MILDENHALL Fen Tigers 53 - ISLE OF WIGHT 'Wightlink' Warriors 37 : NL : 29/10/2017
The Isle of Wight ‘Wightlink’ Warriors travelled to Mildenhall to face the Fen Tigers knowing that a seven point away win was needed if they were to move off the National League bottom spot, however it was not to be as the visitors could not prevent the home side steadily building up a twenty two point lead before finding some form in the final five heats.
Warriors, hoping to track their first choice team, were hit by the unexpected absence of skipper James Cockle who encountered transport problems and were fortunate to be able to use Georgie Wood as a guest rider – the Eastbourne man having ridden in the first match of this double header helping his side to an overall Cup win.
Wood showed the benefit of having already had some outings on track with a gritty performance that included a terrific last to first win in heat five as he went on to join Ben Wilson in recording two 5-1 heat wins at the death that gave respectability to the score-line. It was also a classy performance by Wilson (pictured) with just one defeat in five outings in a fine display track craft and guile that saw him twice lower the colours of home star Jordan Jenkins.
After the meeting, Co-promoter Barry Bishop was in reflective mood as he said ‘Wow, what a season. On track we’ve had some gut wrenching lows like Buxton at home, but, significantly, this club is not only about things that go on on track, we continue to build and develop a brand that it is a credit to everyone who contributes and we will take this ethos forward as we plan for 2018. I can honestly say that when people have represented the Warriors in any capacity they have always done so enthusiastically and to the best level possible and you can ask no more’.
MILDENHALL Fen Tigers 53 1. Ben HOPWOOD (G) 2', 1', 3, 3, 1, = 10+2 2. Danny HALSEY R/R 3. Alfie BOWTELL (G) 2', 2, 1', 2', 2, = 9+3 4. Luke RUDDICK 3, 1', 2, 2, 3, 0, 1, = 11+1 5. Jordan JENKINS (C) 3, 3, 3, 3, 0, 1, = 13 6. Alex SPOONER 3, XT, 2', F, = 5+1 7. Sam WOODS 2, 1, 0, 1', 1, = 5+1
ISLE OF WIGHT 'Wightlink' Warriors 37 1. Georgie WOOD (G) 1, 3, 2, 3, 2', = 11+1 2. Chris WIDMAN 0, 0, 0, 1', = 1+1 3. Connor COLES 1, 2, 0, 3, = 6 4. Scott CAMPOS 0, 1', 1, 2, = 4+1 5. Ben WILSON (C) 2, 3, 3, 2', 3, = 13+1 6. Jamie SEALEY 0, 0, 0, F, = 0 7. Adam PORTWOOD 1, 0, 1, 0, = 2
REFEREE: Tony Steele with trainee Seth Perkin
GATE POSITIONS: Warriors won the coin toss and took gates 2 and 4 in heat 1. Fen Tigers took gates 1 and 3 in heat 15.
HEAT DETAILS: Heat 1: Jenkins (RR), Hopwood, Wood, Widman, 53.3 (5-1) 5-1 Heat 2: Spooner, Woods, Portwood, Sealey, 54.6 (5-1) 10-2 Heat 3: Ruddick, Bowtell, Coles, Campos, 54.9 (5-1) 15-3 Heat 4: Jenkins, Wilson, Woods, Portwood, 53.4 (4-2) 19-5 Heat 5: Wood, Bowtell, Ruddick, Widman, 54.3 (3-3) 22-8 Heat 6: Wilson, Ruddick (RR), Hopwood, Sealey, 53.9 (3-3) 25-11 Heat 7: Jenkins, Coles, Campos, Woods, 53.8 (3-3) 28-14 Heat 8: Hopwood (RR), Spooner, Portwood, Widman, 55.2 (5-1) 33-15 Heat 9: Wilson, Ruddick, Bowtell, Sealey, 54.5 (3-3) 36-18 Heat 10: Hopwood, Bowtell (RR), Campos, Coles, 55.1 (5-1) 41-19 Heat 11: (Awarded): Jenkins, Wood, Widman, Spooner (F), No Time (3-3) 44-22 Heat 12: Coles, Bowtell, Woods, Sealey (F), 54.6 (3-3) 47-25 Heat 13: Wood, Wilson, Hopwood, Jenkins, 54.8 (1-5) 48-30 Heat 14: Ruddick, Campos, Woods, Portwood, 55.2 (4-2) 52-32 Heat 15: Wilson, Wood, Jenkins, Ruddick, 54.1 (1-5) 53-37
The Warriors management would like to congratulate former Isle of Wight Islander Jason Doyle on clinching his first World Championship in Australia at the weekend. Thirty two year old Doyle started his UK career at Smallbrook in 2005 and spent two seasons on the Island. Always injury prone, the jinx threatened to scupper his title run this year (as it did in 2016) but he rode on despite a severe foot injury and has come through to rightly claim the ultimate prize as befitting the rider who is universally agreed to be the best in the world right now.
VIDEO COURTESY OF BARRY BISHOP