The Wightlink Warriors staged a very special speedway meeting at The Andrew Younie Smallbrook stadium last night (Thursday) to celebrate the lifelong involvement and contribution of one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors Bryn Williams, who sadly died at the end of 2016.
A large crowd gathered in the late spring sunshine to witness an excellent match between very evenly matched sides of the WightlinKW arriors and the Weymouth Wildcats. Close racing combined with a full evening of events culminating a last race decider will have pleased Bryn no end and what better way to end the night with honours even.
The Warriors came into this meeting minus the injured Tyler Govier and he was replaced by guest rider Ben Hopwood. With 10 points and a bonus point on the night, he proved a very capable deputy as he added to the fire power again displayed by the Warriors top 2 of Ben Wilson and Nathan Greaves who both also recorded 10 points.
Indeed it was Wilson who featured in one of the races of the night as the Warrior pairing of Wilson and Hopwood did everything to protect a 5-1 heat advantage in heat 6, only for Wilson to be pipped on the line by an ultra brave last corner from the visitors Georgie Wood. Wilson was at it again in heat 13 scoring maximum points with partner Nathan Greaves as they inflicted the only defeat of the night on the Wildcats impressive number 1 Matt Williamson. It was left to the 2 opposing number 1s to go head to head in a last heat decider.
Williamson just had enough speed on lap 1 to outpace Wilson but with Greaves a comfortable third a draw was a fair result overall.
After the meeting, a smiling Ben Wilson said:
“I enjoyed that. It’s a shame we couldn’t find an extra point to make the draw into a win but Bryn would have been bouncing in his seat had he been here tonight. I love this track, my set up for it is getting better every week, the team are gelling well, the fans are so welcoming and I’m so proud to be a Warrior for 2017”.
Warriors: Ben Wilson 10+1, Ben Hopwood 10+1, James Cockle 9, Chris Widman 4, Nathan Greaves 10+2, Rik Mullins 2, Jamie Sealey 0, Jamie Bursill 0.
Wildcats: M.Willamson 13, K.Dugard 5+1, R.Shuttleworth 5, T.Woolley 5+2, G.Wood 7, K.Bickley 6, K.Bowdery 4+2.
Isle of Wight Warriors 45 | Weymouth Wildcats 45
The Wightlink Warriors are next in action on Thursday 27th April with a home meeting against Plymouth in the Knock Out Cup with the return leg in Devon 24 hours later.
