Sidecar Success at Scunthorpe

Sidecar speedway came to the Scunthorpe Raceway for the very first time this afternoon and the crowd, most of them seeing a sidecar meeting for the first time, were served up with some excellent racing in the first round of the Wulfsport British Sidecar Speedway Championship.

The piece de resistance was the outstanding final where the four crews passed and re-passed each other numerous times before the Ivor Matthews and Mick Stace took the chequered flag. Second were Matt Tyrell and Shaun Yates whilst Gary Jackson and Carl Blyth took third.

For Matthews and Stace, the 2004 champions and joint winners of the 2005 crown, it made up for a couple of bad results in the heats. Tyrell and Yates beat them after a great battle in heat three before they were unable to take their place in heat nine.

Special mention should go to Rich Moore and Rob Winspear who were lying second in the final only to veer onto the centre green on the last lap. The pair had been involved in some of the best races of the afternoon but 4th place still equalled their best finish in a British Championship Round to date. The second round of the championship takes place at Newport on 28th May.

Five races from the Short Track bikes supported the sidecars and with 9 riders in each heat there was plenty of excitement. The final had to be run three times after crashes but it was Tim Greig who came out on top after winning the first two heats and then taking three second places for a total of 66 points.

Ex-Boston speedway racer Pete Boast was second on 62 whilst Darren Pearson, another ex-speedway rider who rode for Sheffield and Bradford, took third with 56. Later in the season the British riders will be joined at Scunthorpe by several from the continent as they take part in the seventh round of the British Championship on Sunday 20th August.

The next action at the Scunthorpe Raceway is next Saturday, 20th May, when the fourth round of the British Pro Quad Speedway Championship takes place at 7pm and that is followed on the Monday night, 22nd May, when the Lincs FM Scorpions are finally due back on track after a three week absence due to the weather.

The team take on the Newport Mavericks, who couldn't travel to face the Scorpions on their usual Sunday race-day, in a Conference League meeting that starts at 7.30pm (parade 7.15pm).