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SCORPIONS OUT TO MAKE CUP PROGRESS FLUIDAIR POWER Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance, take a break from Premier League action, when they entertain the Newcastle Diamonds in the first round of the Travel Plus Tours Knockout Cup at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday evening (7.30pm). The first leg of this Knockout Cup tie was due to take place at Newcastle’s Brough Park on May 3, but was rained off. The Brough Park leg will now take place on Sunday, June 28, in place of the Premier League meeting scheduled between the two sides on that date. Scunthorpe’s mission on Friday night for what is now the first leg is simple… to build up as big a lead as possible to defend at Brough Park for the second leg. The Scorpions and Diamonds will see plenty of each together during 2015. They were in the same League Cup group, and there are still Premier League clashes to follow between the two sides. The League Cup clashes suggest a very close KO Cup tie over two legs, since the Scorpions defeat the Diamonds by 53-37 on April 17 at the Eddie Wright Raceway, while the Diamonds won by 53-39 at Brough Park two days later. Although it should be pointed out that, since then, the Scorpions have bolstered their line-up, with the introduction of Ryan Douglas and Ben Wilson. Both Douglas & Wilson will make their second appearance of the season in Scorpions’ colours on Friday night. With Josh Auty still out with a hand injury, Berwick’s Ben Barker again comes in to guest in the No 1 spot. Barker also guested for the Scorpions at Somerset, and was due to guest at Plymouth in the postponed meeting last Saturday. Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey says: “We’ve booked Ben Barker as a guest once more. Ben is a rider who will always give 100% in every meeting he races in, whether it’s for his regular team or a guest or whatever. “He’s the common sense choice at the moment, because his average isn’t that far from Josh’s. “If we’re looking to progress in the cup, and I can you assure that we are, then it’s not just about winning on Friday, but also building up a lead that we can defend when we go to Brough Park. “Cup meetings always have a slightly different flavour, because you don’t have to defend from tactical rides, because they aren’t allowed in this competition. “I’m sure Friday is going to be a night of some awesome racing, while we will doing everything we can to ensure we come out of the meeting with the result we require.” The Scorpions won the third-tier Knockout Cup in both 2006 and 2007, but have only reached the semi-finals at Premier League level once before in their history (in 2009). A good omen is that the side that the Scorpions defeated in the first round in 2009 were Newcastle. Admission prices for Friday: Adult: £15.00 Student/OAP: £13.00 Child (10 – 17): £5.00 Child (0 – 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult) Family Ticket £35 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-17) Match Programme: £1.00 Expected teams for Friday: FluidAir Power Scunthorpe Scorpions, supported by Henderson Insurance: 1. Ben Barker (guest for Josh Auty), 2. Theo Pijper, 3. Ryan Douglas, 4. Carl Wilkinson, 5. Alex Davies, 6. Ben Wilson, 7. Nike Lunna. Newcastle Diamonds: 1. Lewis Kerr, 2. Anton Rosen, 3. Steve Worrall, 4. Christian Henry, 5. Ludvig Lindgren, 6. Simon Nielsen, 7. Lewis Rose. Newcastle Diamonds at EWR Ave Ave Name Lge M R Pts BP (no BP) (w BP) Best Performance Christian Henry PL 9 41 48 6 4.68 5.27 9 + 2 from 6 rides (2013) Lewis Kerr PL 4 17 23 4 5.41 6.35 7 + 2 from 4 rides (2013) Ludvig Lindgren PL 8 38 62 3 6.53 6.84 14 from 5 rides (inc 4 pts T/R (2009)) Simon Nielsen PL 5 19 10 3 2.11 2.74 4 + 1 from 4 rides (2013) Lewis Rose PL 2 11 10 0 3.64 3.64 5 from 5 rides (2014) Anton Rosen PL 2 11 21 2 7.64 8.36 12 + 1 from 5 rides (2015) Steve Worrall PL 31 128 114 26 3.56 4.38 10 + 2 from 5 rides (2011) Other Notes Christian Henry Member of Glasgow's Premier League Championship Winners in 2011. Member of Newcastle's Premier League KO Cup Winning Team in 2012. Member of Newcastle's Premier Shield Winning Team in 2013. Lewis Kerr Member of Newcastle's League Cup and Premier Shield Winning Teams in 2013. Made his British League debut with King's Lynn's National League side in 2010. A Fast-Track Reserve with King's Lynn for the 2015 Elite League season. Ludvig Lindgren Member of Wolverhampton's Elite Shield Winning Teams in 2010 and 2011. Member of Newcastle's Premier League KO Cup Winning Team in 2012. Member of Newcastle's League Cup and Premier Shield Winning Teams in 2013. Simon Nielsen Made his Premier League debut with Workington in 2011. Winner of the 2005 Individual FIM Youth Gold Trophy (80cc), unofficial Under-16 World Championship. Lewis Rose Made his British League debut with King's Lynn's National League side in 2013. A Fast-Track Reserve with Swindon for the 2015 Elite League season. Anton Rosen Member of Newcastle's League Cup Winning Team in 2013. Swedish rider who made his British League debut with Newcastle in 2013. Steve Worrall Former Scunthorpe Scorpion and Saint. Member of the Saints' National League Winning Team in 2011. Member of Newcastle's Premier Shield Winning Team in 2013. Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Championship, KO Cup and League Cup Winning Teams in 2014. Member of Cradley's National League Championship, KO Cup, NL Shield and NL Fours Winning Teams in 2014. A Fast-Track Reserve with Belle Vue for the 2015 Elite League season. Newcastle's Results at EWR: 04 April 2008 PT L Scunthorpe 55 Newcastle 38 16 May 2008 PL L Scunthorpe 56 Newcastle 36 08 May 2009 KOC (1) L Scunthorpe 65 Newcastle 25 07 August 2009 PL L Scunthorpe 51 Newcastle 45 14 May 2010 KOC (1) L Scunthorpe 49 Newcastle 41 23 July 2010 PL L Scunthorpe 52 Newcastle 39 01 April 2011 PL L Scunthorpe 47 Newcastle 42 30 March 2012 LC L Scunthorpe 46 Newcastle 44 13 July 2012 PL L Scunthorpe 48 Newcastle 42 12 April 2013 PS (1) L Scunthorpe 50 Newcastle 43 05 July 2013 PL L Scunthorpe 46 Newcastle 44 18 April 2014 LC L Scunthorpe 49 Newcastle 44 27 June 2014 PL L Scunthorpe 58 Newcastle 38 17 April 2015 LC L Scunthorpe 53 Newcastle 37

