Scunthorpe V Workington - Tuesday, April 30th (premier League) (7.30pm) Live On Sky Sports

[lucifer sam]

SCORPIONS AIM TO SHINE IN FRONT OF TV CAMERAS

 

HENDERSON INSURANCE Scunthorpe Scorpions have a big date on Tuesday (April 30th), as they feature in a televised Premier League fixture against the Workington Comets in front of the Sky Sports cameras at the Eddie Wright Raceway (7.30pm)

 

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey sees it as a big opportunity for the club.

 

He said: “We’re the reigning Premier League champions, and we have the best track in the Premier League - we’ve been voted that three times in recent years.

 

“This is a great chance to showcase the racing we see every week at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

 

“Nine times out of ten we get an excellent meeting here. Every meeting this year has been a good one – our last meeting (a 45-45 draw against Ipswich) was an absolute belter, although it would have been an even better one had we scored another 3 or 4 points!

 

“Around Scunthorpe, it’s not the first guy out of the gate who always wins. We want to give a good account of ourselves, and also do the whole of the Premier League proud.”

 

Godfrey has cut adult admission to £10 for the meeting – and is expectant of a large crowd at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

 

He added: “It’s a big thing for the town of Scunthorpe to get on live television.

 

“It’s not often you get to see your home town on TV – whether it’s a sporting event or whatever. People can come along and get their faces on television.

 

“We packed the place last time we were on Sky against Sheffield in 2009. It’s a novelty, so people who might not usually attend tend to come out and see what it’s all about.

 

“The cut admission is all part of that, to encourage more people along and give the speedway a go. People can have a good night out, watch some cracking sporting action, have a chance to get their face on the TV, and it’s only going to cost them a tenner.”

 

Tuesday is Scunthorpe’s second home Premier League meeting of 2013. After being held to a draw by Ipswich, Godfrey is hopeful of a better result against the Comets.

 

He admits: “The season hasn’t kicked off as we would have liked it to. But there’s a long way to go – we’ve only ridden one league meeting out of twenty-four.

 

“Workington are a quality side. They’ve had some good meetings here, and put us out of the Knockout Cup last season. It should be a great meeting, but we would like to take all three league points.

 

“Our top five is as strong as anyone in the league. Our vulnerability is at reserve – we lost Gary Irving to retirement around a month before the season. Ryan Douglas and Josh Bates are giving it their all.

 

“Ryan had a poor meeting against Ipswich. He will become a top rider – I have no doubts about that at all. It’s just a case of when he takes off – it could be next week against the Comets, it could be later in the season.

 

“Josh Bates has been thrown in at the deep end. He may not have scored a lot of points, but he’s ridden he socks off for the club.”

 

A team change sees David Howe and Thomas Jørgensen switch places for the second time in 2013.

 

Godfrey confirmed: “David moves back to No 5, and Thomas the opposite way back to No 2.

 

“David feels he can get more out of Heat 13 than Thomas, where he can bring his experience to bear.

 

“A few weeks ago, David was still finding his feet after his injuries last season. He didn’t want the responsibility of Heat 13, but now he’s asked for that responsibility back – he said he’ll go out and get the points when we need them.

 

“Thomas had a couple of last places in Heat 1 at home at the start of the season, but traditionally it’s a race he’s done well in. The riders themselves wanted to switch back, and we’ve gone along with it.”

 

Workington have had a few recent injury problems. Chris Mills is out with a broken wrist, sustained in a freak post-meeting accident at Derwent Park. In-from Redcar reserve Mickey Dyer takes his place.

 

Comets’ No 1 Richard Lawson crashed out at Birmingham on Wednesday. He was ruled out of Workington’s 35-55 defeat at Ipswich on Thursday.

 

Workington have a number of riders who can perform very well at the Eddie Wright Raceway, most notably former Scorpion Tero Aarnio.

 

Teams for Tuesday (English unless stated):

 

Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Josh Auty, 2. Thomas Jørgensen (Denmark), 3. Michael Palm Toft (Denmark), 4. Ashley Birks, 5. David Howe, 6. Josh Bates, 7. Ryan Douglas (Australia).

 

Workington Comets (expected): 1. Richard Lawson (if fit), 2. Tero Aarnio (Finland), 3. Rusty Harrison (Australia), 4. Kyle Howarth, 5. Rene Bach (Denmark), 6. Ashley Morris, 7. Mickey Dyer (guest) (Australia).

 

Special reduced admission prices for this meeting:

All Adults: £10.00

Child (10 - 16): £5.00

Child (0 - 9) Free (accompanied by paying adult)

Family Ticket £25 (2 adults, 2 Children 10-16)

Match Programme: £1.00

 

 

Workington Comets at EWR

 

Ave Ave Best

Name Lge M R Pts BP (no BP) (w BP) Performance

Tero Aarnio PL 39 178 325 33 7.30 8.04 14 + 1 from 5 rides (2010)

Rene Bach PL 4 17 24 6 5.65 7.06 7 + 3 from 4 rides (2012)

Rusty Harrison PL 6 20 25 2 5.00 5.40 9 from 5 rides (2012)

Kyle Howarth PL 4 23 17 2 2.96 3.30 6 + 1 from 7 rides (2011)

Richard Lawson PL 8 33 45 5 5.45 6.06 12 + 1 from 5 rides (2012)

Ashley Morris PL 3 13 10 2 3.08 3.69 4 + 1 from 4 rides (2012)

 

Other Notes

 

Tero Aarnio

Former Scunthorpe Scorpion.

