MORE HISTORY IN THE MAKING

The history book pages continue to be written as Poole head to Scunthorpe on Friday night. 

Just as they made their maiden appearance at Kent on Tuesday,  the Pirates' visit to the Eddie Wright Raceway on Friday marks another first for the Dorset side. 

Whilst speedway first arrived in North Lincolnshire 50 years ago at Quibell Park and is now into its third different venue, there has not been a meeting of the two clubs until now. For whilst they both had teams in the 1985 National League, as Mervyn Stewkesbury moved his Weymouth operation to Wimborne Road, the, then named, Stags were forced to withdraw after just nine meetings, riding their last meeting on May 13th and before the two teams had a chance to race against each other. 

But the scene is set for third placed SGB Championship side, Scunthorpe who boast a 100% home league record this term, to welcome the Pirates who have achieved league reward in all but one of their five treks so far this season.  

The Scorpions whose only blemish at their Normanby Road venue in 2021 came  at the hands of Leicester in the KO cup, snapped up two riders that the Pirates had originally signed this year, Adam Ellis and Josh MacDonald, but were prevented for doing so due to regulatory changes. MacDonald had to be released to accommodate the Rising Star scheme introduced that has brought the impressive Danyon Hume into Pirate colours, whilst Ellis was expected to be riding for Swindon which would have precluded him from riding in multiple leagues under Polish restrictions.  

"It is ironic that we will be up against both Josh and Adam but neither of them have a point to prove against us as had there been a season then they would have both been 2020 Pirates. As it is, we have an equally determined crop of riders who have been doing us proud this season and we will be heading up there keen to bring a result back, but know we will need to be at our best to achieve that." admitted Poole boss Dan Ford.  

For the third time this season Gary Havelock will be in control of team matters for the Pirates, having been on hand when the Pirates lost at Glasgow.  

Effectively, his hands were very much tied that night, when Poole were forced to ride the meeting without their recognised number one Rory Schlein who sustained an opening heat injury, but Havvy resumes managerial duties after masterminding last weekend's stunning victory at Leicester. Poole retain the guest services of James Wright to cover for injured reserve Ben Cook whilst Luke Crang will stand in at number two, as the Pirates still look to find a permanent solution to the enforced absence of Czechian Ondrej Smetana. 

Stefan Nielsen will be returning to his speedway roots, having launched his racing career after spending sessions at a training school at the venue and earned a team place with the combined Scunthorpe/Sheffield team in 2011 that led to a National League title that year, and he went on to spend the previous last three seasons (2017 to 2019) with the Scorpions. 

Teams 
Scunthorpe: 1 Adam Ellis; 2 Simon Lambert (Capt); 3 Theo Pijper or Rider Replacement; 4 Tero Aarnio; 5 Thomas Jorgensen; 6 Jordan Palin; 7 Josh MacDonald – Team manager Dave Peet 

Poole: 1 Rory Schlein; 2 Luke Crang (Guest); 3 Steve Worrall; 4 Stefan Nielsen; 5 Danny King (Capt); 6 James Wright (Guest); 7 Danyon Hume – Team manager: Gary Havelock