Scunthorpe Speedway

13.09.09: Win sees Saints shoot to sixth place

The Jotun Paints Scunthorpe Saints ended their season in style with a 51-42 victory over the Newport Hornets at the Eddie Wright Raceway earlier today. The win took the side up two places to sixth in the National League, an achievement that very few had predicted for the least experienced team in the league. Leading the scoring for the second consecutive meeting, this time with fifteen points (plus two bonus points), was 15-year old Ashley Morris who has been a revelation in his last three meetings whilst Gary Irving was also in sensational form, going unbeaten until a fall in the final race. Pictured above are Morris (blue) and Irving (red) on their way to the match-winning 5-1 over Marc Owen (yellow) and Ryan Sedgmen (green) in heat 14

In a meeting full of outstanding racing the Saints opened up a 12-6 lead after three races with race wins from Simon Lambert, Ashley Morris and Gary Irving. Morris produced a sensational ride in heat 4 to pass Newport’s outstanding young prospect Marc Owen before rounding Grant Tregoning on the final pair of bends. It kept the gap at three and despite a nasty fall by James Sarjeant in heat 5 the gap was maintained by Irving’s heat win.

Heat 6 saw Kyle Howarth pass both Grant Tregoning and Simon Lambert on the first circuit but both worked their way back past him and the Saints had to settle for a 4-2 heat advantage. That was reversed in the next race when John MacPhail had to retire from the race but an incredible three-way battle between three fifteen year olds (Howarth, Morris and Owen) in heat 8 saw the Saints record a 5-1, when a blanket could have been thrown over the three as they crossed the line, and take the lead to ten points.

It was a surprise to many that Grant Tregoning wasn’t given a tactical ride by Newport in heat 9 but perhaps it was the correct decision as Gary Irving finally found a way past him on the final lap after another terrific duel. Simon Lambert and Kyle Howarth produced a relatively straightforward 5-1 in heat 10 but the Hornets then opted to use Tony Atkin as a tactical ride in the next race. He quickly worked his way to the front but Ashley Morris found a way past Shelby Rutherford at the end of the third lap and only just failed to catch the veteran before the line. Certainly one more circuit would have made it interesting.

After another win for Ashley Morris in heat 12 the Hornets recorded a 4-2 over Simon Lambert and Adam Wrathall to bring the scores back to 45-36 with two heats to go. The penultimate race certainly saw the Saints ride their luck as Morris, not for the first time, got twitchy at the start. The Hornets led from the tapes but the race was stopped and re-started and this time it produced a classic. Gary Irving worked his way from last to first over the first lap whilst Morris eventually got ahead of Ryan Sedgmen on the last lap after the pair raced side-by-side for a couple of laps. Then, quite incredibly, Morris blasted off the last bend to pip Marc Owen on the line for the second time. It gave the Saints a 5-1 and meant they had secured all three league points with a race to spare.

It was a good job because the previously unbeaten Gary Irving came to grief in the first running of heat 15 before Tony Atkin rounded Simon Lambert to join New Zealander Grant Tregoning for a Hornets’ 5-1 in the re-run. In some ways it was a shame Newport couldn’t take a point for their contribution to a fabulous meeting but Malcolm Vasey’s young charges were just too strong and it is going to be really interesting to see just how far the Saints can progress in 2010.

Five of the Saints’ side, Kyle Howarth, Ashley Morris, James Sarjeant, Adam Wrathall and Richard Franklin, who is expected to be fit in time, will line-up in opposition to each other at the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday week, 25th September (start time 7.30pm) in the British Under-18 Final but before then the Henderson Insurance Scunthorpe Scorpions are back in Premier League action at the raceway this Friday (18th September, 7.30pm) against the Stoke Potters.

Post meeting comments:

Malcolm Vasey:

Once again some tremendous performances have seen us polish off a good opposition side. In particular we had yet another great performance from Ashley Morris but some superb and exciting racing from Gary Irving and Simon Lambert again was absolutely pivotal to our performance. Once again though the whole team was good, I was so pleased to see James Sarjeant get up and walk away from a very nasty fall. Kyle Howarth was very aggressive today and picked up some very valuable points. You can name anybody in the team and say they did well apart from poor John MacPhail who injured a hand and had to be withdrawn from the meeting. He showed a lot of courage in his second ride, he'd been told to be more aggressive in the first turn and that's exactly what he did but unfortunately in doing so he damaged his hand but he'll live to fight another day I'm sure.

Scunthorpe Saints 51 – Simon Lambert 12 (5 rides), Kyle Howarth 7+1 (4), James Sarjeant 3+1 (4), Gary Irving 12 (5), Adam Wrathall 2 (4), John MacPhail 0 (2), Ashley Morris 15+2 (6)

Newport Hornets 42 – Tony Atkin 15+1 (5 rides including a six point tactical ride), Shelby Rutherford 2+1 (4), Sam Hurst 6+1 (4), Ryan Sedgmen 1 (4), Grant Tregoning 10 (5), Tom Young 1+1 (3), Marc Owen 7+1 (5)

1 Lambert, Atkin, Howarth, Rutherford, 60.10 4-2

Tony Atkin (green), Simon Lambert (red), Shelby Rutherford (yellow) and Kyle Howarth (blue) in Heat 1

2 Morris, Owen, Young, MacPhail (retired), 59.73 3-3 7-5

Ashley Morris (blue), Marc Owen (yellow), Tom Young (green) and John MacPhail (red) in Heat 2

3 Irving, Sarjeant, Hurst, Sedgmen (engine failure), 60.07 5-1 12-6

Ryan Sedgmen (yellow), Gary Irving (blue), James Sarjeant (red) and Sam Hurst (green) in Heat 3

4 Morris, Tregoning, Owen, Wrathall, 60.80 3-3 15-9
5 Irving, Atkin, Rutherford, Sarjeant (fell, excluded), awarded no time 3-3 18-12

Gary Irving (blue), Tony Atkin (green), James Sarjeant (red) and Shelby Rutherford (yellow) in Heat 5

James Sarjeant falls in Heat 5

6 Lambert, Tregoning, Howarth, Young, 60.17 4-2 22-14
7 Hurst, Wrathall, Sedgmen, MacPhail (retired), 61.18 2-4 24-18

Adam Wrathall (red) and Ryan Sedgmen (yellow) in Heat 7

8 Howarth, Morris, Owen, Rutherford, 60.21 5-1 29-19

Ashley Morris (blue), Kyle Howarth (red) and Marc Owen (yellow) in Heat 8

9 Irving, Tregoning, Sarjeant, Young, 59.32 4-2 33-21

James Sarjeant (red), Grant Tregoning (green), Gary Irving (blue) and Tom Young (yellow) in Heat 9

10 Lambert, Howarth, Hurst, Sedgmen, 59.14 5-1 38-22
11 Atkin (tactical ride), Morris, Rutherford, Wrathall, 59.25 2-7 40-29
12 Morris, Owen, Hurst, Sarjeant, 58.76 3-3 43-32

Shelby Rutherford (yellow), Tony Atkin (black and white), Adam Wrathall (red) and Ashley Morris (blue) in Heat 12

13 Atkin, Lambert, Tregoning, Wrathall, 58.24 2-4 45-36
14 Irving, Morris, Owen, Sedgmen, 58.89 5-1 50-37
15 (re-run) Tregoning, Atkin, Lambert, Irving (fell, excluded), 59.01 1-5 51-42

League Points: Scunthorpe 3, Newport 0