Another hot evening of action at Smallbrook Stadium saw the Wightlink Warriors literally snatch victory on the line of the final heat in dramatic fashion.
After 14 of the 15 heats, the scores were locked at 28-28-28.
Therefore, it all came down to the final heat between The Warriors and the Wildcats, Cradley having completed their quota of rides.
The home side pitched Arran Butcher and Joe Crewe against Charlie Southwick and Tayla Street of the visitors.
Butcher shot away chased by Southwick, while Street looked good for third to force a runoff, Butcher went on for the win, but behind him Street and Crewe were having a right old ding dong battle and as they entered the last turn, Street lost her line and the teenager Crewe took his chance, crossing the line a wheels width in front for the all important point to give the home team the win by the narrowest of margins.
It wasn’t all about the last heat though; Street was only the track reserve. But Weymouth’s D
Sam Peters bike burst into flames in the pits as he prepared for his first ride.
With no bike the team managers agreed that the Australian lady Tayla Street could take his rides.
The first race showed what to expect when New Zealand’s Ben Whalley produced a blistering outside pass of the Warriors Ben Morley for a shared heat.
Butcher shot from the start to win heat two, but Street took second from James Shanes for another shared heat.
Weymouth Southwick won the first of his three wins by the preverbal mile in heat three and the Dorset outfit took an early lead.
Shanes then flew past Morley in the forth with Skipper Danno Verge holding third I 9- C 5-W 10.
Butcher won heat 5, before Whalley once again produced another masterful ride sweeping past Southwick to the delight of another bumper crowd.
The Warriors Morley and Verge then hit a 5-1 to give the home side a six point advantage at I 18- C 12- W12.
Southwick then rode out of his skin to inflict Butchers only defeat of the evening with Harrison Rogers taking a vital third to bring the Wildcats into the equation.
Shanes then flew to victory over the impressive Whalley to close the gap to just a single point.
In heat 10, Ben Morley looked good for a win with Verge third, but as Verge came to grief on turn 1lap 3, Morley made a mistake allowing Southwick to storm through.
Heat eleven, saw Cradley’s Charlie Wood and Harry Sadler looking good for a 5-1 which would have seen the Heathens back in the picture, but Wildcats Shanes once again picked off the opposition in superb style.
Butcher then produced another superb ride holding off Whalley, but Spooner, hung onto third to make the scores I 26- C 21- W25.
Shanes put the Wildcats in the driving seat, storming to victory in heat 13, before Whalley won heat 14 as Morley and Verges slipped up.
So that left it all down to the final heat.
Team manager Henning Loof said:
“Wow, we are still unbeaten, but what a last race. That young man just won us the meeting, I am so proud of them all, but young Joe just kept going, he won us that trophy, I am so pleased, and what a fitting finale and tribute for Steve”.
IOW: MORLEY 11, VERGE 5+4, BUTCHER 14, CREWE 2.
CRADLEY: WHALLEY 13, SPOONER. 4+2, WOOD 4, SADLER 7+1.
WEYMOUTH: SHANES 13+1, STREET 2, SOUTHWICK 13, ROGERS 2
Next up – on Tuesday 11th – is a much-anticipated challenge against the Warriors’ fellow NORA racing team, Mildenhall Fen Tigers.
Promoter Martin Widman commented:
“We had excellent home and away NORA League Cup matches with the Fen Tigers last year, Mildenhall’s first after joining us in NORA competition. It’ll just be a one off meeting this time but with the Suffolk side bringing a side including the in-form Mickie Simpson, 2026 newcomers from Australia, Harry Sadler and New Zealand Champion Ben Whalley plus their skipper, IOW track expert James Shanes we know we are going to have an excellent meeting”.