Twice Finnish Under-21 Champion in 2004 and 2005.

Has ridden in two Speedway World Cup events.

 

Rene Bach

Member of Denmark's World Under-21 Team Cup Winning Team in 2011.

Winner of 2010 Danish Under-21 Championship.

Member of Newcastle's Premier Trophy, KO Cup and Play-Off Winning Teams in 2010.

Member of Workington's 2012 Premier League Pairs Winning Duo.

 

Rusty Harrison

2003 South Australian State Champion.

2001 Australian Under-21 Champion.

Twice Australian and South Australian State Under-16 Champion (1995/1997).

Member of Workington's Premier League Fours Winning Teams in 2001, 2004 and 2006.

Member of Workington's Young Shield Winning Team in 2010.

Member of Belle Vue's Elite League KO Cup Winning Team in 2005.

 

Kyle Howarth

Rode for the Scunthorpe Saints in 2009 National League.

Finished Runner-up in this season's British Under-21 Championship.

Named as a 'doubling-up' rider with Poole for the 2013 Elite League Season.

 

Richard Lawson

Member of Workington's Premier League Fours Winning Team in 2009.

Member of Workington's Young Shield Winning Team in 2010.

Named as a 'doubling-up' rider with Lakeside for the 2013 Elite League Season.

 

Ashley Morris

2009 British Under-15 Champion.

Member of Edinburgh's Premier League Championship Winning Team in 2010.

Member of Dudley's National League Shield and Four-Team Championship Winning Teams in 2011.

Member of Dudley's National League Shield Winning Team in 2012.

Rode for the Scunthorpe Saints in 2009 National League.

Will captain Dudley in this season's National League.

 

Workington Comets' 2013 Results

 

30 March 2013 CH H W Workington 51 Newcastle 42

31 March 2013 CH A L Workington 40 Newcastle 54 (On agg:- L 91 - 96)

06 April 2013 LC H W Workington 56 Redcar 39

11 April 2013 LC A L Workington 44 Redcar 45

13 April 2013 LC H W Workington 47 Newcastle 43

18 April 2013 PL A L Workington 46 Sheffield 47

20 April 2013 PL H W Workington 62 Sheffield 33

21 April 2013 LC A L Workington 40 Newcastle 53

 

Workington Comets' Results at EWR

 

09 May 2008 PL L Scunthorpe 47 Workington 43

03 October 2008 YS L Scunthorpe 51 Workington 39

03 July 2009 PL L Scunthorpe 51 Workington 39

20 June 2010 PL L Scunthorpe 56 Workington 36

22 October 2010 YS S/F L Scunthorpe 47 Workington 43

15 April 2011 PL W Scunthorpe 44 Workington 46

18 May 2012 KOC W Scunthorpe 44 Workington 46

03 August 2012 PL L Scunthorpe 49 Workington 40

07 October 2012 PLPO SF L Scunthorpe 62 Workington 28

 

(starts courtesy of John Eyre)

Edited April 26, 2013 by lucifer sam

[IronScorpion]

Rob has stated that we are weak at reserve, & it looks obvious to the supporters, that if they gate, they can win but i have not seen or read of many overtakes by our reserves. I can see things in Ryan that he could be a good rider but just needs to learn different racing lines as we know the outside is, generally, the quickest at the EWR.

 

He says he can't make changes until the new greensheets come out! Why? Other teams have! He has the option of redeclaring his team changing riders as he has 1.3 points to play with. Maybe he is waiting for the new sheets as Ryan is riding to about 3.6 which would give a difference of 1.4 from his assessed 5, 1.3 to the max limit of 42.5 for the team & Josh Bates(sorry Josh but i think it is just too soon for you in the PL) 3.0 giving 5.7 for a new rider. This would bring MPT down to reserve. This would be my change.

Edited April 27, 2013 by IronScorpion

[Shadders]

Hopefully the much vaunted "best race track in the league" lives up to it's reputation.

[Fozzie4388]

Hopefully they've sorted the gates out.

[Shadders]

Hopefully they've sorted the gates out.

Fingers crossed. Looking forward to this

[mikebaker]

With Dyer guesting for the injured Chris Mills, this should be a tough test for the reigning champions. Micky is by far the best reserve in the Premier League at the moment. Edinburgh should of built their team with Micky and Tabaka starting at reserve.

[Lord Lucan]

Definitely hope the Comets can put up as good a show for this match as we did tonight, we will certainly need to against a pretty good Scunny side!!

 

Having Micky Dyer in again could be a big help for us at reserve to take advantage of what is being stated as a, "weak" home pairing, lets hope they are then when we get there!!

[Bezza]

Out of interest, is there anyone filming meetings at Scunthorpe this year?

