lucifer sam

*RAINED OFF* SCORPIONS IN KEY CLASH FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance, entertain the Plymouth Devils, the team directly above them in the Premier League table at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening (7.30pm). The Scorpions - blighted with injury throughout 2015 - are currently bottom of the Premier League, and need to make sure they win their next three home meetings against Plymouth (Friday), Newcastle (August 7) and Redcar (August 14), who are all teams also in the lower reaches of the league table. Ex-Scorpion Thomas Jorgensen comes in for the injured No 1 Josh Auty. Auty is back on the sidelines in somewhat controversial circumstances, after Ipswich’s Rohan Tungate rode straight into him post-race following Heat 10 at Scunthorpe last week. Auty had just returned from a nine-week break with a broken hand, and it won’t be clear until the swelling goes down, just how soon he will be able to return, if at all this season. Nike Lunna is riding in the Finish Under-21 Championship, so he is replaced at No 7 by another former Scorpion, Benji Compton. Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey says: “One look at the league table reveals why we really want to make sure that we win on Friday night. We need to catch up the teams above us, because we really don’t to finish bottom of the league. “Ideally we want not only the win, but also to stop Plymouth taking any points at all on Friday evening.” The last two meetings at the Eddie Wright Raceway have been full of brilliant racing and incident, with Peterborough beaten 47-43 at the last gasp, while last week’s encounter with Ipswich (which the Witches won eventually 47-43) almost defies description – containing everything including a punch-up and a sit-down protest. Godfrey adds: “I’m sure it’s bound to be another cracking evening of action around the best speedway track in the country. As the last two weeks have shown, you never want to miss a meeting at Scunthorpe Speedway, because you never quite know what’s going to happen next! “With everything that went on last Friday, what almost got pushed to the side, was how good the racing was. There was some absolutely great stuff. “I’m delighted to have Thomas Jorgensen back as a guest, because he was just superb against Peterborough a fortnight ago, combining with two 5-1s with Ryan Douglas, to turn the match around in our favour, just when it looked we were about dead and buried. “Thomas will always give his all when guesting for us, and our other guest, Benji Compton, is another who will never give anything less than 100%. We wish Nike good luck in his quest to win the Finnish Under-21 Championship.” Friday sees the start of a special promotion, which will last to the end of the 2015 season, which sees all accompanied children under the age of 16 admitted for free to home Scorpions’ meetings. “We’re always looking to attract more younger fans”, says Godfrey. “And this offer is part of that. It’s now the school holidays, and if you’re a parent, I can’t think of a better way than keeping your kids entertained on a Friday evening than bringing them along here!” There are 24 heats of action in total on Friday, with a nine-race second half including a six-heat Midland Development League match between Scunthorpe & Milton Keynes. Admission prices for Friday: Adult: £15.00 Student/OAP: £13.00 Child (16 – 17): £5.00 Child (0 – 15) Free (accompanied by paying adult) Family Ticket £35 (2 adults, 2 Children 16-17) Match Programme: £1.00 Expected teams for Friday: FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance: 1. Thomas Jorgensen (guest for Josh Auty), 2. Alex Davies, 3. Theo Pijper, 4. Carl Wilkinson, 5. Ryan Douglas, 6. Ben Wilson, 7. Benji Compton (guest for Nike Lunna). Plymouth Devils: 1. Ryan Fisher, 2. Morten Risager, 3. Jack Holder, 4. Todd Kurtz, 5. Kyle Newman, 6. Sam Simota, 7. Rafal Konopka (guest for Roland Benko). Midland Development League teams: Scunthorpe Stags: 1. Chris Bambury, 2. Sam Chapman, 3. Luke Whitehead, 4. Kurtis Scarboro. Milton Keynes Knights: 1. Tom Bacon, 2. Robert Watts, 3. TBA, 4. Robert Parker. Plymouth Devils at EWR Ave Ave Name Lge M R Pts BP (no BP) (w BP) Best Performance Ryan Fisher PL 5 24 48 2 8.00 8.33 13 + 1 from 5 rides (2008) Jack Holder DEBUT PL MEETING @ EWR Todd Kurtz PL 8 36 45 8 5.00 5.89 12 + 2 from 5 rides (2014) Kyle Newman PL 4 17 14 3 3.29 4.00 7 + 1 from 4 rides (2013) Morten Risager PL 6 23 22 2 3.83 4.17 7 + 1 from 4 rides (2014) Zdenek Simota PL 1 4 3 1 3.00 4 3 + 1 from 4 rides (2014) GUEST RIDER Rafal Konopka PL 6 25 17 3 2.72 3.20 5 + 1 from 6 rides (2015) Ryan Fisher Has represented his Country in 13 World Cup meetings. Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Championship, Premier Trophy and Play-off Winning Teams in 2008. Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Play-offs Winning Team in 2009. Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Championship Winning Team in 2010. Jack Holder 2011 Australian Under-16 350cc Champion. 2013 New South Wales Under-21 Champion. Todd Kurtz Member of Newport's Premier League KO Cup Winning Team in 2011. Member of Somerset's Premier Shield and Four-Team Championship Winning Teams in 2014. Kyle Newman Winner of Queensland State Under-21 Championships in 2011. Member of Weymouth's Conference League Championship Winning Team in 2008. Member of Bournemouth's National League Championship and KO Cup Winning Teams in 2009. Member of Newcastle's Premier Shield Winning Team in 2011. Member of Poole's Elite League Championship Winning Team in 2011. Member of Somerset's League Cup Winning Team in 2012. Member of Somerset's Premier League Championship and KO Cup Winning Teams in 2013. Member of Poole's Elite League Championship Winning Team in 2014. Member of Poole's Elite Shield Winning Teams in 2014 and 2015. Morten Risager Has ridden in 1 Speedway Grand Prix meeting. Member of Coventry's Elite League Championship Winning Teams in 2005 and 2007. Member of Coventry's Elite Shield Winning Team in 2006. Member of Ipswich's Premier League Four-Team Championship Winning Team in 2011. Zdenek Simota Has ridden in 2 Grand Prix and 5 World Cup meetings. Made his British League debut in the 2005 Premier League with Reading. 2004 Czech Republic Under-21 Champion. Plymouth Devils' PL Results at EWR 19 August 2011 PL L Scunthorpe 56 Plymouth 37 02 September 2012 PL L Scunthorpe 54 Plymouth 39 16 August 2013 PL L Scunthorpe 56 Plymouth 34 27 April 2014 PL L Scunthorpe 52 Plymouth 43 (stats by John Eyre)

