Old boys hope to spoil the Diamonds’ fun

THREE former Diamonds’ stars threaten to halt any further progress up the SGB Championship league table this weekend by Newcastle as they tackle Scunthorpe Scorpions in back-to-back fixtures, tomorrow at Byker (6.30) and the Eddie Wright Raceway on Monday afternoon.

Lewis Kerr, Tero Aarnio and Carl Wilkinson all have vast experience of the Byker circuit and, together with British finalist Josh Auty, Aussie Ryan Douglas and Danish skipper Michael Palm Toft, are a formidable–looking outfit on paper.

Sadly for the Scorpions, though, matches are not won on paper and they have to date lost 10 of their 14 league fixtures, and occupy second-bottom spot in the table.

Kerr, who suffered a lifethreatening head injury two years ago while racing for the Diamonds at Peterborough, is optimistic the Scorpions’ fortunes are soon to take a turn for the better.

He said, “As a team, when we all fire together, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with. At the minute, not everyone is firing at the same time, so it’s difficult, but we’re getting there.”

Scunthorpe’s performance at Redcar two nights ago suggests something of a revival has already begun, when they lost by just 9 points, 51 – 42, compared to Newcastle’s thrashing on the same track, 58 – 34, last month.

Newcastle team manager George English says, “It’s good to hear Lewis so chirpy. He was very popular with our fans and I’m sure he will get a great reception tomorrow.

“However, we are at full-strength and Ludvig (Lindgren) has got the lads in the mood to repeat last week’s big win over Peterborough when our top five riders scored 54 points between them.”