Birmingham Brummies v Scunthorpe Scorpions

SCUNTHORPE made club history with their largest-ever away victory in the second tier of British Speedway when they won 55-35 at Birmingham on Wednesday.

The Scorpions raced into a 22-8 lead after five races and produced a relentless all-round team performance to move to the brink of play-off qualification.

Reserve Drew Kemp took top billing with an 11+1 paid maximum from four rides, whilst No.1 Ryan Douglas reeled off four wins after Heat 1 to finish on 13+1.

Manager Dave Peet said: “I’m so pleased. We put in an all-around team performance tonight, with the whole side putting a shift in.

“This was the first time we’ve been able to track a full seven-man line-up of our own riders for a couple of months. We got the lads together before the meeting, and told them now we’ve got a full team, it was time we started firing on all cylinders.

“In particular, I’m pleased for Drew. He put in a new engine, and it worked a treat. He was making starts and when he didn’t, he had plenty of speed. We signed Drew for a reason, because he’s a very good speedway rider and tonight he did what we knew he could do. Speedway is all about confidence and he’s now buzzing.”

Josh Pickering racked up 15+1 as a guest for the Brummies, whose CEO Nigel Tolley pulled no punches over his side’s performance.

He said: “Scunthorpe walked all over us and we didn’t look like a team who deserve to be anywhere near the play-offs.

“That was nowhere near good enough; I’m seething and I’m very angry.

“Again I can only sympathise with and apologise to our loyal supporters who came along to watch that performance – they have been badly let down.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP
BIRMINGHAM 35: Josh Pickering 15+1, Justin Sedgmen 8+2, Troy Batchelor 6, Paul Starke 3, Alfie Bowtell 2+1, Sam Hagon 1, Stefan Nielsen 0
SCUNTHORPE 55: Ryan Douglas 13+1, Drew Kemp 11+1, Michael Palm Toft 8+1, Connor Mountain 7+2, Simon Lambert 6+1, Jake Allen 6, Nathan Ablitt 4+3
Scunthorpe win the aggregate point

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