It was a night of mixed fortunes for the Isle of Wight’s Wightlink Warriors and Wizards speedway teams with the Warriors delivering a tense and exciting win in their National League fixture, whilst the Wizards suffered a reverse at the hands of Carmarthen.
The Warriors left it late to secure the win over a plucky Potters outfit and had big guns Georgie Wood and Ben Morley to thank for securing all 3 league points.
The visitors took the lead in heat 3 and were able to maintain a slender 2 point lead until heat 13 when the unbeaten pair of Wood and Morley turned in the first of 2 match winning 5-1 heat advantages.
With a 2 point lead for the home side and just 2 races remaining it fell to Warriors Danno Verge to sweep to the front in a shared heat 14 and set up a last race showdown. As expected, Wood and Morley were deployed for the home side whilst the Potters tracked former Islander Tom Perry and the impressive Joe Lawlor. The tension around the stadium was soon dispelled as the Warriors made the best starts and blasted away to their second 5-1 despite the earnest efforts of Perry who kept Morley up to his work throughout.
Whilst the victory was founded on Wood and Morley’s maximum contributions, there were some telling scores from the other Warriors with Connor King’s first winning race at Smallbrook being well received on the terraces. In fact, with the track in great condition, four of the home side were able to record their fastest times of the season in an exciting night’s racing.
Wightlink Warriors: Georgie Wood 15, Chris Widman 1, Ryan Terry-Daley 6+1, Danno Verge 7, Ben Morley 13+2, Connor King 4 and Chad Wirtzfeld 2
Stoke Potters: Tom Perry 8, Shelby Rutherford 4+1, Joe Lawlor 10, Luke Priest 6+3, Connor Coles 7, Aaron Butcher 1+1 and Joe Alcock 6+2
Wightlink Warriors 48 | 42 Stoke Potters
Unfortunately the Wightlink Wizards couldn’t emulate the Warriors and slipped to a 6 point defeat at the hands of Carmarthen’s more experienced side.
The match saw a multiple collision in its 5th race when Carmarthen’s all action Tim Colley got into difficulty on turn 2 and fell. Wizards’ Morgan Williams acted instantly to lay his bike down to avoid the stricken Dragon. With riders and machinery spread across the track, Luke Barnes (Carmarthen) and Ben Ilsley (Wizards) were both able to get their bikes down to avoid the carnage in front of them. Those split second reactions undoubtedly helped rescue a very awkward situation and the three following riders should be applauded for their actions. Luckily no serious injury or damage was sustained.
Wightlink Wizards: Jamie Sealey 3, Morgan Williams 4+1, Chris Watts 6 and Ben Ilsley 2+1
Carmarthen: Joe Alcock 7, Tim Colley 1, Danny Woodward 6, Luke Barnes 7+1
Wightlink Wizards 15 | 21 Carmarthen
After the meetings Warriors co-promoter Martin Widman said:
“It’s a fantastic feeling to get our first league win. The track was is super condition, the boys were looking forward to racing on it and we had a good spirit in the pits. Whilst it would have been better if we could have built up a lead, we were quietly confident that we could get advantages in heats 13 and 15 and so it proved.
“We still have areas to work on; however we go to Plymouth in good heart and will give it our best shot as we always do.
“For the Wizards, it just didn’t happen. The Carmarthen riders very really sharp away from the tapes and as hard as the Wizards chased, the Dragons just carried too much experience for us. Congratulations to them on the win but we have a chance to put things right when we go to Plymouth to take on Exeter tomorrow.”
