WEYMOUTH DOONAN WILDCATS 62

ISLE OF WIGHT ISLANDERS 31

SIX months may have passed but the Weymouth Doonan Wildcats are still very much the team to beat after brushing aside National League rivals the Isle of Wight Islanders in a Challenge meeting tonight.

The Wildcats kicked off the new year with a comfortable victory in front a bumper crowd, who were all admitted free of charge at the Wessex Bus Raceway.

New additions to the Weymouth ranks Terry Day, James Cockle and James White-Williams all slotted in with ease and contributed to a 31-point success.

Team manager Jem Dicken said: “I’m very happy. The bottom end boys - Tim Webster and James White-Williams - did very well, Jon Armstrong picked up a bit of an injury to his knee but he should be okay for Monday, as for the other boys – very good.

“The Isle of Wight are one of the favourites with us and Bournemouth so to turn them over like this, even though they did have a bit of bad luck, stands us in good stead for the season. I was also happy with the crowd, I don’t know how many we had exactly but it made it well worth the free entry.”

After three stoppages at the start of heat one, the season finally got underway. Day, on his return to the Weymouth squad, was excluded for moving at the start line and replaced by Tim Webster, who was then removed after falling on the first bend.

However, skipper Jon Armstrong ensured a 3-3 draw by taking the chequered flag ahead of former Weymouth rider Chris Johnson, making his track return after 18 months out injured.

There were no such problems for Webster and the Wildcats in heat two, which finished in a first maximum of the year for the hosts with White-Williams coming home ahead of Webster.

Cockle and Matt Wright led the Wildcats to a second successive 5-1 before Lee Smart notched the fastest time of the night to help claim a 4-2 in the home side’s favour.

Cockle and Wright earned yet another maximum in race five, however, the Islanders won their first heat of the night immediately after as Nick Simmons, utilising a tactical ride, held off the challenge of Day.

But the home team responded with their fourth 5-1 of the night after ex-Cat Brendan Johnson fell on the last lap trying to pass Webster.

The Isle of Wight were then awarded a 5-1 with Ben Hopwood and Dan Berwick out in front when Day crashed into the fence.

Wright’s first race win opened the gap to 13 points before a fifth Weymouth maximum extended that commanding lead to 17.

Paramedics tended to Brendan Johnson in the pits, causing another delay, and he was found to have sustained a broken rib from his seventh heat fall. When the racing resumed the Wildcats continued where they left off, collecting a 5-1 courtesy of Smart and Webster.

A 4-2 kept the Wildcats way out in front before Smart was followed home by two Islanders to level race 13.

The visitors’ night got even worse as Berwick left the track in an ambulance having gone down in the penultimate heat. The re-run saw the Wildcats notch a seventh 5-1.

And the rout was complete with another maximum as Webster overtook Hopwood on the final turn to claim second spot behind the unstoppable and unbeaten Smart.

The Wildcats now look forward to the National League curtain-raiser on Easter Monday - a trip to the Scunthorpe Saints (5pm).