CAIRNS FLATTENS CHARGERS

WILLIAM Cairns made a sensational debut in the WSRA National Development League to inspire Scunthorpe to an away win at Oxford.

Cairns, who has only recently turned 15 years of age, racked up an incredible 19 points from seven rides in a guest appearance at reserve for the visitors, who inflicted the Chargers’ first home defeat in nearly two years.

Oxford were badly hampered by the loss of both Jody Scott and Ashton Vale after early crashes as the Stags, who share their NDL meetings with Sheffield, raced to a 54-36 victory.

Scunthorpe co-boss Paul Tatam said: “It was a very good away win for us. Oxford were a bit unfortunate they lost a couple of riders, and it’s never easy after that.

“For us, William Cairns was just in a different class. He’s a nice kid as well – he’s very level-headed and down to earth. We’d love to keep him for the rest of the season, but we’ll see what happens there.

“All our riders put in a decent effort and had a good afternoon, and we’d won it before Heat 15, so I gave Stene (Pijper) the ride in that race alongside Will because they both deserved it.”

Oxford manager Peter Schroeck said: “You couldn’t have written the script for that one. It was just one of those afternoons for us. We’ve got a few wounded soldiers, but hopefully there’s nothing broken. Ashton is going off to hospital, while Jody is going to see what happens to his wrist and the same with Jason.

“Sometimes it’s necessary to step back and look at the bigger picture, while it was great to see William Cairns do so well. I’m known him since he was a little kid. He’s a great talent for British Speedway.”

OFFICIAL REFEREE SCORECARD
Available here

Photo credit: LES AUBREY