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14.03.2020 Ben Fund Bonanza, Scunthorpe


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SCUNTHORPE promoter Rob Godfrey is urging supporters to attend the Ben Fund Bonanza at the Eddie Wright Raceway this Saturday (March 14th) at 2pm.

Godfrey is also chairman of the British Speedway Promoters’ Association and he is fully aware of the good work that the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund charity does in assisting both short-term and, in particular, long-term injured speedway riders.

Godfrey says: “The Ben Fund Bonanza has played a pivotal role in fund-raising for the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund for many years and we are delighted to be hosting the event for the second time on Saturday.

“I will do everything to ensure that the riders will have a track surface on which they can provide some first-rate racing for everyone to enjoy.

“In a way, however, that’s almost secondary to the real reason for the Bonanza – and that’s to raise as much money as we can to swell the coffers of the Ben Fund and assist Paul Ackroyd and his team with the fantastic work they do in helping injured riders and their families in their hour of need.

“Personally, I don’t think the Ben Fund team sing their own praises enough and I can refer you all to a story that Paul told me recently that aptly sums up the good work they do.

“At Christmas, Paul found himself arranging for a specialist bed to be delivered to an ex-rider who had found himself in difficulty”, Godfrey explains.

“The hospital wouldn’t release him to go home because he didn’t have this particular type of bed, so Paul was straight on the phone, and he managed to source the correct bed and he got it delivered so the ex-rider, a former second-halver, could actually be home again in time for Christmas Day.

“This story absolutely typifies the type of work the Ben Fund does, a lot of which seems to go under the radar of publicity.

“You’ve got the disabled riders who occasionally need upgrades to their houses to make their lives more comfortable and the Ben Fund team – and we should say team, because it is a team – facilitates that and makes things happen.

“More recently, and something especially close to our hearts at Scunthorpe, we’ve had the Danny Ayres tragedy. The Ben Fund were straight onto help Danny’s family with the funeral and to be there to offer support, and they continue to do that.”

Saturday’s meeting will be the eleventh staging of the Ben Fund Bonanza and the second time the event has been held at Scunthorpe.

Admission prices are £20 adults, £15 concessions, £10 for children aged 12-16 and under 12s go free.

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THE brand-new speedway season gets underway at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway on Saturday afternoon (2pm), with the highly-prestigious Ben Fund Bonanza, sponsored by the Sheffield Window Centre.

The Bonanza raises funds for the vitally important Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund charity, which provides money for both short-term and long-term injured riders, as well as offering them other crucial support when needed.

It is the first of two big individual meetings that kick off the 16th season of racing at the North Lincolnshire track, with the Josh Auty testimonial following on Sunday, March 22nd at 3pm.

The Ben Fund Bonanza will have two very special guests.

Sam Norris was fighting for his life on a life-support machine last June, after a serious accident at Glasgow left him in a coma. The Suffolk rider was just 15 at the time of his accident. He’s now back on a bike and is taking his GCSEs this year, while he will be making the presentations to the riders on Saturday.

Ricky Ashworth is making his first return to the Eddie Wright Raceway, since his life-changing accident during a Scunthorpe v Berwick clash in August 2013 that left him a coma for 91 days. The Salford-born rider spent most of his career riding for Sheffield Tigers. It is bound to be an emotional return for Ricky on Saturday.

The Ben Fund has not only provided vital help and support to both Sam and Ricky and other injured riders, but has also assisted the family of Danny Ayres, the tragic Scunthorpe Scorpion who lost his battle with mental health at the start of February.

Organiser and Ben Fund secretary Paul Ackroyd said: “It’s more important than ever for people to support the Ben Fund meeting this season.

“Sheffield Window Centre are the meeting sponsors, and Ian Hunter was telling me he’s in awe of the good work done by the fund. He loves speedway and tells me we’re one of the most credible aspects of the entire sport.”

Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey is proud to be staging the Bonanza at Scunthorpe for a second time – Dane Hans Andersen won the 2011 event at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

Godfrey, who is also the chairman for British Speedway, said: “This is such an important event for British Speedway and I’m delighted to be holding it at Scunthorpe.

