Workington Comets enjoyed their biggest win of the season to boost their BSN Series qualification hopes.
Despite losing Finnish talent Antti Vuolas, after a heavy fall in his second ride, the Comets went on to beat Scunthorpe Scorpions 56-34 at Northside.
It gives them a handy 22-point lead as they go in search of the aggregate point which would clinch their progress from the northern section.
Vuolas came to grief in heat five when, leading the race, he seemed to hit a soft spot on the fourth bend and took a very heavy fall.
It resulted in the Finn being withdrawn from the meeting and subsequent updates confirmed a concussion which will keep him off the track for at least nine days.
Later it was suggested that the problem had been caused by some new dirt being put down and, mainly because of the dry weather, hadn’t really bedded in as planned which caused problems, especially on turn four when Vuolas lifted and came to grief.
Track curator and co-promoter Steve Lawson spent quite a time after the crash to blade the area and although it meant quite a delay there were no further problems and the racing was excellent.T
Australian youngster Tate Zischke had been ill for a few days but he climbed out of his sick bed and picked up a paid maximum, which was a great effort given the week he’d had.
But it was skipper Craig Cook, rapidly becoming the king of Northside, who led from the front scoring an impeccable five race maximum to spearhead the Comets charge.
It was also significant that the rese5rves, Sam McGurk and Celina Liebmann both had their first wins of the season. Indeed, apart from the unfortunate Vuolas all the Workington riders had at least one win.
It was that sort of consistent scoring throughout the team that saw off the Scorpions challenge to such an extent they only had two heat advantages throughout the meeting.
One of those – a 5-1 – came in the rerun of heat five after Vuolas was excluded when former Comet Kyle Howarth came through strongly on the last lap to pip Claus Vissing behind Connor Mountain.
Two of the biggest cheers of the afternoon, though, were for the victories by the Workington reserves.
McGurk made a poor start in heat eleven but then powered round the outside of the other three to take the lead by the end of the first lap and he stayed there for a 4-2 as Troy Batchelor grabbed third place.
A heat later it was Liebmann’s turn as she also took the outside route to get to the front on the first lap and she held it for her first win in UK League speedway. McGurk took third as well for a good 4-2.
So, all in all, apart from the injury to Vuolas a very satisfactory day’s work from the Comets who will ride the return leg at Scunthorpe on Friday, May 10.
Before then Workington have back-to-back meetings this week-end which the Finn will miss.
They travel to Glasgow on Friday for their first Championship fixture and on Saturday are back at Northside for the return KO Cup match with Redcar Bears.
Workington Comets 56
Craig Cook 15; Tate Zischke 11 + 4; Antti Vuolas 2; Claus Vissing 8; Troy Batchelor 9 + 1; Sam McGurk 6 + 2; Celina Liebmann 5.
Scunthorpe Scorpions 34
Kyle Howarth 5 + 1; Connor Mountain 7; Simon Lambert 4 + 1; Michael Palin Toft 7; Jake Allen 6; Jack Smith 0; Luke Harrison 5 + 2.
