lucifer sam

Not over by a long way.... but well done to the Scorpions for keeping it to 5 points, despite all sorts of chain breaks. All the best Rob

Ah, so overtaking is now an excludable offence. 21st CH, it seems to me that just about every neutral who has seen in the incident reckons the ref got it right. It was a racing accident, but IMO the correct rider was excluded (and let's hope Roynon is fit and ready to go again next March ) Move on mate. All the best Rob

Masters - on his converted EL average - guests for Jorgensen on Sunday. All the best Rob

Correct decision by the referee. Nasty incident - get well soon Adam Roynon. All the best Rob

21st CH, the ref (rightly or wrongly) made his decision. Live with it. Personally I'm more concerned about the welfare of Adam Roynon. Hope the broken leg heals quickly, and we see him back next year. He's been a revelation this year. All the best Rob

THIS IS IT!! - PLAY-OFF GRAND FINAL PREVIEW QUITE SIMPLY, they don’t come any bigger than this! The Eddie Wright Raceway plays host to its most-important ever meeting on Sunday (4pm), as the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions take on the Somerset Rebels in the concluding leg of the play-off final, with the Premier League title at stake. It is the culmination of the whole Premier League season, which has seen 13 teams from Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, down to Plymouth in the south-west, doing battle for the league title. After 156 regular Premier League meetings and 12 scheduled play-off group matches, it all comes down to two meetings – at Somerset on Friday and Scunthorpe on Sunday. It would represent a first league title at this level for either club. The current incarnation of Scunthorpe Speedway is one of the Premier League’s newest members. Current promoter Rob Godfrey brought speedway back to the town of Scunthorpe in 2005 after an absence of twenty years. A new-purpose built stadium, the Eddie Wright Raceway, was constructed in Normanby Road. He initially entered the club into the Conference League (the sport’s third tier). With the late Kenny Smith as team manager, the Scorpions won back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007, with a fantastic team of youngsters including Tai Woffinden, Josh Auty, Andrew Tully and Richie Dennis. Scunthorpe were elevated to the Premier League in 2008. Up until this season, the Scorpions were a solid mid-table team. Rob Godfrey says: “I had a feeling right from the off that the 2012 Scorpions were something a bit special, and could make a genuine Premier League title challenge. “It’s certainly not been easy, and we’ve had lows as well as highs. But we’ve come through and reached the final.” Injuries are sadly part and parcel of speedway, and the Scorpions have had their fare of share of these, with skipper David Howe (No 1 at Scunthorpe from 2009 to 2011) having competed in just nine official fixtures for the club in 2012 after a series of injury woes. At one stage during May and June, the Scorpions suffered eight successive defeats as their League Cup and Knockout Cup hopes came grinding to a halt. However, the mid-season signings of Nick Morris and Gary Irving turned the Scorpions into a very strong side from 1-to-7, and they won 13 out of last 16 regular league matches to finish second in the table, a single point behind Newcastle. That momentum was taken into the play-off group stages where crushing home wins against Edinburgh and Workington, plus a priceless away point at Edinburgh were enough to clinch a place in the final. Godfrey adds: “To me there’s no pressure on the side at the weekend. I consider us to be the underdogs. “All the pressure is on Somerset, because all the pre-season predictions had them to be up there. We were predicted to finish somewhere in the middle. “However, we are more than capable of going out there and beating Somerset over two legs. Make no mistakes we want to win the final and take some Premier League silverware. “It would be fantastic to win the Premier League in just our fifth season at this level.” There’s no doubt that the two meetings over the weekend are the most important in Scunthorpe’s history, but team manager Richard Hollingsworth insists the approach will be to treat them as normal meetings. Hollingsworth explains: “We’re not going to change our approach now and put any pressure on the riders. “We’re just going to treat it like another couple of meetings. “The riders have been doing a great job for around the last three months, so we don’t need to change anything. “The lads just have to go out there and race for 30 heats, and then at the end of it, we’ll see if we’ve got more points than Somerset. “If there’s any luck kicking around, I hope we get our fair share of that.” Meanwhile, Hollingsworth insists that the club is not satisfied with just reaching the final. He says: “I wouldn’t be that happy with second place. “For a long time, Scunthorpe Speedway had the Cinderella tag attached to it. In our previous existence between 1971 and 1985, during which I became a fan, we were nearly always the whipping boys of the league. “We’ve never finished above fifth (in 1983) at this level before, so expectations tend to be set quite low. But I want to see Scunthorpe to become a force to be reckoned with on a regular basis. “We’ll be going into the final very much to win it; it won’t be a case of ‘We’re Scunthorpe, so second will be fine.’ We want to win”, Hollingsworth stresses. He also believes that the Premier League title would be a fitting reward for many at the club; the riders, the supporters, the management and the back-room team. “To be crowned league champions would be the stuff of dreams, and would be the prize for eight years of hard work by everyone at the club. “And what would make it even more special, in my book, is that we have not bought the league in any way. “Rob (Godfrey) runs Scunthorpe Speedway on a sensible budget; we have never broken the bank to try to bring success to the club. It’s just been a lot of hard work.” Both teams are without two regular riders on Sunday. The Scunthorpe utilise rider replacement for David Howe, while Sam Masters will guest for injured Dane Thomas Jorgensen. Masters rode for Somerset until late August, when he was released by the Rebels, and may have a point to prove to his old club. With No 1 Jason Doyle ruled out, the Rebels have a fine replacement in Premier League Riders’ Champion Craig Cook. Tom Perry was injured at Dudley on Tuesday, so Lewis Kerr comes into their side at No 7. Sunday’s Admission Prices: Adult: £16.00 Student/OAP: £14.00 Child (10 - 16): £5.00 Child (0 - 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult) Family Ticket £37 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-16) Special souvenir programme: £2.50 Teams for Sunday (English unless stated): Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Josh Auty, 2. David Howe R/R, 3. Sam Masters (Australia - guest), 4. Ashley Birks, 5. Nick Morris (Australia), 6. Michael Palm Toft (Denmark), 7. Gary Irving. Somerset Rebels: 1. Craig Cook (guest), 2. Alex Davies (Australia), 3. Jesper B Monberg (Denmark), 4. James Wright, 5. Claus Vissing (Denmark), 6. Kyle Newman, 7. Lewis Kerr (guest).

