WEYMOUTH skipper Lee Smart was gutted after seeing his team-mates suffer a night to forget as Wildcats were soundly beaten 56-36 at rivals Bournemouth.

The men from the Wessex Bus Raceway were determined to win the first competitive meeting between Weymouth and Poole-based teams for 54 years.

But Phil Bartlett’s side, who face Buxton at Radipole Lane tonight, were instantly placed on the back foot by three exclusions in their opening three heats.

First, Terry Day spun and fell on turn two in race one, before Tim Webster locked up coming out of the same corner in heat two and ended up in a heap.

Then, despite making a scorching start, Matthew Wright pirouetted and fell on the opening corner of race three.

It was clear all four men were affected by their falls throughout the remainder of the contest.

And top scorer Smart, who bagged a fantastic 14 points, was left to rue his side’s poor fortune.

He said: “Tim had a crash in his first race and wasn’t quite right after that.

“Matt had a fall in his first heat too after jet-propelling away from the start.

“He was alright in the first half of the meeting but then the pain kicked in from the crash.

“He came down straight on the back of his head and it was a bit like whiplash, but he’ll be alright after a nice soak in the bath.”

Wright picked himself up to grab a 5-1 with Smart in heat seven, but was passed on the final turn for third in race 10 and did not take his final ride.

Webster, meanwhile, was set to take a precautionary visit to hospital after suffering a bang to the knee when falling in heat 12.

James Cockle also endured a nightmare meeting.

First, he fell while chasing down Buccaneers race leader Kyle Newman on the last bend of heat four.

He bounced back with a convincing victory in race six.

But an engine failure at the tapes in heat nine and a final-turn spill while on a tactical ride in heat 13 compounded his misery.

Smart’s sensational scoring was the only high note for Weymouth and he was only denied a maximum by ex-Wildcats colleague Jay Herne in the final race.

The Swindon-based man said: “I made a bit of a bad choice of gates but Jay is a good rider.

“Everyone just had an off night but fortunately, I seemed to pull my finger out of my backside at last.”

The Wildcats have the chance to make amends when they host the Buxton Hitmen in a league meeting this evening (7.15pm).

SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Bournemouth Buccaneers

1 Danny Warwick (2*-1*-2-3) 8+2

2 Andrew Aldridge (3-2-2-3-1*) 11+1

3 Jay Herne (1*-3-3-3-1*-3) 14+2

4 R/R Mark Baseby

5 Kyle Newman (3-1-2*-1-1-1) 9+1

6 Jerran Hart (R-R-R-2*-3-2*-2) 9+2

7 Aaron Baseby (3-2*-N) 5+1

Team Manager: Garry May

Weymouth Wildcats

1 Mark Burrows (1-2-2-2-0) 7

2 Terry Day (X-1*-1-0) 2+1

3 Matthew Wright (X-2*-0) 2+1

4 Lee Smart (3-3-6^-3-2) 14

5 James Cockle (0-3-R-F) 3

6 Tim Webster (X-R-1-X) 1

7 James White-Williams (2-1-0-1-R) 4

Team Manager: Jem Dicken

Referee: Mike Posselwhite

Ht 1: (re-run) Aldridge, Warwick, Burrows, Day (fell exc), 63.39 (5-1).

Ht 2: (re-run) A Baseby, White-Williams, Hart (ret), Webster (fell exc), 66.75 (8-3).

Ht 3: (second re-run) Smart, Aldridge, Herne, Wright (fell exc), 61.76 (11-6).

Ht 4: Newman, A Baseby, White-Williams, Cockle (fell remounted), 63.14 (16-7).

Ht 5: Herne, Burrows, Day, Hart (fell remounted ret), 62.16 (19-10).

Ht 6: Cockle, Aldridge, Warwick, Webster (ret), 63.97 (22-13).

Ht 7: (re-run) Smart, Wright, Newman, Hart (ret), 66.12 (23-18).

Ht 8: Aldridge, Hart, Day, White-Williams, A Baseby (fell non-starter), 62.83 (28-19).

Ht 9: Herne, Newman, Webster, Cockle (ret), 62.72 (33-20).

Ht 10: Smart (tactical ride, double points), Warwick, Aldridge, Wright, 62.41 (36-26).

Ht 11: Hart, Burrows, Newman, Day, 62.99 (40-28).

Ht 12: (re-run) Herne, Hart, White-Williams, Webster (fell exc), 62.83 (45-29).

Ht 13: Warwick, Burrows, Newman, Cockle (tactical ride, double points) (fell), 62.72 (49-31).

Ht 14: Smart, Hart, Herne, White-Williams (fell, remounted, ret), 62.44 (52-34).

Ht 15: Herne, Smart, Newman, Burrows, 61.95 (56-36).