LEAGUE LEADERS Ellie Rose Travel Scunthorpe Scorpions hand a club debut to new signing Jacob Hook when they travel in the Cab Direct Championship to Oxford tomorrow evening (Wednesday, August 5) at 7.30pm.
The Australian has been signed for Scorpions in place of the unlucky Dan Gilkes, who suffered a collarbone injury in a Team Great Britain training session at Glasgow. Hook was declared in Scunthorpe’s side just before their transfer window slammed shut for the season.
Hook came over from Australia to ride for Edinburgh in the 2022 Championship. He started off in both Edinburgh teams in 2023, but he was then dropped from the senior side and snapped up by Berwick. He moved to Plymouth in 2024 and Workington last season, but left without a team place this year, until Scorpions pounced.
The positions at the top of the Cab Direct Championship are very tight, with Scunthorpe (on superior race points) and Edinburgh on 17 points, just ahead of Poole and Glasgow on 16 points. The clubs have ridden a different number of fixtures, but nevertheless are the four favourites to reach the end-of-season play-offs, which will determine the Cab Direct Championship league title.
Scunthorpe head into the meeting at Oxford following a 52-38 victory over the Cheetahs at the Eddie Wright Raceway on July 10, so an aggregate bonus point is up for grabs.
Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey says: “We definitely want the aggregate point out of the meeting, but we’re travelling down to Oxford chasing a win.”
Expected teams for tomorrow (Wednesday):
SD Timmo Car Sales Oxford Cheetahs: 1. Sam Masters (C), 2. Luke Killeen, 3. Edward Kennett, 4. Mitch McDiarmid, 5. Anders Rowe, 6. Dayle Wood, 7. Darryl Ritchings.
Ellie Rose Travel Scunthorpe Scorpions: 1. Josh Pickering (C), 2. Connor Mountain, 3. Jacob Hook, 4. Michael Palm Toft, 5. Luke Harrison,, 6. Ryan Ingram, 7. Nathan Ablitt.
* ELLIE ROSE TRAVEL Scunthorpe Scorpions are currently in the middle of a four-week break in home fixtures. The next action at the Eddie Wright Raceway is on Friday, August 21 at 7.30pm, when they host Workington Comets in the Cab Direct Championship.
PHOTO BY IAN RISPIN