http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=3885 All the best Rob

Whether it's 14 or 28 day-ban is up to the club. In 2005, Henka Gustafsson had a miss an Oxford meeting because he was due to also ride for his Swedish club that night, who needed to win that meeting to avoid relegation and he'd been riding for them forever and Oxford two minutes. Nigel Wagstaff thought that was a good enough reason, so placed a 14-day ban on Henka (allowing Oxford to use facilties for him) rather than 28 days. And then Henka was free to rejoin Oxford that much sooner for the rest of our ulitamely successful Craven Shield campaign. All the best Rob

Aren't they two seeded spots for the GP Challenge? Give Ward one of those. If he qualifies, then he qualifies, if he doesn't, then he doesn't. All the best Rob

Er, so you're calling Jenga (Workington), Spin King (Sheffield), the Scotsman (Edinburgh, I think) etc, etc, Scunthorpe fans?? And the video evidence is absolutely fine - anyone with eyes can see Tungate speed up and his flick of his back wheel, that causes Auty to come crashing down. In fact, the video evidence is remarkably good, given it was taken from crowd level. Hats off to the cameraman. What Tungate meant to do is open for debate. But there was always a chance that by doing what he did (grabbing the throttle, aiming his bike towards Josh, and flicking out the back wheel), he would wipe out Auty and that's what he did. Actions have consequences. And I believe the only person reported to the SCB was Tungate (others riders were fined, but not reported), so you're barking down the wrong tree with your other comments as well. All the best Rob

Yep, strangely enough, they've nearly all been Ippo fans. I can only summise there is a lack of Specsavers in Suffolk. Any with two functioning eyes can clearly see Tungate speed up and flick his back wheel at Auty. All the best Rob

I'm sure I saw Rob G and Phil H cuddling each other and exchanging a laugh just after the handbags between Ashley Morris and Nike Lunna's mechanic. And fair play to Phil for going onto the mic at the end... it was obvious he was going to get a reception, but he did it anyway, and wished Scunny the best for the future. It was slightly surreal at times on Friday - I don't think I've ever been to a speedway meeting quite like that one. All the best Rob