“People may think the Ben Fund just dish out a bit of money here and there to riders who have been injured and all they do is send out a few cheques now and again, but it is so much more than that.

“There’s the incredible support that they gave to Ricky Ashworth after his crash in 2013, plus the same with young Sam Norris last year.

“More recently, we’ve had the Danny Ayres tragedy, which knocked the whole of British Speedway for six, including us all at Scunthorpe Speedway. The Ben Fund were straight into contact with Danny’s family, to help out financially and to be there to offer ongoing support.

“It doesn’t matter what age or what standard a rider is, or was, the Ben Fund is there to help.”

An attractive line-up features former British Champion Danny King, plus a wealth of riders with international experience.

A quartet of Scunthorpe Scorpions are on display: Josh Auty, Thomas Jorgensen, Tero Aarnio and Simon Lambert.

Admission prices are £20 adults, £15 concessions, £10 for children aged 12-16 and under 12s go free. A souvenir programme is available for £4.

2020 BEN FUND BONANZA LINE-UP:

Josh Auty, James Wright, Aaron Summers, Ben Barker, Steve Worrall, Danny King, Lewis Kerr, Tom Bacon, Paul Starke, Tero Aarnio, Thomas Jorgensen, Connor Mountain, Andreas Jensen, Anders Rowe, Simon Lambert, Kasper Andersen.

Edited by lucifer sam
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Has an actual speedway official honestly just said this in a press release? 

"In a few years time people will have forgotten about Danny (Ayres) and his family, Ricky (Ashworth) and Garry (Stead) but the Ben Fund won’t. And like all the paraplegics from speedway in the country they will be looked after on a regular basis."

Absolutely disgraceful.

http://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.37968

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58 minutes ago, crescent girl said:

James will be riding for Newcastle, do keep up. 

I think that anyone wanting to see speedway should be at Scunny tomorrow, it might be the only meeting any of us see live for three months!!!!!! 

I think more people will go for this reason than us fans being guilt tripped to go because we’ll soon ‘forget’ about Ayres, Ashworth & Stead.  

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Unfortunately being based here in the south it’s a long trip to the Bonanza. I don’t begrudge the entrance money though so I decided to pay for entry and save on fuel!

it was easy to do by pressing the ‘DONATE’ button on the SRBF website here........

http://www.srbf.co.uk/

according to the Press release today Danny Ayers wanted to add 100 people to the gate so maybe if you can’t make it but want to support it you might consider doing similar.... it’s a great time to support their efforts and help achieve Danny’s dream!

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13 hours ago, Islander15 said:

I think more people will go for this reason than us fans being guilt tripped to go because we’ll soon ‘forget’ about Ayres, Ashworth & Stead.  

I really hope so as the BEN fund Meeting is a fantastic worthy event. Sadly attendance will no doubt be affected.

The BSPA statement about Ayers Ashworth & Stead etc was stupid, Insensitive and disgraceful...whoever wrote it should be ashamed. 

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2 minutes ago, Speedtiger said:

I really hope so as the BEN fund Meeting is a fantastic worthy event. Sadly attendance will no doubt be affected.

The BSPA statement about Ayers Ashworth & Stead etc was stupid, Insensitive and disgraceful...whoever wrote it should be ashamed. 

It wasn’t a bspa statement it was from the organisation who run the Ben fund 

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1 minute ago, nw42 said:

Meeting just been plugged on Talksport, well done to whoever contacted them, hope it helps add to the gate.

Well done to Charlie Baker, just a shame Max Rushden brushed it off so he could talk about Russian football :rolleyes:

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21 hours ago, JCookie said:

Has an actual speedway official honestly just said this in a press release? 

"In a few years time people will have forgotten about Danny (Ayres) and his family, Ricky (Ashworth) and Garry (Stead) but the Ben Fund won’t. And like all the paraplegics from speedway in the country they will be looked after on a regular basis."

Absolutely disgraceful.

http://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.37968

The message is correct about the work of the Ben Fund and continuing support to riders in the years following tragic events but it's just very badly worded and a bit too specific. It's a fine line between getting it right and getting it wrong and sadly they hit the latter here.

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