I would be interested in getting hold of a copy of the Ipswich meeting.

Bezza

[Brady]

Good to see scunny have reduced admission.

[eric i]

Rob has stated that we are weak at reserve, & it looks obvious to the supporters, that if they gate, they can win but i have not seen or read of many overtakes by our reserves. I can see things in Ryan that he could be a good rider but just needs to learn different racing lines as we know the outside is, generally, the quickest at the EWR.

 

He says he can't make changes until the new greensheets come out! Why? Other teams have! He has the option of redeclaring his team changing riders as he has 1.3 points to play with. Maybe he is waiting for the new sheets as Ryan is riding to about 3.6 which would give a difference of 1.4 from his assessed 5, 1.3 to the max limit of 42.5 for the team & Josh Bates(sorry Josh but i think it is just too soon for you in the PL) 3.0 giving 5.7 for a new rider. This would bring MPT down to reserve. This would be my change.

I think I would make changes now, Emiliano Sanchez for Dougles, tom young for Bates. The way rolling averages work, from the 1st of may our top 5 will have all upped their averages totaling 34.01, leaving 8.49 for our final 2 riders. If Ryan is riding at 3.6 that only leaves about 4.89 for a final rider and that means MPT will still ride in the main body of the team.

[Arson fire]

Can you change an assessed rider??

[bullet]

Can you change an assessed rider??

 

If I remember correctly an assessed rider gets a new average after 3 home and away but cannot be replaced till after 6 home and away

[Shadders]

Edinburgh should of built their team with Micky and Tabaka starting at reserve.

Don't think young Michael is welcome at Armadale after last years misdemeanours.

[stratton]

 

I think I would make changes now, Emiliano Sanchez for Dougles, tom young for Bates. The way rolling averages work, from the 1st of may our top 5 will have all upped their averages totaling 34.01, leaving 8.49 for our final 2 riders. If Ryan is riding at 3.6 that only leaves about 4.89 for a final rider and that means MPT will still ride in the main body of the team.

Strange why would you drop Douglas? surely Dyer is a example that it takes a while to settle.Maybe Bates it was too soon but Young is not as quick as him so would do no better.I believe the top 5 have not clicked as a unit yet if they had you maybe would not even mention the reserves as much.

[Taylorj]

Looking forward to travelling over on the Worky supporters bus to make some noise, think both teams will put on a cracker for Sky and the viewers. Scunny is a track we sometimes do quite well at so lets hope Tuesday is our night . Stay safe boys and best of luck , come on Comets lets take the sting out of the Scorpions tail

[eric i]

Strange why would you drop Douglas? surely Dyer is a example that it takes a while to settle.Maybe Bates it was too soon but Young is not as quick as him so would do no better.I believe the top 5 have not clicked as a unit yet if they had you maybe would not even mention the reserves as much.

 

I agree riders do need time to settle in, but have scunny got that time. If scunny had gary Irving at reserve we would be ok but as it is we have got two reserves that need time to settle in and its costing us crucial points in the race for the playoffs. The top 5 have been pulling their weight just look at the ipswitch match.

Edited April 28, 2013 by eric i

[montie]

 

I think I would make changes now, Emiliano Sanchez for Dougles, tom young for Bates. The way rolling averages work, from the 1st of may our top 5 will have all upped their averages totaling 34.01, leaving 8.49 for our final 2 riders. If Ryan is riding at 3.6 that only leaves about 4.89 for a final rider and that means MPT will still ride in the main body of the team.

 

By the time averages change mpt will have lost his poor scores from start of last year and added this years decent start to his fantastic run at end of last year so to think of MPT at reserve is not going to happen

 

Tom young has just be replace by KL NL team because of work commitments so that ain't happening either

 

Plus....to think of dropping Ryan after so few is mindless,don't forget he's only been on speedway just over a year and is riding with a fractured thumb,give him a bloody chance

 

Add in you can't drop an assessed rider....

[IronScorpion]

I believe the top 5 have not clicked as a unit yet if they had you maybe would not even mention the reserves as much.

 

A true quote but they are performing better than the reserves, & duly so. Top reserves that are making the difference are Blackbird, Heeps, Kerr & Dyer. Just a few mentioned but they are genuine 8pt NL riders who deserve their PL places.

 

The gates are sorted as gate 3 had most wins in the last meeting.(Though i disagree using gate wins as a rule-it's to the 1st corner that gates count)

 

New averages are given out to assessed riders after 4 home/4 away unless things have changed, if i remember correctly.

[stratton]

 

 

I agree riders do need time to settle in, but have scunny got that time. If scunny had gary Irving at reserve we would be ok but as it is we have got two reserves that need time to settle in and its costing us crucial points in the race for the playoffs. The top 5 have been pulling their weight just look at the ipswitch match.

Even with Irving this top 5 certainly away would still not be where they want to be at the moment.The great thing is all of the top 5 all have improvement in them and i think they will get in the playoffs.

[eric i]

Even with Irving this top 5 certainly away would still not be where they want to be at the moment.The great thing is all of the top 5 all have improvement in them and i think they will get in the playoffs.

 

Your right about the top 5, I hope your right about the playoffs.