Speedway Report: Scunthorpe 55 Sheffield Tigers 35

Tigers went down 55-35 at the Eddie Wright Raceway - and there’s concern over Aussie ace Zaine Kennedy.

The 21-year-old crashed at high speed in the second race, lifting out of bend four and hurtling away from the safety fence.

A silence descended upon the crowd while paramedics attended to Kennedy for almost 15-minutes.

He left the track in an ambulance conscious, but track medics were keen to take the necessary checks for any further injuries.

The hosts struck a third successive 4-2 heat advantage in the third and Tigers had American Broc Nicol to thank for preventing a first maximum of the night after he eventually got past Stefan Nielsen who almost wiped Nicol out earlier in the race after lifting down the back straight.

Sheffield’s starting continued to cost them though and when captain Kyle Howarth let the lead slip after an enthralling battle with Scunthorpe stalwart Josh Auty on the run to the line, they’d suddenly fallen twelve behind with six gone.

It looked set to get worse for Tigers until that man Nicol again broke up a 5-1 in a smooth move which saw him go from last to second and partner Ty Proctor managed to get through into third also.

Drew Kemp and Josh MacDonald both got out of shape in the eighth before team boss Simon Stead opted to use his tactical substitution in the ninth.

No.1 Danny King found himself under the air fence in the initial staging, but dusted himself down to register a first race win of the night for the visitors in the re-staging while Howarth had to settle for third after a good tussle with home guest Tero Aarnio.

That would be Sheffield’s only heat advantage of the evening though, despite King winning a further race in Heat 11 and MacDonald showing further encouraging signs to win Heat 14 and earn a first Heat 15 place in British Speedway as the Tigers were sent back to Owlerton with plenty to think about.

King, Howarth, Proctor and Kemp represent the club at the Championship Fours at Peterborough tomorrow (2pm).

SCUNTHORPE 55: Josh Auty 13, Tero Aarnio 11, Danny Ayres 9+1, Ryan Douglas 8, Alfie Bowtell 7+3, Stefan Nielsen 5+1, Ryan Kinsley 2.

SHEFFIELD 35: Danny King 11, Kyle Howarth 9+1, Josh MacDonald 8+2, Broc Nicol 5, Ty Proctor 3+1, Drew Kemp 0, Zaine Kennedy 0.