Just to point out that Rob Godfrey sacked Ben Powell, after Powell used his speedway bike as a weapon: http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/other-sports/speedway-ben-powell-banned-for-bike-348829 So no, you don't stick up for your rider, if you know he's in the wrong. All the best Rob

Oh my word, Tungate actually speeds up coming out of the bend, before flicking out his wheel out at Auty. All the best Rob

Blimey, that was like a speedway meeting on steroids. Amazing racing, controversy all the place. Most the incidents and handbags were just speedway, but Rohan Tungate's actions after Heat 10 were not. No place for that at all. All the best rob

Exactly. I've trawled all though the riders competing in the 1963 Southern-League-that-wasn't-a-league and can't find the name of a Darcy at all. I wish people would stop going off topic, and we can get back to discussing the relative strengths of the second tier over time. All the best Rob

R/R for Gino Manzares, by the looks of it. Meanwhile, Scunthorpe at full strength for the first time since April 19. Looking forward to tonight's meeting. All the best Rob

Agree Norbold. Only the main league programme counts as a league, rather than any secondary competitions. It gets a bit complicated when you start including e.g. the Midland League from 1980. Although Middlesbrough in 1966 is an interesting one, since they rode in the Northern League only and not the British League. All the best Rob

Have you read the last few pages? All the best Rob

Didn't Peter Collins, Chris Morton and Dave Morton all ride around the same field in Manchester? If so, that field is better than half the teams in the current Elite League, plus 22 Polish sides. All the best Rob

Does anyone? :D Just checked Hawkeye, which reveals: March 16: Lee makes Boston debut, the first of 39 appearances for Boston in 1975. March 28: Lee makes KL debut, the first of 27 appearances for KL in 1975. So Lee was never just a NL rider, as per my original statement. Point overturned. Championship to Lucifer Sam, while TWK says "you cannot be serious" and breaks his racket. All the best Rob

No I didn't. I said he was never just a NL rider, because he was riding for BL KL at the same time. He blatantly rode for Boston - I said as much. TWK, you seem to have just confused. Lee didn't move up during 1975. He was riding for KL from the start of that year, as well as Boson, hence him never being just a NL rider. All the best Rob

Nah, Mike Lee was World Champ at 21 and Tai at 23. But yes, for me, Woffy is definitely more of a natural talent than Ward. Ward throws his bike all over the place, whereas Woffy looks far more in tune and as one with the bike. All the best Rob

The Provincial League is an interesting one. It was considered to be a league consisting of over-the-hill veterans and completes novices when it first sprung up in 1960, but as people have said, it developed quickly and nurtured many riders who developed into stars after the formation of the British League in 1965. So where do you place it? Level with the modern day National League (third tier), or above the Div 2/NL of 1968-1990? And how high should be NL Div One of 1946-1964 be placed? At times, ALL the best riders in the world were condensed into just SEVEN teams. Amazing some of the riders who occupied reserve berths at times in this period.... All the best Rob Mike Lee was actually World Champ at the age of 21 (Peter Craven and Ronnie Moore also achieved this feat; Craven is still the youngest World Champion). But Mike Lee never really rode just NL - he was really a King's Lynn rider, who also rode for Boston in his first year. All the best Rob

There were a few (a certain Mr Mauger for starters), although the old National League riders were like golddust in the British League, hence the introduction of rider control. All the best Rob

Cheers Norbold - so the National League Division Three of 1947 to 1951 was much stronger than the NDL of today then. All the best Rob

Oldace, yes I've posted all that already, you're about half an hour behind. Incidentally, the NNL only existed in 1975; it was called just the NL in 1976, although many programmes still referred to it as the NNL. ALl the best Rob

Must have been a fairly young Tommy Price at that point, Norbold. Were the others all youngsters, or were any established top riders? I think you were on a better bet with the NL2 of the early fifties.... wasn't Ken Le Breton in there alongside Jack Young? And I'm sure a THIRD Division rider qualified for the World Final one year, although it's escaped me who it was... All the best Rob

1932-1964: The "old" National League 1975: Official name - the New National League 1976-1990: The "new" National League 2010 onwards: The National Development League All the best Rob

Technically, he rode for Boston in the 2008 Conference League, which is now the National League. Also, I'm going to pull BWitcher up for calling the National League from the 1970s and 1980s as "the old National League". Nope it was actually called "The New National League" in 1975. The old National League ran from 1932 to 1964. All the best Rob