Well done to the Fen Tigers - well deserved, as final won without advantage of a home leg. Commiserations to Dudley on getting so close and hope that Roynon is OK. All the best Rob

Old Timer, you never know, they might want to cover the story of you finishing runners-up in the Premier League. All the best Rob

I'm sure that there was a statement from Rye House on the BSPA website explaining the situation with the PCT. All the best Rob

The "greatest team of all-time" does not lose one of its league meetings by 46 points to 32. You did Under the 13-heat-format, Oxford '86 would beat Cradley Heath '83 by using tactical subs and then grabbing it at the death. Remember our second heat-leader in '86 (Wiggy) had a 11.01 average in league meetings, better than Erik's '83 figure for Cradley Heath. Man-for-man, Cradley do have the edge, but put the two teams out under the 13-heat formula which suited top-heavy teams, and Oxford '86 would come out on top. Not that we were that top-heavy in '86, Per Sorensen and Nigel De'ath were both riding out of their skins and had averages of near 7.00 in our league meetings. As soon as Oxford moved up in 1984, Cradley didn't win another league title. You met your match, ironically in your "nusery side" from 1978 to 1982. McCormick treated Oxford well, but the moment Adams came in, Oxford were stuffed by Cradley. So it was great when we moved up, and got the chance to stop you guys winning any more titles. 21st CH, look what you've started up again All the best Rob

Cheers. As we've discussed before, it's impossible to split Cradley' 83, Oxford '86, Belle Vue '72 and Ipswich '98. All were fantastic teams, who completely dominated the opposition in the years in question. Although only one of them has a 100% league record. All the best Rob

