WEYMOUTH grounded the Spitfires at the Wessex Stadium to move back to the top of the Conference League.

The Wildcats celebrated their 50th meeting since speedway returned to the town in 2003 with a comfortable 53-40 success over their visitors from Stoke.

Big four Tom Brown (12+1), David Mason (9), Lewis Bridger (9+2) and Dan Giffard (9) were again the mainstays for Brian White's side, but there was good support in the shape of young reserve Lewis Dallaway, who notched an impressive season's high of 5+3.

Spitfires flew into an early lead following a 4-2 in the

opener contest, which saw home skipper Mason sandwiched between Barrie Evans and Gary Flint.

However, the Wildcats hit back heavily in heat two with a Jack Gledhill\Lewis Dallaway 5-0, gained after two spectacular falls involving their opponents.

First Gareth Isherwood came to grief and was excluded from the re-run, then Kriss Irving smashed into the fence coming out of the final turn while 50 yards clear of Gledhill in second.

Irving's spill proved a double blow for the Spitfires, who not only missed out on three certain points, but also lost their talented reserve for the rest of the meeting with a shoulder injury.

A stunning last to first ride gave Brown victory over former Wessex Stadium captain Justin Elkins and Jack Hargreaves in a shared heat three, while Dan Giffard took the chequered flag in a drawn race four.

That put the hosts 13-10 ahead going into the next, and they maintained their three-point advantage as Brown and a machinery-troubled Bridger followed Evans across the line.

The run of shared encounters ended in heat six with Mason and Clement returning a 4-2 for the Wildcats, while Giffard and Gledhill repeated the exercise in the seventh.

It was back to parity in race eight as Flint held off Clement and Dallaway, but back came Weymouth in style in heat nine.

At last Bridger's bike behaved itself as he roared to an easy win ahead of Brown to give the Dorset outfit a commanding 32-21 advantage.

Stoke sent out Hargreaves as a tactical ride in heat 10 but he could only manage second between Mason and Clement. And it was a similar story for the evergreen Evans who split Giffard and Gledhill in the 11th.

Those two 4-4s moved the Wildcats into a 40-29 lead and they added five more to that total courtesy of Bridger and Dallaway who were awarded the points in heat 12 after Elkins, having already failed to finish two previous races, had been excluded on the start line and Isherwood again hit the dirt.

A strange decision by referee Chris Durno cost Weymouth in the next. He excluded Giffard following a first bend fall which appeared to be caused by contact with Evans.

Evans went on to win the re-run with team-mate Luke Priest taking second spot and Mason back in third.

Priest came out in the penultimate contest as a tactical substitute off 15 metres, but he could do no better than third behind Hargreaves and Brown.

That second place was enough to ensure the hosts the two Conference League points on offer and they made certain by collecting maximum points in the last, which was awarded in Brown's favour after he took a nasty tumble caused by Hargreaves falling in front of him, with Bridger taking second.