Jonas cleared for Scunny return

Jonas Knudsen returns to the FTS Bandits, powered by Keenwood Karpets, line-up at Scunthorpe tomorrow night.

The popular young Dane has been sidelined since July 23 due to United Kingdom Visa and Immigration delays in processing his work visa application.

Having initially been told that it could take up to eight weeks to get a full visa the former World 250CC champions and SGP2 competitor put together an impressive run of scores for the Bandits using a 28-day Permitted Paid Engagement Visa, collecting the June and July Supporters’ Club Rider of the Month awards along the way.

But after that ran out the club has been forced to battle red tape, enlisting the help of the town’s MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan as the delay lengthened. It is not just speedway which has been hit by the visa office delays, a number of competitors were missing from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and tonight (Thursday) Danish football side Viborg FF were unable to play Ibrahim Said or Alassana Jatta as they were unable to get visas in time.

Jonas missed four meetings during that spell – and the opportunity to represent the club at the Championship Pairs – but on Thursday lunchtime the Berwick club got the news they had been waiting for.

“Anne-Marie has spent a lot of time trying to get Jonas’s application out of the logjam and her office were able to tell us that it had finally been approved on Thursday.

“We cannot thank our MP and her office enough for the time and effort they put in on our behalf and it would be an understatement to say that we are relieved that it is over.

“Jonas was with us in the stands at the British Grand Prix on Saturday night and of course he was in the SGP2 on Sunday.

“He has been as frustrated as us at not being able to race in Britain. He’d made an impressive start to his career over here and is keen to impress in the remaining weeks of the season.”

Jonas was due to fly into England tonight to prepare for the trip to Scunthorpe where he will partner Luke Crang at reserve.

Bullets’ heat leader Luke, who has acted as number eight on a number of occasions, makes his full Bandits’ debut in place of the injured Nathan Stoneman who broke a shoulder blade against Glasgow 11 days ago.

Scunthorpe, currently four points ahead of Berwick in the Championship table, have an impressive record around the Eddie Wright Raceway this season, their only defeat coming against Plymouth in April.

They still have an outside mathematical chance of taking the sixth and final play-off place as their remaining three meetings are home and away against the Bandits and at home to the side currently in the hotseat, Redcar.

A livestream of the meeting is available to buy from tv.scunthorpe-speedway.com

Scorpions: Ryan Douglas, Simon Lambert, James Wright, Jake Allen, Tero Aarnio, Adam Roynon, Anders Rowe

Bandits: Chris Harris, Theo Pijper, Jye Etheridge, Leon Flint, Ricky Wells, Jonas Knudsen, Luke Crang