big Josh delivered a top score 16 points; and looked all over the big hitter we need him to be. Ryan has been on Facebook; saying that he has rarely ridden harder for 8 points; whilst Alex was apologising for his 6 point return. You can never accuse Alex Davies of not trying; he puts everything into it; and he'll sort it for sure. Unlucky that Ashley Morris took the panal out the air fence with that alarming Ht11 crash; he let the bike go headlong into the fence. Honestly when he came back off the air fence; he looked worryingly close to collecting the other three riders as they sped by on the inside. Phew ! hope your ok fella. So all in all a lively and enjoyable nights action at the EWR. Talk from Rob was of making the team change(s); with Zdneck due back at Berwick on Saturday. Reading the Speedway Star; my belief is that Andreas Lyager will still be introduced into the team for Nicolai as per the plan. I think Andreas can be a surprise packet. Carlos will drop to reserve as Zdneck cannot have less than a 5.00CMA as I understand; once he gets match fit we will see the potential in Zeddy. I hope that once the locals cotton on that there is a great speedway outfit in town; and a great race track to watch them on they will start to get out and back it. Some good weather and continuity is helpful of course. But as has been said; there are some of us doing round trips of 120 miles; so to think that folks in Scunthorpe would rather sit at home and snooze off over ITV's The Durrells just beats me it really does. Support your Local Speedway its a long time gone and those of us in Bradford/Halifax know that only too well.

I'm lost with all this Sooty send for Sweep ..izzy wizzy lets get busy ! can't we just have 7 riders; four laps in a race and have done with it; no matter what the size of their underpants ?