On a Bar-B-Que hot Suffolk afternoon, the Warriors National League meeting at Mildenhall was brought to an early end following a serious crash at the start of heat 10. Warriors Scott Campos was caught up in the melee but walked away only slightly shaken, however the home pair of Josh Bailey and Sam Bebee bore the brunt of the incident with Bailey being concussed and Bebee requiring immediate hospital attention for pelvis, arm and shoulder damage.
Whilst heat 10 was duly completed with the home reserves replacing the injured riders, it soon became apparent that all available medical cover had to be committed to the welfare of the injured riders and with the ambulance leaving the stadium for hospital the correct decision was made to end the meeting as the home side were in a commanding position and the result was realistically beyond doubt.
All in all a day to forget for the Island side that were forced into borrowing and adapting a set of body colours from the home side due to a little Warrior forgetfulness. On track, the visitors had to resort to tracking four guests in the second part of this double header meeting that also featured Kent Kings.
With Ben Morley always likely to miss this meeting, Georgie Wood stepped in to the number one berth and got off to a winning start before a debateable disqualification halted his scoring. Alfie Bowtell was a late call up for his Championship side Lakeside and Plymouth’s Ryan Terry-Daley stood in at the eleventh hour. Shaun Tedham called in injured on the morning of the match and with the second reserve berth not yet permanently filled two local youngsters Connor King and William O’Keefe completed a very strange looking side.
When the action got under way it was clear to see that the home side would be showing little mercy to the makeshift Warriors and were looking to better the 66 – 24 National Trophy win less than a month ago. The early end clearly saved the Warriors as a repeat score was, regrettably, looking likely.
Fen Tigers: Josh Bailey 5, Sam Bebee 3+2, Danny Halsey 6+1, Ryan Kinsley 8+1, Danny Ayres 5+1, Drew Kemp 9, Matt Marson 6+1.
Warriors: Georgie Wood 3, Danno Verge 3, Scott Campos 3, Chris Widman 2+1, Ryan Terry-Daley 4, Connor King 0, William O’Keefe 3+1.
Warriors hope to track a far more familiar team on Thursday (5 July) when Kent are the visitors to the Smallbrook Stadium.