SCUNTHORPE SAINTS 42 WEYMOUTH WILDCATS 51

WEYMOUTH Doonan Wildcats made a dream start to their National League campaign by claiming maximum points at the Scunthorpe Saints yesterday.

The Wildcats, who lifted the Conference League title last year, are in fine form at the start of the new season and now sit joint top at this early stage having collected four league points from their opening fixture.

Matt Wright (13+1) and Lee Smart (12+1) were the main point scorers at Scunthorpe but team manager Jem Dicken was delighted with each of his seven riders.

He said: “It was an excellent performance from all seven of the boys and that’s maximum points for us so we couldn’t have asked for a better start.

“All the lads rode well and even though James White-Williams only scored a point he was very unlucky in some races, as was Jon Armstrong. James Cockle would’ve scored more points if he didn’t have problems with his bike.

“Matt Wright meanwhile is surpassing himself and riding really well at the moment.

“Scunthorpe had a strong team and they brought Simon Lambert in which strengthened them considerably. But we still had enough ammunition and we’re still the team to beat.

“We’re at the top and we’re there for others to try and pick off. Hopefully that won’t happen though.”

The Wildcats though, found themselves trailing after the first four heats at the Eddie Wright Raceway.

But a 5-1 maximum in race five, spearheaded by Jon Armstrong and Terry Day, sparked a Weymouth revival.

And the visitors maintained their lead for the remainder of the clash. The gap stood at five after race 14 but the Cats, with a four-point haul on the horizon, rallied in the final heat to notch another 5-1 courtesy of Wright and Smart and secure maximum league points in an impressive first outing of the campaign.

SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

SCUNTHORPE SAINTS

1 Simon Lambert 3 2 6^ 1* 1 13+1

2 Adam Wrathall 1 Fx F 0 1

3 Richard Franklin 1 0 Fx 1

4 James Birkinshaw Fx 1 1* 2 4+1

5 Byron Bekker 3 1 3 2 Fx 9

6 James Sarjeant 0 0 1 1

7 Kyle Howarth 3 2* 2 2 3 1* 3+1

WEYMOUTH DOONAN WILDCATS

1 Jon Armstrong 0 3 2 0 5

2 Terry Day 2 2* 1 0 5+1

3 James Cockle 2* 2* 2 2 8+2

4 Matt Wright 3 3 1* 3 3 13+1

5 Lee Smart 1 3 3 3 2* 12+1

6 Tim Webster 2 1 3 1* 0 7+1

7 Jamie W-Williams 1* 0 0 1+1

Ht 1: Lambert, Day, Wrathall, Armstrong (4-2) 59.18

Ht 2: Re-run Howarth, Webster, Williams, Sarjeant (7-5) 60.53

Ht 3: Wright, Cockle, Franklin, Birkinshaw (fx) (8-10) 59.92

Ht 4: Bekker, Howarth, Smart, Williams (13-11) 60.0

Ht 5: Armstrong, Day, Birkinshaw, Franklin (14-16) 60.31

Ht 6: Re-run Smart, Lambert, Webster, Wrathall (fx) (16-20) 60.34

Ht 7: Wright, Cockle, Bekker, Sarjeant (17-25) 59.70

Ht 8: Webster, Howarth, Day, Wrathall (f) (19-29) 60.53

Ht 9: Smart, Howarth, Birkinshaw, Williams (22-32) 60.40

Ht 10: Lambert, Cockle, Wright, Wrathall (28-35) 59.56

Ht 11: Bekker, Armstrong, Sarjeant, Day (32-37) 61.01

Ht 12: Howarth, Cockle, Webster, Franklin (fx) (35-40) 61.80

Ht 13: Smart, Bekker, Lambert, Armstrong (38-43) 60.28

Ht 14: Wright, Birkinshaw, Howarth, Webster (41-46) 59.21

Ht 15: Wright, Smart, Lambert, Bekker (fx) (42-51) 59.26