Scorpions Captain Richard Hall led the way with 14 points out of 15 and the club’s two Swedes, Viktor Bergström and Magnus Karlsson also registered scores of ‘paid 11’.


Afterwards the Conference League Scunthorpe Saints held onto their 100% record with a nail-biting 48-45 victory over the Weymouth Wildcats. The Saints had to ride without Benji Compton, who was injured in the first meeting, but the remaining six riders dug deep to claim the win. Byron Bekker top score with 16 points.


A big crowd turned out for 30 heats of racing on a beautiful Bank Holiday Monday afternoon and were treated to one of the finest advertisements for the sport. The racing was exceptional and both meetings were tight right until the closing stages. With Somerset having defeated the Scorpions 63-29 on their own track on Friday they were perhaps favourites going into the meeting and the early exchanges suggested they were going to be a tough team to beat. The Scorpions had edged two points clear after nine races but with Emil Kramer and Jason Doyle due three more rides each the visitors were perhaps still favourites.


Step forward Richard Hall. He passed Doyle in heats 11 and 13 before Magnus Karlsson joined him for a 5-1 over Doyle and Kramer in heat 15. Like Hall, Viktor Bergström also had his best meeting in Scorpions’ colours, combining in three 5-1s and a broken footrest preventing a fourth. Bergström and Karlsson produced the pivotal 5-1 in heat 12 with an excellent exhibition of team-riding against the ever-pressing Kramer.


With Andrew Moore, Carl Wilkinson, Benji Compton and Byron Bekker all making contributions the Scorpions can all rightly feel proud of their win.


With Benji Compton injuring his shoulder in the first meeting the Saints had to operate rider replacement in their Conference League meeting and with Sam Martin really struggling to get the right bike set-up they really had to dig deep to get the victory. Weymouth’s Jon Armstrong and Jay Herne looked unbeatable early on but a couple of broken chains for the Wildcats helped the Saints open up a 12-point gap by heat 10. A tactical ride win by Armstrong, backed up by Brendan Johnson, was followed by a 5-1 for Armstrong and Herne in heat 13 and when the Saints went into the last race just one point up it looked like the same pairing might secure victory for the south coast club.


The impressive Byron Bekker was joined by the normally fast-starting Scott Richardson for the decisive race. A fairly even break saw Herne slide off without contact on the outside of the first turn and the referee saw fit to exclude him rather than allow ‘all four back’ in the re-run.