Scunthorpe Scorpions v Edinburgh Monarchs

SCUNTHORPE maintained their great start to the play-offs with an empathic 59-31 win over Edinburgh at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

The Scorpions now top Group A as they look to reach the Cab Direct Championship Grand Final, with Jake Allen scoring a four-ride 12-point maximum against the Monarchs.

Ryan Douglas and Michael Palm Toft chipped in with 12+1 and 12 respectively as a whirlwind start saw the home side go 27-9 up after just six heats, putting the match beyond the visitors.

Josh Pickering scored 15 from six rides for the Monarchs but he was their only race winner, taking the flag in each of his last three outings.

Allen said: “We all rode really well today. In the play-offs, you’ve got to win as many points as you can at home and then also try to win on the road. We go into every meeting home and away trying to win it.

“We’ve had two really good performances in our opening meetings in the play-offs. We held Poole at their place and now we’ve got a good home win over Edinburgh. Hopefully we can capitalise on that in the second legs on Friday and Saturday.

“I was happy with my night. I took four wins in a row, and you can’t do much better than that, so I was happy for the other boys to go out in Heat 15.”

Pickering said: “It was a quick run meeting as always at Scunthorpe and I didn’t really know what the score was early on as I was changing things, but it wasn’t good enough.

“We got going a little in the last few heats but as I said it wasn’t good enough.”

CAB DIRECT CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF GROUP A
SCUNTHORPE 59: Ryan Douglas 12+1, Michael Palm Toft 12+1, Jake Allen 12, Simon Lambert 7+2, Connor Mountain 7+1, Drew Kemp 6+1, Nathan Ablitt 3.
EDINBURGH 31: Josh Pickering 15, Paco Castagna 5, Justin Sedgmen 4, Bastian Borke 4, Kye Thomson 2+1, Lasse Fredriksen 1, Dayle Wood 0.

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Photo credit: IAN RISPIN