Thanks to Bryn for this update from the Wightlink Islanders. In his own words, Ed
The Wightlink Islanders went into National League action at Scunthorpe on Bank Holiday Monday hoping to pick up an away victory to consolidate their current third place position in the National League table and with new signing Steve Jones making his debut for the club.
Operating the rider replacement regulations to cover for Mark Baseby whose work commitments prevented him from travelling, the Islanders started brightly with Ben Hopwood and Danny Warwick collecting maximum points in the opening heat. That was swiftly followed by a 4-2 advantage from reserves Paul Starke and Danny Stoneman in heat two and the lead was now up to six points.
The home side hit back though with both a maximum win and a 4-2 in the next two races and the scores were now tied at 12-12 after the first four heats. Points were shared in the next couple of races before Starke and Aaron Baseby finished first and third respectively in heat 7 to put the Wightlink Islanders back into the lead at 22-20.
The lead was wiped out though with the home side gaining a maximum win in heat 9 and worse was to follow as they recorded similar advantages in heats 12 and 13 to put them ten points clear at 44-34 with just two races remaining and any hopes of an Islanders victory ended.
A Starke/Baseby 5-1 in the first of those two remaining races brought about the opportunity of the Islanders at least picking up a point from the match if they could at least share the points in the last heat only for the home pairing of Tom Young and Oliver Greenwood to shoot from the gate to lead Warwick, who tried everything to find a way through, and an obviously tiring Paul Starke who was taking his seventh ride in the space of fifteen heats!
Final Score
Scunthorpe Saints 50 Wightlink Islanders 40 (National League – August 27)
Islanders Scorers
Paul Starke 14, Danny Warwick 7+1, Ben Hopwood 6+1, Aaron Baseby 6+1 Steve Jones 4+1, Danny Stoneman 3+2.
“Must do better” says co-manager Shepherd
One half of the Wightlink Islanders management team Kevin Shepherd was somewhat disappointed after seeing his side slip to defeat at Scunthorpe.
“Overall, and without taking anything away from the Scunthorpe youngsters who rode well, I was disappointed that we didn’t come away from the there with at least a point. We started brightly but again faded in the second half of the meeting and that’s something we’ll be looking to put right in our up coming matches. Quite simply we must do better!”
And they’ll be determined to do just that in Thursday night’s home National Trophy match at Smallbrook against Mildenhall (start time 7.30pm) and this coming Saturday when the Wightlink Islanders travel to the Rye House circuit near Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire in the league.
“We must go there looking to win by battling for every point throughout the match and whilst they are quite formidable at times around their own circuit, if we ride as well as we should ride, then we can most certainly win there.”
Looking ahead to next week
The Wightlink Islanders hit the road again on Tuesday of next week for the tough looking away fixture at season long league leaders Dudley who boast an unbeaten home record so far.
Regular attendees at Smallbrook are therefore reminded that there’s NO speedway action at the stadium next week.
