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ABSORBING CLASH AHEAD AT EDDIE WRIGHT RACEWAY WITH the weather gods finally behaving after a wet June, the first full match for a whole calendar month is set to take place at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway this evening (Sunday, 6.30pm), with rivals Ipswich Witches, led by British Champion Danny King, providing the opposition to the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions. After the enforced break, Scorpions are keen to get back to winning ways and improve their league position. A win against the Witches, who won in such controversial circumstances at the EWR last July, would be doubly sweet. Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey said: “It’s a very attractive fixture for so many reasons. “The Witches have newly-crowned British Champion Danny King spearheading their attack. Of course, our lads will be out to beat him. Ryan Douglas is moving to No 1 for us, and I’m sure Ryan will want to lower Danny’s colours in Heat 1. That should get the meeting off to a terrific start. “We’ve recently signed Lewis Kerr, after Ipswich released him, and he’ll be really keen to prove a point against his old club. “Plus it promises to be a meeting with some fabulous racing; there’s out-and-out racers on both sides. You’re almost guaranteed a humdinger of a race, when Josh Auty and Ben Barker are racing against each other.” There are 24 heats of action this afternoon. A nine-race second half includes a six-heat Midland Development League match between Scunthorpe and Belle Vue, while Ryan Douglas, Alex Davies and Michael Palm Toft will be amongst those riders taking part in three races on the innovative Formula Two speedway bikes, the brainchild of former rider Pete Seaton. Admission prices for this evening: 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 this evening: Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Ryan Douglas, 2. Carl Wilkinson, 3. Alex Davies, 4. Lewis Kerr, 5. Josh Auty, 6. Michael Palm Toft, 7. Josh Bailey. Ipswich Witches: 1. Danny King, 2. James Sarjeant, 3. Nico Covatti, 4. Morten Risager, 5. Ben Barker, 6. Joe Jacobs, 7. Oliver Greenwood. Midland Development League teams: Scunthorpe Stags: 1. George Rothery, 2. Luke Whitehead, 3. Chris Hoy, 4. Sam Chapman. Belle Vue Colts: 1. Joe Lawlor, 2. Sam Woolley, 3. Andy Mellish, 4. TBA. Formula 2 speedway bikes: Ryan Douglas, Alex Davies, Michael Palm Toft plus others.

Yes, three races, including Ryan Douglas, Michael Palm Toft and Alex Davies. All the best Rob

Weather looking OK for tomorrow, so looking forward to this. I reckon the Scorpions can take it. All the best Rob

It was actually catching riders out from both sides the whole night, right up until Luke Bowen fell while second in Heat 15 and Kent lost the 5-1 which would have secured a draw. A four-point win for Birmingham was a fair reflection of the meeting. In a way, the poor track spoilt the meeting. You had two teams fully committed, but without the track they needed to turn an OK meeting into what would have been an absolute corker. Danny Ayres was awesome. Looked completely untroubled. All the best Rob

I mentioned Jan O, because he was the one who could do it on a consistent basis. Carl Blackbird was a one-off. All the best Rob PS Troy Butler flew around Coventry. Even got 11 points there in a season he averaged less than 2.00. And, of course, he won the NLRC at Cov in 1988.

I'm thinking of coming up for this later on. What's the weather like? All the best Rob

Jan O. Pedersen was amazing around Oxford. I recall him passing Hans Nielsen from behind on a number of occasions. All the best Rob

It's definitely only one or the other (I'm sure that's how it reads as well, but I will change the wording of a couple of sentences just to make it absolutely clear). Either you had your full refund on the day, or you can now use the ticket to get into any single header this year. All the best Rob No problem, if you've read it that way, there's a chance that others may as well. I've now changed the wording so it definitely can't be read like that. All the best Rob

THE MANAGEMENT of the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions have made a terrific goodwill gesture to supporters – by allowing them free re-admission to a future single-header meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway this season on production of their re-admission tickets from Sunday’s abandoned clash with Rye House Rockets. The meeting was abandoned after just two races due to heavy rain, with the scores standing at 6-6. Some fans, in particular those from further afield, already collected a full refund on the day when leaving the stadium by surrendering their re-admission tickets. Those who didn’t collect this refund are now entitled to the re-admission offer. Standard re-admission policy in British Speedway sees fans paying per completed heat, with the rate of re-admission worked out on the number of races to go until Heat 10. But that will not be applied in this case. Promoter Rob Godfrey explains: “I believe it’s about looking after the fans, and I hope they will appreciate this gesture. “We were a bit embarrassed at Sunday’s events. The rain arrived slightly before we expected, and the supporters only got to see two rain-affected heats. I don’t feel I can charge them anything for that. “We did incur a number of costs by getting as far as we did. But Scunthorpe Speedway never have and never will be about ripping off the fans. “On the production of the re-admission ticket from Sunday’s abandoned meeting, supporters will be able to gain full admission to any single-header Scorpions’ meeting at the Eddie Wright Raceway this season.” Godfrey also praised Scunthorpe skipper Josh Auty for offering to forsake his earnings from his Heat 1 victory in the abandoned meeting. “It was a lovely offer from Josh Auty, it really was, not to take his earnings from his Heat 1 win. But it’s not something we are going to follow through; he will be paid for that race. “It’s proof that Josh is Scunthorpe through-and-through.” EDIT: Just to clarify, you either got a refund on the day or you are now entitled to full re-admission to a future single-header this season. It's not both. Effectively it's saving (adult) ticket holders £7, as opposed to if standard re-admission policy was applied, i.e. on the production and surrender of the Rye House re-admission ticket you get in free, rather than having to pay an additional £7.

