SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS 49 POOLE PIRATES 41 (Cab Direct Championship Grand Final, first leg)
IN front of a bumper crowd, Ellie Rose Travel Scunthorpe Scorpions built up an eight-point lead, after a 49-41 victory over reigning champions Poole Pirates in the first leg of the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final at Scunthorpe’s Eddie Wright Raceway last night (Friday).
The second leg takes place at Poole’s Wimborne Road on Wednesday (October 7) and the aggregate winners will be crowned Cab Direct Championship league champions. Scunthorpe are seeking their first league championship since 2012.
Scunthorpe got off to a fantastic start at the EWR and flew into a 23-13 lead after six races. Poole reduced that deficit to just four points with two heats to go, but Scorpions closed out the meeting with two 4-2s to leave everything to race for in the second leg.
There was exciting racing from the moment that Scunthorpe skipper Josh Pickering came through from last to second to join Connor Mountain for a 5-1 in Heat 2, while 16-year-old Ryan Ingram commenced a highly productive evening by passing Slater Lightcap to win Heat 2.
Scorpions extended their lead to eight points when teenage pair Ablitt and Luke Harrison took a 5-1 over the highly experienced Richard Lawson in Heat 4.
Michael Palm Toft won his second successive race by overtaking William Cairns to win Heat 5. Connor Mountain won a great battle with Lightcap for third place in Heat 6, after a daring run around the outside the outside, to join Pickering for a 4-2, as Scorpions moved ten points ahead.
Harrison won Heat 7, while Nathan Ablitt battled hard, but was pipped to third place on the final lap by Cooper Rushen.
There was controversy in Heat 8, when Carins got away with warming his tyre before the race – a heat that he won. Ingram was in the thick of the action and moved from second to first to third, before thrusting inside Lightcap with a lap remaining. There was contact and Lightcap drifted wide and also lost third to Mountain. The American was unhappy and gestured towards Ingram after the race.
Meanwhile, referee Michael Breckon failed to take any post-race action when notified of Cairns’ tyre-warming – which happened right under his nose by the start-line.
Palm Toft breezed around Lawson to maintain his unbeaten status in Heat 9, before Pickering dropped his only point in Heat 10. He went too wide on the fourth bend of the opening lap – seeking a path around Cooper Rushen – and bounced off the fence. ‘Picko’ recovered from fourth to second and closed in Rushen, while Pirates took a 4-2 – their first heat advantage of the evening.
Harrison dropped his first point when he has overtaken by Zach Cook in Heat 11, but Ingram held back Cairns to ensure a 3-3. Neither Ablitt nor Jacob Hook were enjoyed a good evening and Pirates took a 5-1 over them in Heat 12 to close the gap to four points.
Pickering showed his class to fight past Cook in a battle for first place in Heat 13. Rushen led for most of Heat 14, but Palm Toft squeezed between the Poole youngster and the fence with a lap remaining, and the Dynamic pocket-sized Dane won his fourth successive outing. With Ingram in third, Scorpions took their first heat advantage since Heat 6.
The concluding Heat 15 was all-action in the early stages. Pickering stormed around the outside from fourth to first, while Palm Toft flew inside Lawson early on lap two. Seeking a paid maximum, Palm Toft closed in on Cook. The Australian slammed the door on Palm Toft’s outside move on the final bend. The Dane cut to the inside, but Cook held on, as the meeting concluded with a second successive 4-2 to Scorpions.
Pickering top-scored for Scunthorpe with 13+1, while Palm Toft totted up 13 points. Ingram (10+1), Harrison (7+1) and Mountain (5+1) all won races and a Scorpion took the chequered flag in 11 of the 15 heats.
Scorpions’ team manager David Howe said: “I said to the lads in a team talk during the meeting that the thing about Poole is they keep coming at you.
“I’m still fuming at Heat 8 with the tyre warming situation. Things like that can swing meetings around. I thought was pretty disgusting, to be honest.
“We had plenty of heat winners but not quite enough heat advantages. We’ve got a bit of a lead and it is what it is.”
SCUNTHORPE 49: Josh Pickering 13+1, Michael Palm Toft 13, Ryan Ingram 10+1, Luke Harrison 7+1, Connor Mountain 5+1, Nathan Ablitt 1, Jacob Hook 0.
POOLE 41: Zach Cook 8+1, Cooper Rushen 7+2, Lewis Kerr 7+1, Richard Lawson 6+1, Slater Lightcap 6+1, Will Cairns 6, Kyle Newman 1+1.
* THE second and concluding leg of the 2026 Cab Direct Championship Grand Final takes place at Poole in Dorset on Wednesday (October 7), and the aggregate winners will be crowned as league champions.
PHOTOS BY IAN RISPIN