Al, I don't think some people realise how restricted the rules are for guests for the lower PL reserve. To the point that I think Steve Worrall's injury hit Newcastle more than that of Richie. IMO there was nothing wrong with Tommy's inclusion on Friday. It would be daft getting a rider to drive across half the country (especially given the forecast) when there's a lad who lives just down the road who deserves a chance. Right, enough of all that, back to Somerset v Scunthorpe. All the best Rob

I see your point to an certain extent, but then again, you did release him. Tero Aarnio rode his bits off against Scunny in the Play-Off matches against us, to demonstrate we'd done the wrong thing in letting him go. Maybe Sam wants to prove the same point. Maybe he wants to score big time over the course of the final, to make the Somerset management realise that he's indispensible in 2013? Or maybe he just likes the idea of two more meetings to earn money from. All the best Rob

How is it Scunthorpe's fault though? We didn't have anything to do with the Edinburgh v Workington meeting, or the subsequent decision taken. Everyone was on tenterhooks until mid-morning on Saturday. Scunthorpe finished their play-off matches in good time on Sunday, October 7th. We couldn't do any more than that. It meant doing 3 meetings in 3 days, which is not ideal, but at this stage of the season, you have to accept every date you're given; so Rob and Richard accepted the October 5th date at Armadale when offered, even though we were already riding Workington on the 6th and 7th. Why there was a match scheduled to take place on the 19th in the first place is beyond me - it was much too late. Until Edinburgh v Scunny was rained off on Sept 28th, the October 5th date was free - I'm perplexed why the Edinburgh v Workington match had already not been confirmed on this date. Maybe you should ask Keith Denham why you weren't already there on the 5th? Maybe Workington didn't accept every date they were given, perhaps? In the meantime, this thread is about the final. I'm sorry you didn't get your 100/1 shot to win at Edinburgh, but that's life - the weather has messed things up in other competitions as well this season. I wish Workington Speedway the best under the new promotion - Keith Denham did everything he could but it just didn't work out for him. I'm sorry your team didn't win any of the major team competitions in 2012 (although the PL Paris is a very nice consolation and was very much deserved), better luck next year. Time to move on. All the best Rob

Sam Masters booked as a guest for both legs of the final, although his use on Friday is conditional on whether he rides for Poole that night. Poole MAY be in the KO Cup Final at Coventry on Friday (they still need to overcome Peterborough in the semi-final), and then the Pirates will select from their doubling up pair (Sam Masters / Ludvig Lindgren). If they plump for Sam, then Scunny will need an alternative guest. http://www.scunthorp...?Team=Scorpions All the best Rob

I've had my suspicions about Squall for a while. Hopefully Tubby will be coming along to do his streak as well. (Rob G has made mention of it every week ) All the best Rob

Edinburgh are only allowed to run on Fridays and Saturdays. And next Firday is too late - it's Somerset's date for the final. It's sad that Wokrington didn't get their 100/1 shot to win at Armadale. But a decision was needed in the light that the match hadn't been completed on time. All the best Rob

Not our fault if you couldn't complete your fixtures. We completed ours two weeks ago. All the best Rob

Edinburgh are a professionally run club. The loss of JDC is a big blow, but I hope they continue for many years to come. All the best Rob

Could you please point out which fixtures that Scunthorpe failed to complete? All the best Rob

Scunthorpe completed our fixtures as well, and scored 7 match points, despite being without 2 riders in one match, 3 riders in a further match, and 4 riders in the two remaining matches. Our riders (plus guests) battled their way to get into a very healthy position. Nothing farcical about that. All the best Rob

Scunny's original provisional date for the home leg of final was the Friday 26th, but was moved back to the 28th, to allow Somerset the 26th. All the best Rob

The conclusion to this year's Premier League title chase. The start-time is designed to be friendly to travelling supporters. Come on the Scorpions All the best Rob

Looking forward to a trip down to the Oak Tree Arena on Friday. Premier League result was 48-42 to Somerset - that'll do nicely. All the best Rob

Lots of sympathy for the Workington fans, but going by the results of the matches completed, this is the correct decision. Let's hope the weather now gives us everyone a clear run until the end of the season. I've not known a season since 1986 like this for the weather. And good luck to Workington for tonight. All the best Rob