ISLE OF WIGHT WARRIORS 23

WEYMOUTH WILDCATS 32

CRADLEY HEATHENS 35

WEYMOUTH Wildcats returned to action with a comfortable second place in the first leg of the Michael Richardson Trophy at the Smallbrook Stadium, Ryde.

With overall points counting towards the final result of the three-legged tournament, Weymouth have made an excellent start, gathering 32 on the night.

They were only bettered by Cradley Heathens, who amassed 35 to take the honours, while hosts Isle of Wight Warriors could only manage 23.

With a handicap system in place, the all-round strength of the Heathens and Wildcats bore fruit as Warriors riders finished last in eight of the ten races.

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In what was Weymouth’s highest-profile event since a ban on nomadic clubs was introduced last year, the Wildcats shone.

Their star performer was Henry Atkins, who returned a mammoth points haul of 13+1, while former Newcastle rider George Congreve posted 8+3.

Ben Trigger added 7+1 while Jacob Clouting notched four in a high-quality event.

The highest-scoring rider on the night was Cradley’s Alfie Bowtell, who achieved an immense 14.

Speaking to Echosport, Wildcats’ co-promoter James Tresadern expressed his satisfaction with a stunning evening on the shale for his squad.

He said: “George got a very healthy eight points and really enjoyed riding, it was a really good meeting.

“Henry was just in devastating form, he was untouchable. He only lost the one ride because of the handicap rule that was in place, which was spread across all teams.

“He decided to settle for third place, which is a paid second place for him behind Ben. He scored 3-3 rather than mounting a stupid charge and either doing damage to himself or his bike.

“He was absolutely faultless but Ben, for a 16-year-old, was absolutely unbelievable.

“He had a slow start but then there was no stopping him. He was like a tiger on the tail of everybody he was behind.

“He scored seven points and a bonus point, and Jacob chipped in with four. It would’ve been six points but he fell off in his last ride, just lost his footing.

“That would’ve narrowed the lead down to one point overall, so it was a very good night.”

Lending his thoughts on the Weymouth name returning to action, Tresadern said: “I wouldn’t say me and Martin (Peters, co-promoter) are competitive.

“We like to give riders track time and it’s not about the winning of losing, it’s about developing the riders – that’s why we did the MSDL (Midland & Southern Development League).

“For us, it’s important as people who run a speedway club to have an ethos of bringing up the next generation of riders.

“Somebody’s got to take over the reins from the people there now and that’s what we want to do.

“(Thursday) was different. We could’ve gone top heavy and had two heavy hitters and a couple of reserve-type riders.

“But myself and Martin agreed we wanted to have a nice level playing field, not go all out and win races and come third or last in them. It worked an absolute treat.”