Just double-checked - it works for me. If it's not working for some people, simply go to Scunny site: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/ It's the most recent news story. All the best Rob

GOODWILL GESTURE FROM SCORPIONS: Please see here: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=5717

The meeting where Mick Horton invented a curfew which doesn't exist at his track? (Having seen racing completed at Brandon at 11.40pm in the past). All the best Rob

Max Grosskreutz is a fascinating figure, who hit a brilliant run of form, despite what was apparently a very unorthodox riding style. But for a fall while leading the key race, he would have won the 1935 Star Championship, and then he could have been the very first World Champion but for an injury in 1936. I believe he lent his bike to Bluey Wilkinson for the '36 final, and of course, Bluey collected a 15-point-maximum. Why did he then retire so suddenly? He was manager at Norwich in 1937. He still held that role in 1938, although he was irregular rider/manager that season, often top scoring for Stars when he chose to ride. And then made another comeback following the war. How good would Grosskreutz have been had he continued riding the whole time? All the best Rob PS Norbold, where are the pre-war averages stored? The fantastic Speedway Researcher site has the results, but I don't think it has averages for these years.

Weird thing is the only time I saw Gundersen at Hyde Road, he scored 4 points (1987 BLRC). Not sure what happened to Erik that day. Although he did better than Shawn Moran, who bizarrely failed to score. That was the one Morton chucked away. He gated on Nielsen, and held him off, despite Hans throwing the kitchen sink at him, but then dropped a couple of points in what looked an easy ride. Hans made no more mistakes and won the meeting. I agree that Hans wasn't necessarily a Hyde Road specialist (not in the same way he was a Monmore Green specialist or a Dudley Wood specialist, much to the utter dismay of the Cradley fans!), but I've seen the video of the 1986 BLRC and he destroyed the field that day, romping to a maximum. All the best Rob

Hi Norbold, yes it's all subjective. My dad reckoned Peter Craven was the best rider around Oxford in that era. He smashed the Oxford track record in 1963, when beating Fundin in the Golden Helmet and the record stood until they changed the length of the track in 1974. No-one went faster around Cowley until Dave Perks in 1981. Opinions are coloured by how they perform around your own track. It's probably why many Oxford fans of a certain age considered Craven to be the best of the lot. And it's probably why, many years before the Nielsen feud, many Oxford fans didn't rate Olsen, who couldn't stand the place, made excuses not to turn up at Cowley, and refused to come when allocated to Oxford by Rider Control in 1975. All the best Rob

I'm slightly less convinced. After Fundin dipped slightly following 1963, Briggo and Knutsson shared top billing in '64 and '65 (with Plechanov also right up there), and then it was Briggo in '66 and '67. At the time of his death, Craven was a two-time World Champion and so was Briggo. Who was the better of the two? There's an argument both ways - but it's possible that Craven would have taken a title or two from Briggo. All the best Rob

BL65, good stuff, and it shows how closely matched the top riders were. Although to be honest, I'm not sure if the Gold Cup and Laurels were on a par with the World Final or Internationale. The big two individual meetings... and both won by Fundin. In fact, Fundin's hat-trick of Internationale wins from 1961-63, plus his superior record in the Golden Helmet Match Race again suggest that while the competition were not far behind, he had the slight edge from '56 to '63. Interestingly, I stumbled across a 1964 interview with Fundin the other day, when it was mentioned he thought he had lost his edge that year. He was talking about retirement and, of course, he did semi-retire after the closure of Norwich, which made some of subsequent achievements even more amazing. All the best Rob

I didn't think it was 'freak' conditions last night - the track held out remarkably well. The selection for the World Cup needs to be done on a horses-for-courses basis, so I would go for: Tai Woffinden Craig Cook Robert Lambert Danny King For me, the first three are the automatic choices, while King showed last night he is better around the NSS than either Nicholls or Harris. All the best Rob

Incorrect. Mark Loram won two Grand Prix rounds - one in 1997 and one in 1999. There's plenty of World Champions who never won a Grand Prix, but Mark Loram is not one of them. All the best Rob

Phone 01708 734502 and you'll be able to order a copy from Susie McDonald. All the best Rob

Fundin would have also been a contender in 1955 - he started scoring good points the moment that he was allowed to sign for Norwich, registered an average over 10.00 on tracks he didn't know, and finished on double figures in the World Final. Moore & Young would have been favourites for 1955, but Fundin and Briggs would have featured too. And I think it might have been a clean sweep from 1956 to 1963 for Fundin. Briggo was going well in 1958, but as well as Fundin? That's the year that Ove scored a 11.60 NL average. Briggo was flying at the time of the World Final in September, but Fundin was more consistent across the whole season. All the best Rob

But Ivan would have probably won in '71 and '75. Mauger was the major force until 1975. The only 'definite' year for Olsen would have been 1978. All the best Rob

I have to chuckle when people see conspiracy theories when there isn't one The quotes from Andreas in the Press Release were directly from his letter to the Scunthorpe promotion. Are you accusing the lad of being a liar? He never said he was quitting speedway; just that he had to quit the Scorpions, because he couldn't get the time off work to travel over to the UK. All the best Rob

Steve, no backlash since you're entitled to your opinion, and if you find the interview "fascinating", then I've done my job properly and not been too 'star struck' when speaking to one of my latter-day heroes. However, I would contest that Todd could be passed with ease. I remember him being anything but easy to pass, because of his trackcraft. For example, when they experimented with the six-lap Heat 15 (in 1999, I think it was), it came down to a last-heat decider and Todd kept Tony Rickardsson at bay for six laps, with Rickardsson up his exhaust pipe, but given no chance to get through. As The Doctor has mentioned, Oxford got the 'safety first' version of Todd, although that version in itself was still a tremendous rider. All the best Rob

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