There was a real party atmosphere enjoyed by all from start to finish at the Andrew Younie Smallbrook Stadium last night (Thursday) with the only thing missing being a victory for the Wightlink Warriors speedway team.
There were a couple of close finishes in the match against the Eastbourne Eagles but the main talking point came in the very last race that saw the Warriors needing a maximum 5-1 advantage to draw. For the majority of the first lap the Warriors seemed set to achieve that with skipper James Cockle and Chris Widman leading the Eastbourne pairing of Ellis Perks and Jake Knight, who had won his previous 2 heats.
Coming out of the fourth bend Perks charged hard inside Widman pushing him so wide that the Warrior hit the safety fence but somehow stayed on the bike and that was enough to dash the Warrior’s hopes of getting anything out of the match.
Overall it was the Eagles’ top end strength that won them the match with the 4 of them winning 10 heats between them as opposed to just 5 for the Warriors.
Off track it was Caribbean party time with Island reggae star Derek Sandy singing 2 songs live including his acclaimed ‘Welcome to the Isle of Wight’ track.
WARRIORS SCORERS: James Cockle 10, Nathan Stoneman 7+3, Chris Widman 7+1, Mark Baseby 7, Lee Smart 6+2, Kelsey Dugard 5+2, Layne Cupitt 1.
EASTBOURNE SCORERS: Ellis Perks 17, Danyon Hume (guest) 10+1, Jake Knight 10+1, Georgie Wood 6+1, Charley Powell 2+2, Luke Harris 2.