But: 1. Jason Garrity would be a "1" or very close to it, because while nutty, he's also exciting. 2. Teams would have seven Jason Garrity's. 3. Meetings would then take 6 hours to complete due to the 50 re-runs and everyone would moan. All the best Rob

Nope, it's a foregone conclusion. The Stripey Cats are much stronger than the Stripey Cats and will walk it. All the best Rob

It was for about a decade post-war Humph Although they had 8-man teams then (top six 4 rides each and two reserves 2 rides each). All the best Rob

No, you're wrong. You've worked out average race points. It's average match points. 13/6 = 2.1666666666666666 (recurring) 17/8 = 2.125 Glasgow & Newcastle both finished on 13 points, but Glasgow subsequently have better race points difference. All the best Rob

I think Barrycuda is on a deliberate wind up. No-one could actually be that thick. All the best Rob

I was under the impression that Berwick's official colours have always been Black & Gold. OK, occasionally, the gold ends up looking yellow, but then again the colour Gold is a shade of yellow! All the best Rob

I suspect it's because of the original fixture list. Scunny had Fri 29th reserved for the League Cup semi-finals, so therefore Plymouth vs Scunny was down as Sat 30th. As for the call off, it's annoying when the forecast proves not to be correct, but I can understand why the Plymouth management called it off early. If you put on a meeting on an evening when the BBC (the forecast most of the public go by) predicts rain all night, the crowd is poor. Simple as. All the best Rob

Just to confirm Lewy's post - this meeting was called off first thing this morning. The BSPA website and Scunthorpe website both reflect this. Hopefully Plymouth will update their website soon. All the best Rob

HT, I hope I'll bump into you during the evening... as long as the weather forecast improves! All the best Rob

