Jody Scott impresses at British Under-21 Final

JODY SCOTT – the skipper of the Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers powered by AW Mobbs – was right in the mix in the British Under-21 Final at Glasgow yesterday afternoon (Sunday).

The 18-year-old started his meeting with a hat-trick of race wins. He trapped off the unfavourable outside gate in Heat 1, then fended off Jake Mulford in Heat 8, while he won Heat 12, after overtaking Ben Trigger.

Scott passed Ashton Boughen for second place in Heat 16 and then challenged race-leader Joe Thompson, but dropped his first point of the afternoon. He was back off gate four in Heat 20, and this time had to settle for third place behind William Cairns and Luke Harrison.

Scott just missed out on one of the two automatic qualifying places for the final, and then came finished in fourth place in the semi-final and was eliminated. He was classified sixth in the meeting.

There were three Oxford riders on display at Glasgow. Luke Killeen seemed to be slightly down on power. He was pipped to first place by Mulford in Heat 4 and eventually finished on six points.

Senna Summers – who had been denied a run-off for the final qualifying position after a mistake by officials in the Semi-Final at Plymouth – was given a late call-up after Nathan Ablitt pulled out with food poisoning. Summers was feeling under the weather at Glasgow, but scored two points in his final outing and will have gained from the experience of riding in such a meeting.

Former Oxford Charger Sam Hagon eventually defended his British Under-21 crown, racing from third to first in the final and somehow remaining on board his bike after losing control on the final bend.

While Hagon and runner-up Joe Thompson are too old to compete in the British Under-21 Championship next year, both Killeen and Summers have one more attempt at winning the event, while Scott has another three.

There are two meetings at the BetGoodwin Oxford Stadium this week. Firstly, the BetGoodwin Oxford Spires entertain Sheffield Tigers in the ROWE Motor Oil Premiership action on Thursday (May 22) at 7.30pm. The Real Mini Company Oxford Chargers powered by AW Mobbs then host the Edinburgh Monarch Academy on Sunday afternoon (May 25) at 3pm.

Tickets for both meetings are already on sale on the Oxford Speedway website at: https://oxfordspeedway.club/tickets/

QUALIFYING SCORES: Joe Thompson 14, William Cairns 13, Luke Harrison 12, Jody Scott 12, Sam Hagon 10, Jake Mulford 10, Max Perry 9, Luke Killeen 6, Ace Pijper 6, Freddie Hodder 6, Ben Trigger 6, Vinnie Foord 5, Ashton Boughen 4, Sam McGurk 3, Senna Summers 2, Dan Thompson 1, Jack Shimelt 1 (res), Stene Pijper 0 (res).

SEMI-FINAL: Harrison, Hagon, Mulford, Scott.

GRAND FINAL: Hagon, J Thompson, Harrison, Cairns.

PHOTO: Jody Scott (pic by Steve Edmunds)