Bad luck costs Diamonds a deserved point
A CRUEL stroke of luck prevented Newcastle BTS Diamonds picking up a deserved Championship league point at Scunthorpe last night when top man Tero Aarnio suffered a puncture when leading comfortably going into the final lap of the last race.
The Finn’s misfortune allowed Scorpions’ pair Josh Auty and Jake Allen to sweep past and take a 5-1 win to make the final score 50-40 to Scunthorpe, whereas it could so easily have been 48-42.
The result mirrors the exact score from four weeks ago in the Championship Shield match, though this time Aarnio had plenty of support from his colleagues, with all but captain Ludvig Lindgren having at least one win or paid win in their scorechart.
Returning old boy Matej Kus showed up well, featuring in a 5-1 with Ashley Morris in the seventh race over Jason Garrity to put the Diamonds firmly back into the match, trailing by just four points at 23-19.
The same pair took a 4-2 victory three races later over home guests Kyle Howarth and Todd Kurtz to keep the deficit at four points, 32-28.
Aarnio recorded the second of his two victories in a splendid performance defeating Garrity and Howarth in the 13th, but Lindgren was unable to add further points.
Stuart Robson, in his first match back after a serious hand injury, raced well, scoring seven points and won his final outing.
SCUNTHORPE (50): Jake Allen 16, Jason Garrity 11, Josh Auty 10, Kyle Howarth 7, Todd Kurtz 5, Danny Phillips 1. NEWCASTLE (40): Tero Aarnio 9, Matej Kus 8, Stuart Robson 7, Ashley Morris 6, Carl Wilkinson 4, Ludvig Lindgren 3, Matthew Wethers 3.