OXFORD CHEETAHS’ legend Arne Pander has died at the age of 83. The Dane rode for the Cheetahs between 1959 and 1968, and became the first World Class superstar to ride for the club. Born in Herning, Denmark in 1931, Pander won the Danish Championship in 1956 and 1958, before joining the Cheetahs in 1959. It was considered a risky signing, since Danish riders did not have any kind of pedigree at that time. He made a sensational debut for the club on Good Friday, March 27, 1959, dropping just a single point to the opposition, as the Cheetahs thrashed Coventry Bees by 53-37. By the end of the season, Pander had established himself as Oxford’s leading rider. Inspired by the Dane, who had the beating of all the world’s top riders, the Cheetahs were surprising National League contenders in 1960, before having to settle for third place in the table, behind the mighty duo of Wimbledon and Belle Vue (Manchester). Pander was just one stage away from reaching the 1961 World Final, when he suffered a fractured skull at Coventry on July 29, 1961. He scored a brilliant 15-point maximum for Oxford at Brandon (half the team’s total), but was then involved in an accident with Coventry ‘hard man’ Les Owen in the second half individual event. Pander survived the accident, and returned to action with Oxford in 1963, after 18 months out of the saddle. In 1964, new promoters Cyril Melville and Rodney Rycroft took over at Cowley. They brought in Ron How and Jimmy Gooch; these two, along with Pander, formed the heat-leader trio of the Cheetahs, who swept to a glorious treble, including the National League championship. 1965 saw the formation of the British League. Former rider Danny Dunton (who died earlier in 2015) became the promoter, after Melville & Rycroft left, leaving a trail of debt behind them. Pander, who was retained along with How and Gooch, had a brilliant season, ending the year with a string of maximums and registering a 10.03 average. Pander remained the leading light with the Cheetahs in 1966 and 1967, although his ’67 season was cut short with a broken leg. Further injures blighted him in 1968, and he left Oxford during the season. He rode for Poole later in 1968 and Halifax in 1969, but suffered further with injuries, which prompted his retirement. He made just a handful of appearances for the Pirates and Dukes, having spent the vast majority of his British career with the Cheetahs. Arne Pander is considered one of the very best speedway riders never to reach a World Final. A combination of injures, plus a dispute with the Danish authorities which led to him riding in his latter seasons under a British licence, prevented him from reaching the big night. Nevertheless, his place in the history of Oxford Speedway is assured. He joined Oxford in their third season of top-flight action, and became the first Cheetah who could consistently mix it with the biggest names of the sport, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore and Peter Craven. Apart from 1960, 1964 and 1965, Pander often rode in poor Oxford teams, and ended up carrying the side in many meetings. Long-time Oxford supporter Cliff Peasley said: “Arne Pander was our first world class rider, who could beat anyone. If he hadn’t suffered that fractured skull at Coventry in 1961, I’m convinced he would have been World Champion. He was simply brilliant before that injury. He was still good enough after that to be our top rider. “The Swindon fans used to hate him, because every time we travelled to Wiltshire, he would return with a maximum. He was almost unbeatable around there when he was at his best. “We had some pretty poor teams at times, and sometimes Arne would score more than half of the team total. For ten years, he was Oxford Speedway. “When Hans Nielsen, another Dane, came along in the 1980s, he surpassed Arne as our greatest rider. But Arne was our very first superstar, and that will never change.” Pander’s latter years are largely undocumented, but he stayed in England, living around the Norfolk area. To Oxford Cheetahs’ fans, he will always remain a hero.

Cheers Iris, Morian Hansen had popped out of my head when I posted. Arne Pander was still Oxford's original Danish superstar - in fact, he was Oxford's first world class superstar, full stop. All the best Rob

RIP to Arne Pander, the original Great Dane, and one of the true superstars of Oxford Speedway. All the best Rob

Can't disagree with that team. All the best Rob

Yup, it always was going to be one hell of a tricky meeting today, especially after we had to go into the meeting with R/R, after the injuries to the potential guests for Josh. Once Ryan and Ben settle in, we should have a team which is scoring all the way down to the two reserve positions. All the best Rob

Ah I see, yet another one of his aliases. In any case, here's Dave Peet's views on today's meeting: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=3434 All the best Rob

GrigorijLaguta13 isn't a fan, he's the forum wind-up merchant. All the best Rob

And last year's final? The one that really counts? To be fair, it's not a one-man team, because Bomber is 100% value in the World Cup. But it's certainly a two-man team. And there's no way we avoid picking the out-and-out best British rider for a very long time (probably since Peter Collins and Michael Lee). Woffinden is the automatic first name on the team sheet. All the best Rob

You don't half talk complete bollocks. All the best Rob

Youngy, I'm PM you - don't want to bore everyone else!!! All the best Rob

Confirmed as R/R for the Scorpions tomorrow. All the best Rob

Ash Birks was then being lined up as a guest, but he got injured at Edinburgh on Friday. Will speak to either Rob G or Dave P this evening, to check with what we're going with tomorrow. All the best Rob

1992 vs Swindon and Cradley Heath? All the best Rob

Result: Somerset 52 Scunny 38 All the best Rob

Officially, I think you'll find it's still Great Britain, just as it has been ever since 1960. Team GB is just used by the media and for promotional purposes. Here's one to get your head around TWK. Although referred to by press, riders and fans as England, the national team was still officially Great Britain between 1974 and 2000. Effectively the qualifying round of the World Team Cup determined who went on to represent Great Britain later in the competition. Australia had independence from the British ACU by the time they won the WTC in 1976. But New Zealand didn't have independence from the British ACU until around 1984 or 1985. So officially did Great Britain win the WTC in 1979 with a team of New Zealanders? All the best Rob