ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL Scunthorpe Scorpions moved to the top of the Cab Direct Championship table with a 52-38 victory over the Oxford Cheetahs at the Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).

Connor Mountain fended off Oxford No 1 Sam Masters to win Heat 1, while there was a rare last place for Scorpions’ skipper Josh Pickering – his first unplaced ride for Scunthorpe all season.

Scorpions took control of the meeting with successive 5-1s from reserves Nathan Ablitt and Ryan Ingram in Heat 2 and Luke Harrison and Dan Gilkes in Heat 3. On his second appearance for Scorpions after his return from injury, Gilkes looked much sharper than the previous week.

Pickering showed his class by winning Heat 6 in 55.97 seconds – the fastest time set at the Eddie Wirght Raceway for a number of years.

Meanwhile, Oxford provided some resistance, while Heat 8 was a classic race. Mountain won a duel for first place with Luke Killeen, with Killeen and Ablitt then swapping places several times on the final lap in the battle for second, before Killeen snatched the verdict on the line. Scorpions took a 4-2, and then followed it up with another 5-1 from Gilkes and Harrison in Heat 9 and then a 4-2 from Pickering and Mountain in Heat 10.

Masters showed his class by winning the next three races, although he was lucky when race-leader Pickering suffered an engine failure in Heat 13.

Scorpions clinched victory with a 5-1 from Harrison and Ablitt in Heat 14, while Pickering and Harrison concluded the meeting with a 4-2 in an exciting Heat 15.

Luke Harrison top scored for Scorpions with 11+1, and said: “It’s been nice to get back to the form that I know that I can show around Scunthorpe the last couple of weeks, after a tough start of the season. I’m back on the top of the wave and I hope I can stay there.

“It was a good team performance tonight. Oxford put in a fight midway through the meeting, but we are a very strong side at home and it was good to extend our lead a bit more at the end of the meeting. We’ve got a buffer when we travel down there in August.

“A lot of people had their doubts over our side at the start of the year and we struggled at the beginning of the season. But we’ve really bonded as a team and the results have started to come our way. It’s great to see us at the top of the league and we just want to keep our form going and make sure we reach the play-offs.

“It’s going to be a tough match at home to Poole next Friday, but there’s no reason why we can’t beat them.”

SCUNTHORPE 52: Luke Harrison 11+1, Josh Pickering 9, Dan Gilkes 8+2, Connor Mountain 8, Nathan Ablitt 7+2, Michael Palm Toft 7, Ryan Ingram 2+1.

OXFORD 38: Sam Masters 16, Luke Killeen 5+2, Edward Kennett 5, Anders Rowe 5, Dayle Wood 4, Sam Hagon 2, Darryl Ritchings 1.

* ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL Scunthorpe Scorpions are back in action next Friday (July 17) at 7.30pm, when they host Poole Pirates at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway in further Cab Direct Championship action.

Photo Credits: Ian Rispin

Report by: Rob Peasley