Workington speedway facing tough task after Scunthorpe loss
Last updated 11:21, Saturday, 04 October 2008
Scunthorpe Scorpions 51 Workington Comets 39: Scunthorpe's management team wanted eight to 10 points to bring to Workington tonight for the second leg of their Young Shield tie.
With that in mind, last night’s win on their home track will be something of a bonus as they won by 12 points.
The Scorpions had actually raced into an eight point lead inside three heats so in some ways the Comets did well to restrict them to just a further four more to their overall lead in the races that followed.
Workington were always going to be up against it with skipper Kauko Nieminen missing after breaking his collar-bone on Monday.
They used the rider replacement facility for Nieminen’s four programmed rides and only earned them six points. The in-form Finn could easily have doubled that if he had been riding.
It will be the same at Derwent Park tonight where the Comets will endeavour to overturn the deficit and make the semi-finals of the competition.
Guest Tomas Topinka only managed third place in his opening ride but he came back strongly to finish with 15 points from his six outings. But without Nieminen the Comets lacked sufficient back-up fire-power as Charles Wright, Joe Haines and Carl Stonehewer all struggled.
Topinka won four races but the only other Workington successes were by Tomi Reima and Wright.
There couldn’t have been a better start for the Scorpions as they took a 5-1 in the opener after Richard Hall and Emiliano Sanchez had out-gated Topinka and Wright.
There was a 4-2 in the next for Scunthorpe with Ben Powell getting away from Reima with John Branney re-mounting after a fall on the final bend.
The eight-point advantage requested by the management team was confirmed in heat three with another 4-2 for the hosts.
Karlsson got past Stonehewer on the final bend of the first lap and Viktor Bergstrom got past Haines at the same point, a lap later.
John Branney touched the tapes in heat four and Reima came in.
The Finn gated well and after brief pressure from Carl Wilkinson he pulled away to win nicely gap between them, but with Stoney out the back the points were shared.
The Comets pair of Topinka and Wright gated well in heat five but a possible 5-1 became a 4-2 when Karlsson got past the second string on the third bend.
The lead was back up to eight for Scunthorpe after Richard Hall got away after a good gate and Stonehewer managed to hold off Sanchez with Reima at the back.
It just wasn’t Joe Haines’ night, back on his old track and he was left on the line with engine failure in heat seven. Fortunately Topinka was in positive mood and he passed Powell at the start of lap two and was never headed again.
Workington’s hopes were raised in heat eight where Wright and Branney raced to the Comets’ only 5-1 of the night.
Bergstrom beat Stonehewer and Reima in the next to leave Workington just four points adrift.
There was a disaster in heat ten when Wright came in as a rider replacement and was excluded for lifting out of bend two on the second lap. He went down but was okay. In the re-run Hall and Sanchez easily beat the out of touch Haines.
Topinka won heat eleven and with Branney replacing Wright and doing enough to beat Powell the 4-2 cut the deficit to just six points.
Branney took the rider replacement in heat twelve and his third place was a valuable one after Karlsson had flown. Reima took second so the shared points kept Workington in the hunt.
The Scunthorpe pair gated well in heat thirteen but Topinka came back to get round Wilkinson but he couldn’t catch Hall and the gap was back to eight.
With Haines suffering more mechanical problems and Branney out-gunned by Bergstrom and Powell, the Comets were in danger of undoing all the good work they had carried-out in getting back into the contest as they conceded a 5-1 in the penultimate race.
Topinka rode superbly in the final race to win well but Reima was out of the points in a shared heat.
MATCH FACTS
Scunthorpe 51: Richard Hall 14; Emiliano Sanchez 5; Magnus Karlsson 9; Viktor Bergstrom 7; Carl Wilkinson 7; Ben Powell 6; Byron Bekker 3.
Workington 39: Tomas Topinka 15; Charles Wright 4; rider replacement for Kauko Nieminen; Joe Haines 1, Carl Stonehewer 6; Tomi Reima 8; John Branney 5.
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