This Thursday evening the Scunthorpe Scorpions visit the South Tees Motorsport Park at 7.30pm for the first leg of the second round of the Knockout Cup competition but with one key figure missing.

For in the early hours of Monday morning the Leven-based team manager of the Scorpions Kenny Smith passed away after losing his battle against throat cancer.

Kenny was a trouper to the end and was in charge of the Scorpions for the final time on Saturday evening in their home fixture against Edinburgh. Yarm-based Bears boss Brian Havelock comments: 'I received the very sad news regarding the loss of a dear friend Kenny Smith. Our family have known Kenny for many years and so have the speedway public and riders.

When you rang Kenny on his mobile you always got the answer machine: Down the pub or at the speedway please leave your message and I will get back to you. Kenny devoted a lot of his time to Scunthorpe Speedway with the junior team and of late the Premier League team with great success. I suppose it is fitting that we have Scunthorpe at the Motorpark on Thursday but sadly without their team manager Kenny. Our thoughts go out to family and friends at this very sad time.'

Brian's fellow Teessider would want the show to go on and so Scunthorpe promoter Rob Godfrey will take charge of the visitors and endeavour to inspire them to raise their game in the sad circumstances. There is a fair amount of experience in the Scorpions ranks to cope and they have had a good run of results in all competitions so far this season. Their twin spearhead of Magnus Karlsson and David Howe were team mates at Elite League Wolverhampton and are competitive every time the tapes rise on a race. They have the backing of Carl Wilkinson who has a scoring record at the Motorpark on every visit he has made with various team and the Scorpions recently acquired the services of the fast gating Adam Allott which also allows them to field the lively Simon Lambert at second reserve.

For the Bears there is no doubt that Ty Proctor has settled well into his new role of riding at number one while returnee Stuart Swales of Stockton has blown the cobwebs away in style. With the sheer solid ability of Gary Havelock, Carl Stonehewer, Ben Wilson and Robbie Kessler to score points then team boss Brian Havelock will be asking his lads not only for a victory but a reasonable margin to take to Lincolnshire on Friday July 31st for the second leg.

REDCAR 'NEBT/SIMPSON RACING UK' BEARS:
1. Ty Proctor
2. Robbie Kessler
3. Ben Wilson
4. Carl Stonehewer
5. Gary Havelock (C)
6. Arlo Bugeja
7. Stuart Swales
SCUNTHORPE SCORPIONS:
1. Magnus Karlsson (C)
2. Viktor Bergstrom
3. Adam Allott
4. Carl Wilkinson
5. David Howe
6. Jerran Hart
7.Simon Lambert

Thursday's meeting is sponsored by Mr. Ian Wilson and friends of Whitby.

There will be the annual collection on Thursday evening for the Speedway Riders Benevolent Fund which takes care of injured and incapacitated racers. Members of both team will circulate in the crowd during the match interval to conduct the collection.

Redcar Speedway fans can BOGOF courtesy of the supporters' group! The Buy One Get One Free offer applies to the travel service running to the cup match at Scunthorpe on Friday July 31st and Berwick in the Premier League on Saturday August 1st. Details on racenights from the BSG office near the pits or via www.thebsg.webs.com The Bears Supporters Group are also organising a fun day at the speedway arena on Saturday August 22nd with a barbecue and lots of activities. All the riders will be present. Again further details via the BSG office or their web address.

Full details of the club can be found by logging on to: www.redcarspeedway.co.uk with results and updates also on the club hotline: 09068 664665(calls charged at 60p per minute)